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animals raised on weak, unbalanced
soil are inferior food products. Such
foods result in weak, degenerate and
disease-prone human beings.
Deficient soils produce deficient roen.
lt's just that simple - aod that
sure.
Add to this soil deficiency the daily
stress of modero life, highly processed
and refined foods, smoking, pill popping,
drug taking, etc., consequently the
shameful state of our collective health
isn't surprising.
But just what
IS
this miracle we call
soil? How does it work? What is its
function in the cycle of life? This is
basic knowledge we all ought to
possess.
What Soil
IS
Fertile topsoil is by far man's most
valuable and indispensable natural
resource. It lies at an average depth of
seven or eight inches over the face of
the land. In sorne few areas, this life–
sustaining layer of earth may be severa!
feet deep; in many other areas it is con–
siderably less than even seven or eight
inches.
"If
that !ayer of topsoil could
be
rep–
resented on a 24-inch globe it would be
as a film three-millionths of one inch
thick. That thin film is all that stands
between man and extinction" (Mickey,
Man and
the
Soil,
pages 17-18).
This thin /ayer of earth srutains
ALL
PLANT, ANIMAL ANO HUMAN LIFE!
The soil
is
not, as many suppose, a
dead, inert substance which merely sup–
plies mineral elements to plants and
gives them a place to anchor their roots.
A healthy soil is vibrantly "alive" and
dynamic. It teems with bacteria, fungi,
molds, yeasts, protozoa, algae, worms,
insects and other minute organisms
which live mostly in its top few inches.
This hive of living creatures in the
soil, the eaters and the eaten, adds up to
incredible numbers. The bacteria alone
may range from. a comparative few up
to three or four bil lion in a single gram
of soil. In good soil the bacteria!
matter, living and dead, may weigh as
muchas
5,600
pounds per acre.
The fungi in a gram of soil may
weigh over
1,000
pounds to the acre.
It is estimated that about 95 percent
of the roughly one million iosect species
The
PLAIN TRUTH
spend part of their lives in the soil.
And then there is the humble earth–
worm. He is nature's plow, chemist, cul–
tivator, maker and distributor of plant
food . Rich soil easily supports a worm
population of
26,000
per acre. The
earthworm is so important to the soil
that we have an entire article about
"The Worm and You." A free copy is
available upon request.
All this teeming soil life plays a vital
role in keeping the soil healthy and
building it up.
The soil is not solid.
lt
is actually
composed of billions of grains or soil
partides. These range in size from
smaller than
1
1
2000
of an inch up to
1
1
12
of an inch in diameter. Each of
these tiny soil particles is covered with a
tight-fitting film of oxides, water and
bits of organic matter, which provides a
habitation for the teeming soíl life.
The surface area of these partides is
staggering. One ounce of soil can easily
have surfaces adding up to
250,000
square feet - about six acres
!
Of what, then, is soil composed? Jt is
composed of
1)
minerals, dirt or disin–
tegrated rock particles;
2)
organic mat–
ter - dead remains of plants and
animal wastes; and 3) a vast com–
munity of living organisms.
When organic matter is decaying by
the action of soil life upon it, it is
a most important substance, known as
ht<tnUJ,
Why Humus Vital to Soil
Organic matter is obtained from liv–
ing and dead plants and animals, plant
roots, green manure crops! animal
manures, crop residues, fungi, bacteria,
worms, insects, etc. This organic matter
is the
r~w
material that is spoken of as
humus while it is being broken down
and decaying through the action of the
complex mass of soil microorganisms
and earthworms upon it. This digestive
action produces humic acids which make
minerals soluble. The end result of this
blen.ded mixture is true plant food.
The importance of humus cannot be
stressed too strongly. The more humus a
soil contains, the healthier it is. Here
are a few reasons why:
When it rains, soils with humus soak
up the water. Humus is so porous it can
J une-July, 1970
hold at least its own volume in water. A
four-inch rain on humus-rich soil causes
little or no runoff; one-half inch on
humus-poor land will cause erosion and
sorne flooding in lower areas.
Humus improves the physical condi–
tion of the soil, supports the soil's
organisms, increases permeability,
improves aeration aod stabilizes the
soil's temperature.
Yet to do all this, humus need not be
more thao five percent of the topsoil in
most instaoces.
Why Soil "Wears Out"
When minerals, organic matter and
soil microorgaoisms are present
i11
balance
for a particular type of soil,
that soil is fertile and healthy. But all
too often this balance is upset. How?
By the serious depletion of humus, due
to improper cultivation practices, un–
checked erosion, continued monoculture
and failure to restare to the
soil
what
the preceding harvests have taken from
it.
Modero agricu1ture practices the sub–
stitution of synthetic fertilizers for
humus that is aot being replenished in
the soil. The "replacing" of humus
by artificial means does stimulate plant
growth, but it also continues to upset
the vitally needed balance and blended
mixture of minerals, organic matter and
soillife found only in humus.
Chemical fertilizers add only a part of
the mineral portian of the critically
important soil mixture essential to good
health.
But an unbalanced soiJ is not normally
caused by a lack of minerals, as many
believe. Even in relatively poor soils
there is normally a large reserve of
minerals.
Noted soil scientist Eric Eweson
states that the supply of majar minerals
such as calcium, phosphorus and potas–
sium is normally a hundred to a thou–
sand times more than the seasonal
requirements of most crops. The supply
of the vital trace minerals - boron,
iron, copper, nickel, fluorine, manga–
nese, iodine, etc. - is also generally
more than adequate.
What is most often missing is suf–
ficient organic matter and the soil Jife
which is necessary to break clown the