. Farm horticulture, prepared especially for those interested in either home or commercial horticulture. Vegetable gardening; Fruit-culture. 68 CULTIVATION AND TILLAGE packed down, and a large percentage of the water has been lost by surface drainage. Again if spring plowing is prac- tised the dry soil is turned under and the moist soil is exposed, so that if a mulch is not immediately formed by cultiva- tion a great deal of the moisture is lost by the exposure of the soil to the sun and the drying winds. Bacterial Action of the Soil Influenced by Cultivation.—In all soils there are two bacter
. Farm horticulture, prepared especially for those interested in either home or commercial horticulture. Vegetable gardening; Fruit-culture. 68 CULTIVATION AND TILLAGE packed down, and a large percentage of the water has been lost by surface drainage. Again if spring plowing is prac- tised the dry soil is turned under and the moist soil is exposed, so that if a mulch is not immediately formed by cultiva- tion a great deal of the moisture is lost by the exposure of the soil to the sun and the drying winds. Bacterial Action of the Soil Influenced by Cultivation.—In all soils there are two bacterial processes continually going on, namely, nitrification and denitrification. Nitrification is the process by ^^•hich the nitrates and the nitrites are produced in the soil bj' minute living organisms. These. Fig. 20.—The Osborne sulky spring-touth harrow. organisms are called bacteria and are \ery small, microscopic plants. Nitrification results in the changing of the complex organic nitrogen in the soil into other forms that can be used by the plants. In order that this process can be carried on successfully by the nitrifying bacteria, six funda- mental conditions are necessary: (1) moisture, (2) oxygen, (3) favorable temperature, (4) absence of sunlight, (5) nitrifying bacteria, (6) some compound on which the bac- teria can work. All of these conditions must be maintained. Cultivation, particularly of the hea^'ier t^-pes of soil, favor nitrification by increasing the amount of air in the soil,. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Hood, George William, 1886-. Philadelphia, New York, Lea & Febiger
Size: 2095px × 1192px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, booksubjectfruitculture, booksubjectvegetablega
