Abstract
SOME time ago (NATURE, February 24, 1916, vol. xcvi., p. 716) e directed attention to a paper by Mr. and Mrs. Howard, of the Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, on the ventilation of Indian soils. “More air and less water” was then set before the native cultivator as the secret of successful crop production. With characteristic enthusiasm for his subject, Mr. Howard has since developed this idea in a lecture given during a meeting of the Board of Agriculture at Pusa, and now published as Bulletin No. 61 of the Agricltural Research Insttute. Although Discussed chiefly in relation to Indian conditions, and particularly the alluvial soils of the Indus and Ganges valleys, the subject in its broader aspect is of universal importance to agriculture. The heavy rains of the monsoon falling on these soils, which consist largely Gf small particles of fairly uniform size, cause the surface to run together and form a crust; the soil loses its porosity and aeration is impeded. The remedy advocated is the incorporation with the first foot of soil of thikra (tile fragments) at the rate of o tons per acre. Leguminous plants Uke gram respond at once to the improved aeration. Nothing is said as to the cost of this treatment, or if it can be applied commercially over considerable areas.
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R., E. Soil Aeration in Agriculture . Nature 99, 195 (1917). https://doi.org/10.1038/099195a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/099195a0