Chapter I: Preface

The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press propose to issue a Nature Study Series of which this is the first volume.

We count ourselves fortunate in securing Dr E. J. Russell as author and Soil as subject. The subject is fundamental, for, just as the soil lies beneath the plant and animal life we see, so is a knowledge of the soil necessary for all understanding of flora and fauna. The real complexity of the apparently simple element "Earth," and the variety of methods required for exploring it, are typical of the problems which the _tout ensemble_ of the outdoor world presents to the naturalist.

Dr E. J. Russell has not only acquired a first-rate and first-hand knowledge of his subject at Wye and at Rothamsted; his own researches have recently extended our knowledge of the micro-organisms in the soil and their influence on fertility. Further, what is very much to our purpose, he has himself had practical experience in teaching at an elementary school in Wye and at a secondary school in Harpenden.

Just at the present moment, County Councils are trying to push rural education and to awaken the intelligence of country children by interesting them in their surroundings. It is, therefore, a favourable opportunity to offer these pages as a concrete suggestion in model lessons and object lessons, showing exactly what can be done under existing conditions.

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The book is intended to help children to study nature; there is no attempt to substitute book study for nature study. Hence, whilst there are passages of continuous reading, it is not a mere "reader." Many teachers, myself among them, have felt the difficulty of organising practical work for large classes. Dr Russell has written so that, whilst nominally showing the pupil how to learn, he is secretly scattering hints for the teacher who is learning how to teach.

Abundant and varied practical exercises have been suggested, and careful instructions have been given so that the book shall seem intelligible even in the absence of a teacher. The proposed practical work is not only what might be done by eager boys and girls on half-holidays, but what can be done by every scholar in the course of ordinary school work. The pictorial illustrations are intended as aids to observation, not as substitutes. Drawing is one form of practical exercise, and the preparation of corresponding illustrations in the scholars' notebooks from the apparatus used in the classroom and the fields around the school may afford exercises in artistic work with pen, brush or camera.

Sufficient directions are given for the supply of necessary materials and apparatus. The apparatus proposed is of the simplest character.

It is suggested that the book will be found most useful in the higher standards of elementary schools, in preparatory schools and in the lower forms of secondary schools, that is, where the ages of scholars average from 12 to 14.

HUGH RICHARDSON

YORK, 7 January 1911

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CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. WHAT IS THE SOIL MADE OF? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
II. MORE ABOUT THE CLAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
III. WHAT LIME DOES TO CLAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
IV. SOME EXPERIMENTS WITH THE SAND . . . . . . . . . . . 22
V. THE PART THAT BURNS AWAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
VI. THE PLANT FOOD IN THE SOIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
VII. THE DWELLERS IN THE SOIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
VIII. THE SOIL AND THE PLANT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
IX. CULTIVATION AND TILLAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
X. THE SOIL AND THE COUNTRYSIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
XI. HOW SOIL HAS BEEN MADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
APPENDIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

[Transcriber's note: The page numbers below are those in the original book. However, in this e-book, to avoid the splitting of paragraphs, the illustrations may have been moved to the page preceding or following.]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURE PAGE

1. Soil and subsoil in St George's School garden . . . . 2

2. Columns showing what 100 parts of soil and subsoil
were made of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

3. Columns showing what 100 parts of dried soil and
subsoil were made of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

4. Clay shrinks when it dries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

5. Clay swells up when it is placed in water . . . . . . 12

6. Landslip in the Isle of Wight.
_Phot._ Valentine & Son . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

7. Clay does not let water run through . . . . . . . . . 14

8. Sand allows air to pass through but clay does not . . 15

9. A brick allows both air and water to pass through it 17

10. Lime added to turbid clay water soon makes the clay
settle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

11. Sand dunes, Penhale, Cornwall.
_Phot._ Geological Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

12. Blowing sand covering up meadows and ruining them.
_Phot._ Geological Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

13. Model of a spring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

14. Foot of chalk hill at Harpenden where a spring breaks
out. _Phot._ Lionel Armstrong . . . . . . . . . . . 27

15. The little pool and the spring.
_Phot._ Lionel Armstrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

16. Water spouting up from a bore hole, Old Cateriag
Quarry, Dunbar. _Phot._ Geological Survey . . . . . 29

17. Sandy soils in wet and in dry positions . . . . . . . 31

18. Map of the roads round Wye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

19. Peat bog in Hoy, Orkney: peat is being cut for fuel.
_Phot._ Valentine & Son . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

20. Rye growing in surface soil, subsoil, and sand . . . . 42

21. Mustard growing in surface soil, subsoil, and sand . . 43

22. Mustard growing in soil previously cropped with rye,
and in soil previously uncropped . . . . . . . . . . 45

23. Pieces of grass, leaves, etc. change to plant food
in the surface soil lint not in the subsoil . . . . . 50

24. Soil in which earthworms have been living and making
burrows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

25. Fresh soil turns milk bad, but baked soil does not . . 57

26. Soil contains tiny living things that grow on gelatine 58

27. Our breath makes lime water turn milky . . . . . . . . 59

28. Something in the soil uses up air and makes lime water
turn milky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

29. Soils are able to stick to water: clay or loam soils do
this better than sands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

30. Water can pass from wet to dry places in the soil, it
can even travel upwards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

31. Plants growing in soils supplied from below with water.
All the water the plants get has to travel upwards 67

32. Mustard growing in soils supplied with varying
quantities of water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

33. Wheat growing in moist and in dry soils . . . . . . . 71

34 _a_ and _b_. Plants found on a dry soil had
narrow leaves, those on a moist soil had wider
leaves. _Phot._ S. T. Parkinson . . . . . . . . . 72, 73

35. Plants give out water through their leaves . . . . . . 74

36. Stephen Hales's experiment in 1727 . . . . . . . . . . 75

37. Hill slope near Harpenden showing woodland at top and
arable land lower down. _Phot._ Lionel Armstrong 77

38. View further along the valley; woodland and arable
above, rough grassland near the river.
_Phot_. Lionel Armstrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

39. Rough grass pasture near the river. Higher up is
arable land. _Phot._ Lionel Armstrong . . . . . . . 81

40. After harvest the farmer breaks up his land with a
plough and then leaves it alone until seed time.
_Phot._ Lionel Armstrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

41. Rolling in mangold seed on the farm.
_Phot._ H. B. Hutchinson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

42. Soil sampler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

43. Cultivation and mulching reduce the loss of water
from soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

44 _a_ and _b_. Maize cannot compete successfully
with weeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94, 95

45. A plot of wheat left untouched since 1882 at
Rothamsted has now become a dense thicket.
_Phot._ Lionel Armstrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

46. A badly drained wheat field . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

47. Highly cultivated sandy soil in Kent . . . . . . . . . 103

48. A Surrey heath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

49. Woodland and heather on high sandy land, Wimbledon
Common. _Phot._ R. H. Carter . . . . . . . . . . . 107

50. Poor sandy soil in Surrey, partly cultivated but mainly
wood and waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

51. Open chalk cultivated country, Thanet . . . . . . . . 113

52. Cliffs at the seaside, Manorbier.
_Phot._ Geological Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

53. Cliffs in inland district, Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh.
_Phot._ Geological Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

54. Model of a stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

55. The bend of a river . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

56. The winding river--the Stour at Wye.
_Phot._ R. H. Carter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

57. Sketch map showing why Godmersham and Wye arose
where they did on the Stour . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

58. Ford at Coldharbour near Harpenden.
_Phot._ Lionel Armstrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

The photographs of the pot experiments are by Mr Lionel Armstrong.

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