Thank you for visiting SNEWPapers!
Sign up free
Story
May 27, 1896
The Advocate
Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas
What is this article about?
Explanation of fertile soil as a balanced mix of sand, clay, lime, and vegetable matter, contrasting with barren soils dominated by single elements; from Farmers' Voice.
Clipping
OCR Quality
100%
Excellent
Full Text
What Makes a Fertile Soil?
Soils are either fertile or barren (infertile). The fertile soil may be best described by negative properties, or the absence of any of those elements which go to make a barren soil. The more closely a soil approaches a happy mixture of the four elements, sand, clay, lime and vegetable matter, the more nearly will it approach a perfect soil, both physically and chemically. The nearer it approaches to the composition of one single element to the exclusion of others, the nearer will it approach to barrenness, or infertility. It would be useless to describe the thousand and one grades of composition which lie between these extremes, and equally useless to try to classify them.
—Farmers' Voice.
Soils are either fertile or barren (infertile). The fertile soil may be best described by negative properties, or the absence of any of those elements which go to make a barren soil. The more closely a soil approaches a happy mixture of the four elements, sand, clay, lime and vegetable matter, the more nearly will it approach a perfect soil, both physically and chemically. The nearer it approaches to the composition of one single element to the exclusion of others, the nearer will it approach to barrenness, or infertility. It would be useless to describe the thousand and one grades of composition which lie between these extremes, and equally useless to try to classify them.
—Farmers' Voice.
What sub-type of article is it?
Agricultural Explanation
What themes does it cover?
Nature
What keywords are associated?
Fertile Soil
Barren Soil
Sand
Clay
Lime
Vegetable Matter
Soil Composition
Story Details
Story Details
Soils are fertile or barren; fertile soil lacks elements of barrenness and approaches a balanced mixture of sand, clay, lime, and vegetable matter for physical and chemical perfection; imbalance toward one element leads to infertility; no need to describe intermediate grades.