give it over to the plants.
Here is another reason for good soil ventilation.

This last fact brings us to another very important property of soils.
Soils have existing in them many very small plants called bacteria.
They are so very small that it would take several hundred of them to
reach across the edge of this sheet of paper. We cannot see them with
the naked eye but only with the most powerful microscopes. Some of
these minute plants are great friends to the farmer, for it is largely
through their work that food is made available for the higher plants.
Some of them break down the organic matter and help prepare the
nitrogen for the larger plants. Others help the leguminous plants to
feed on the nitrogen of the air. To do their work they need warmth,
moisture, air, and some mineral food; these conditions we bring about
by improving the texture of the soil by means of thorough tillage and
the use of organic matter.

CHAPTER IX

SEEDS

CONDITIONS NECESSARY FOR SEEDS TO SPROUT

In the spring comes the great seed-planting time on the farm, in the
home garden and in the school garden. Many times the questions will be
asked: Why didn't those seeds come up? How shall I plant seeds so as
to help them sprout easily and grow into strong plants? To answer
these questions, perform a few experiments with seeds, and thus find
out what conditions are necessary for seeds to sprout, or germinate.
For these experiments you will need a few teacups, glass tumblers or
tin cans, such as tomato cans or baking-powder cans; a few plates,
either of tin or crockery; some wide-mouth bottles that will hold
about half a pint, such as pickle, olive, or yeast bottles or
druggists' wide-mouth prescription bottles; and a few pieces of cloth.
Also seeds of corn, garden peas and beans.

=Experiment.=--Put seeds of corn, garden peas, and beans (about a
handful of each) to soak in bottles or tumblers of water. Next day,
two hours earlier in the day, put a duplicate lot of seeds to soak.
When this second lot of seeds has soaked two hours, you will have two
lots of soaked seeds of each kind, one of which has soaked twenty-four
hours and the other two hours. Now take these seeds from the water and
dry the surplus water from them by gently patting or rubbing a few at
a time in the folds of a piece of cloth, taking care not to break the
skin or outer coating of the seed. Place them in dry bottles, putting
in enough to cover the bottoms of the