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Show What Crops Must Have to Grow to i the Best Advantage (By Dr. F. S Harris, Director of Experiment Station, Utah Agricultural College.)) Plants, like animals, must be fed. They require ten different kinds of tood, and If any one of these is absent no growth can take place even If all the other foods are present in large quantities This means that intelligence intelli-gence as well as care must be put into the work of gardening. This point was brought out. by a leading agriculturist agricul-turist at one time when he was asked what was the best material to use In fertilizing the garden. His reply was "human brains." He did not mean this literally, but wished to convey the idea that information and thought are necessdry for those who wish to succeed in tilling the land. Very fortunately the plant gets most of its food from the air. It is able to jure this air food carbon dioxide 1 through the action of sunshine on the I green coloring matter of leaves. We have an abundance of sunshine and plenty of green leaves, consequently, tho only loods that we need to worry about are those taken by the plant from the soil. Most of these are plentiful, but two or three are some-I some-I what scarce Nitrogen, potash, and phosphorus must be supplied to most soils In order to make a well-balanced ration for the plant. Humus, which is decayed organic matler. Is also very useful in the soil in helping to make the food more available to the plant. Many soils are well supplied with foods and only need proper tillage to make them ready for use. Air must be present in the soil, to help bring about this condition. This means that the addition of plant food in the shap of farm manuro or commercial fertiliser ferti-liser goes hand in hand with thorough tillage. |