The word soil occurs many times in this little book. In agriculture this word is used to describe the thin layer of surface earth that, like some great blanket, is tucked around the wrinkled and age-beaten form of our globe. The harder and colder earth under this surface layer is called the subsoil. It should be noted, however, that in waterless and sun-dried regions there seems little difference between the soil and the subsoil. Plants, insects, birds, beasts, men,—all alike are fed on what grows in this thin layer of soil. If some wild flood in sudden wrath could.
