MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 61, 9 September 1937, Page 26

MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY

Under good management garder plots are under constant productior whether it be in flowers or vegetables "When 'iS is fully understood thai nearly all the plant food necessarj for healthy crops is taken from the soil it can be readily seen that healthy, rich soil must be maintained. Soil fertility depends upon several factors, the principal of which are adequate drainage, the presence of the necessary plant foods in a form, thai can be utilised by plant life, and most important of all, the active presence of soil bacteria. Drainage is necessary because if the soil is waterlogged it is impossible for air to penetrate, and the absence of air means the destruction of soil bacteria. Most soils contain the necessary plant foods in varying quantities, but these are not always in a state which can be used by the plants. The addition of lime is necessary in some cases to release the plant foods. Bacteria are necessary to soil fertility. A soil may contain everything necessary for healthy - growth, but lacking soil-bacteria in an active state the" ground will -be, sterile and nothing can be madettp ;grpw.v : Fer the encouragement/of soil^bacteria humus is necessary. This substance, which will be provided .by any vegetable matter which, will rot down readily, should- be; added each year during digging ;6'peratipns;> It ■ helps to keep the'soil:particles open, thus admitting air and . inducing warmth, and it also contains ..many food elements necessary to plants. ,;.'. In almost all cases the top spit of soil, say 10 to 12 inches down, is the most fertile. It is good policy to make a point of double-digging— that is, digging two spits deep—some portion of the garden each year.