After-cultivation, 158, 164. benefits from, 164. flat, 169. frequency of, 167. saves water, 164. shallow, 15, 167, 169. time for, 166. tools for, 167.
Agents, with which farmer works, 5. most important, 6.
Agriculture, foundation facts and principles of, 22.
Air, and the farmer, 5. in relation to germination, 72. necessary for root growth, 20. work of, in making soils, 36.
Alfalfa or lucern, 68. roots, 13. soils, 29.
Ammonia in fertilizers, 204, 205. in barn manures, 175. lost by fermentation, 175. sulphate of, 194.
Analysis of plants, 163-166. of fertilizers, 203.
Animals, 5. and the farmer, 5. dependent on plants, 6. work of, in making soils, 37.
Ashes, a source of potash, 199. cotton hull, 199.
Bacteria, 68, 143. and the farmer, 5, 144. denitrifying, 144. in manures, 174. in the roots of legumes, 68. in the soil, 68, 143. nitrifying, 144. nitrogen-fixing, 144.
Barn manures, 171. application of, 177. condition of, 179. effect of on soil texture, 172. loss of value of, 173. meaning of term, 173.
Biological properties of a fertile soil, 143.
Blood, dried, 194. as a fertilizer, 194. nitrogen in, 194.
Bone, dissolved, 197. dust, 197. ground, 197.
Bone fertilizers, 197. meal, 197. raw, 197. steamed, 197.
Bureau of soils, United States, 28. Department of Agriculture, 28.
Cabbage, fertilizer for, 211. soil, 28, 161. transplanting, 87, 88. worm, 117.
Capillary force, 49. meaning of term, 49. tubes, 49. water, 153.
Chemical properties of a fertile soil, 147.
Clay, 27, 38. and lime, 42. loams, 29. power to absorb water, 41, 42. relation to water, 25, 41, 43. soils, 29. soils injured by working when wet, 45. to improve texture of, 42. water-holding power, 44.
Clover, 68. Bokhara, 190. crimson, 189. mammoth, 189. red, 188.
Clovers, as green manure-crops, 188. as nitrogen gatherers, 184. nodules on roots of, 184.
Commercial fertilizers, 171, 192. amount to buy, 212. home mixing, 211. kind to buy, 212. raw materials, 192. (See also Fertilizers.)
Conditions necessary for root growth, 20.
Corn, a humus waster, 226. depth of root growth of, 13. flower of, 132. germination of, 78, 79. in rotation, 226, 229, 234. plant, 6. pollination of, 133. rapid growth of roots of, 13. roots cut by plow, 14. soils, 28, 29, 30, 161. structure of seed, 78. water used by, 40.