Excerpt from Agricultural Research and the Farmer: A Record of Recent Achievements The soil investigations now being conducted at Rothamsted centre round two main problems which have a vital bearing on practical agriculture. In the first place, how to provide the soil with that supply Of organic matter which we know to be Of such great importance secondly, how to cultivate the soil so that it will provide the most efficient medium for the growth Of crops. To solve the former problem, a knowledge Of the exact constitution Of the soil and Of the precise part played by organic matter in the supply of food to the growing crop is the first essential to solve the latter, we need to know what the physical properties Of the soil are, how they are affected by varying conditions of climate, and what are the respective influences Of weather and Of soil constituents in producing that necessary preliminary to successful crop production which is known to the farmer as tilth. Bound up with this problem also is the question of implements Of cultivation, for in the absence Of an exact knowledge of the physical properties Of the soil, the agricultural engineer cannot be supplied with the information which he requires in order to construct the ideal implements for carrying out the various processes of tillage. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.