Show the land doctor lly vivian shearer clem wais atis worried about ills his little field north ot of tile the draw there were only about four or five acres as I 1 remain iber her liui lie ho knew that the topsoil was getting pretty thin so BO he e decided to do something about it ii 1 agot I got her fixed now he said slapping lapping me on the back 1 I moved a straw stack 0 over er abe there re and 8 spread pread it out it was some job that field and turning the straw under but there she Is lots of organic matter in that field now wo we all know that organic met matter Is necessary to the proper development of humus litmus and topsoil however and as clem did no not t understand raw law organic matter Is not hunius humus on the other hand organic matter Is the food that Is consumed by the soil like a cow consumes liay ilay the action of chemicals and bacteria in the soil digests the organic matted and makes humus like the cow digests he hay and makes milk when you force tile the soil to make a hog of itself like clem did it sort of gets indigestion tio u something like a horse foundering on too muck oats or a small boy getting the tummy ache on too many green apples or maybe in deference to the machine age the motor getting a flooded corbu fresh vegetable matter such as straw or leaves and litter from under the trees Is rich ilch irk in bellu cellulose lose matter when it Is covered by the soli soil and gets plenty of moisture tile the little residents in the soil got all excited and gather round lound like hogs at swill time As it de compasses compo sees carbon dioxide gas Is released this gas furnishes these microorganisms micro organisms with an abundant supply of energy and they decompose moie straw and produce more moie gas they multiply quickly to the tune of a few billion billion children and grand giand children and on account of their num beres they begin to compete with the plants and crops for tho the limited supply of nitrogen which they need in the formati on 0 oi i pew ijams imams substance v floto old they seem leoin to apt tile theli I 1 first and to got get ilia 11 ailt tho plants getler get ler iff this edition goes oll 0 uehl ha raw ma ilia lies lias I 1 beau oil I 1 A fe wal aul kle ile composed asa V wl li lii ile file I 1 Is a released til B bama i ilnia tl ti a 11 bogin to ald dalo 0 off att normal poll la is 1 I teft ai I 1 tho lia farni crops ann cnn aga fi 7 it it ve their share of the nit supply organic oi panic matter and alli miel o organisms are aie necessary loi for the hie development of a rich topsoil top soll but like old cold drinking water or 01 love loe or 01 thanksgiving dinner it can be overdone nature ii 13 al ways jealous about the balances she has established nna and Is alway ready leady to crack ciack down on oil somebody somewhere whenever that hat equilibrium is attacked attached in clem ples field the nitrate and amnion lacal nitrogen will be scarce it if not actually disappear until the ilie decay or 01 gani sins have haie used up tile the straw he put on and the corn lie he plant ed on the land will show up with a serious case of 0 malnutrition |