Farmer's Cyclopedia, Vol. 5 of 7

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Excerpt from Farmer's Cyclopedia, Vol. 5 of 7: Abridged Agricultural Records, Fruits, Forests, Flowers, Cotton, Tobacco, Sugar Beets, Sugar Cane, EtcModification of Soil. - Since one does not choose the site of his residence on account of the character of the soil of the locality, but because of other natural advantages of the place, it is Obvious that the soil at the disposal of the grower will frequently be ill-suited to the purposes of a home fruit garden. For a commercial place on an extensive scale it would be out of the question to attempt to alter the character of the soil to suit the needs of the plant, but with a small area the case is quite different. If the soil is heavy it can be lightened with sand if it is not desirable to increase the proportion of humus which it contains, if it is lacking in organic matter the addition of leaf mold and well-rotted manure or the turning under of some leguminous crop, such as cow-peas or Canada field peas, will aecom plish the desired result, if the soil is loose and sandy, losing its store of plant food readily, this fault can be remedied by the addition of retentive material, such as clay, the amount of cla to be added must be governed by the degree of stiffness desired in t e soil. If, on the other hand, the class of plants to be enerally grown is suited to a loose, sandy soil, and it seems desira le to add to the collection a plant, such as plum, which naturally requires a heavy, retentive soil, it would undoubtedly be better to change the character of the plant by grafting it upon a stock adapted to sandy soil conditions than to attempt to modify the soil to suit the plant. This change can be effected by using a each stock for the plum. There are therefore two alternatives - cit er the soil may be modified to suit the plant or the plant may be adapted, by working it u on a suitable stock, to the soil. Such modifications in plants are not a ways easily accomplished, and with many plants there is no alternative but to use them on their own roots. In this latter case the soil itself must be made to conform to the demands of the plants. The soil, in addition to being heavy and retentive, may also be cold and wet. In such case the addition of sand will not entirely overcome the difficulty.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.