Editorial Note: This is a rewrite of an article from the May 1962 issue of Natural Food and Farming by Joseph A. Cocannouer. I am republishing these articles in the form a blog. These articles are full of insight that we have lost touch with. I hope to rejoin us with our ecological umbilical to our food and our life by sharing these writings. It amazes me what they knew then still applies today. Enjoy!
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Constantly, either by letter, phone, or word of mouth, the persistent question pops up: Exactly what do you mean when you speak of the soil’s Biotic Life?”
A Rational Question
And it is a rational question, for without some knowledge of the life in the soil, one’s concept of at true soil is vague. In a short article we can merely give the highlights of what a living soil actually consists of: what that dynamic life which is ties so intimately to the very existence of all of us really is and what it does.
Therefore, as a start — just what is your soil concept? When you think of soil do you merely call to mind an inanimate mass of sans and silts and clays, possibly with these materials in a measure bound together by organic threads? If that is your idea of soil, then your soil concept is considerably awry.
Comparable to a House
Let us illustrate. At the roadside stand and magnificent mansion. The architecture of this huge structure is superb and all the embellishments beyond compare. Yet the mansion stands there cold and empty. Nobody would think of this mansion as being a home. The mansion is solely the framework or locale in which organic life — human life, if you wish — is able to operate, either harmoniously or otherwise, largely depending upon what kind of other factors are present.
A true soil is much like the mansion in many respects, though the framework of the soil does provide some nutrients, which is not the case with the framework of a human house. The sands and silts and clays and organic fibers constitute soils skeleton as it were. It is the vital living things within which this skeleton which really constitute the true soil. Naturally, the framework of skeleton is essential, for how could you have a home without a framework within which to house it? So, whenever we think of a nature-approved soil, our minds should call up first of all those busy workers which must be abundant and strong in all food-producing earth.It is they which constitutes the heart of a nature-approved soil.
Basic Law of Nature
Let us never forget one of natures’ most basic laws: It takes organic life to develop and sustain organic life. And this, too, we need to keep in mind always: the organic world of which we are all a part is governed by one overall Law which we choose to call the Togetherness Law of nature. Now this great Law operates through the Biotic life in the production of normal plant growth. Incidentally, Biotic is just as short name for biological– and biology and organic life come very close to being synonymous term.
*** Editorial Note: Biotic and organic life may be better know as symbiotic life today.
In the three-link chain which makes up the organic world–the soil, the plant and the animal which feeds upon that plant–if things are as nature would have them, the Togetherness Law operates harmoniously. But–and here is another fundamental truth of nature–unless the Law operates harmoniously in the soil or anchorage link, it cannot operate harmoniously in the plant growing on that soil, nor in the animal whcih feeds upon that plant–simply because the nutrient factors are incomplete wherever the operations of the Togetherness Law are hampered.
(*** Please do not hamper the operations of the Togetherness Law ***)
Strong Biotic Life
It should ow be easy to see that is we expect to produce high-quality, health-carrying foods , our chief job is to see that our soil’s biotic life is string and vigorous, Our major task is to see that the environment of the biotic life is as near correct in our soil as we can make it. Then we need to feed this life according to natures’s pattern. Right there is where so many farmers and gardeners go astray. They pour materials into the soil which are incompatible with the needs of the biotic life–and what the results? Likely, falsely-stimulated growth giving high quantity but low quality production. Such soil treatment, though promising at first, will gradually destroy the productivity of the land.
Now shall we have just a peek at some of those soil workers, some members of that biotic life? We have space for little more than a glance, but even this much can be thrilling.
Dominating Worker
Of course, the domination member of that biotic family down in the soil is the earthworm. Not that the old worm is more important than other members of the biotic family, but it is always so evident in a really good soil. The earthworm’s work can be so easily measured and it’s worth to us is so enormous. The great English scientist, Darwin, who spent much of his life studying the earthworm and it’s varied activities, often declared it to be the most valuable living creature, and that did not exclude man himself. There are ample reasons for agreeing with Darwin completely. Wherever plant life is found on the land, there you will find the earthworm, nature’s constructive scavenger,on the job, forever salvaging plant roughage and giving it the first steps in its transformation into usable plant food. Due to this worm’s habit of prowling through the lower soils and then bringing back to the surface indispensable nutrients, the earthworm may well be called the prime soil balancer of nature. Give it a reasonably good soil home to start with and it will pay back that cost many fold.
Then there are the numerous groups of bacteria,or valuable soil germs, which take over where the worms leave off in the transforming processes. Volumes have been written about these invisible biotic workers and still much remains to be discovered and written, the number of valuable bacterial groups in the soil is large, and each group according to the pattern of nature has a different task to perform.
The Nitrogen Fixers
Probably the most challenging group of soil bacteria is the nitrogen-fixers–the germs which are essential for the building of protein, our food of foods. How many nitrogen-fixers groups there are, we still are not sure. The free or raw nitrogen gas, which makes up about 78% of the air we breathe, passes down into a nature-approved soil where the different groups of nitrogen-fixers pounce upon it and change it into what we call fixed-nitrogen, or the nitrate form. It is essential to state here that the soil must be right to contain all the bacterial groups with power to work effectively. After the fixing process is completed, the now-conditioned nitrogen is carried by the plant’s water streams up to the green leaves where it is built into the protein molecule. And if farm and garden practices are correct, no more nitrogen is ever needed for top crop production in both quality and quantity.
And now to our valuable soil fungi. After many years of careful study, Sir Albert Howard, English scientist, was able to declare these valuable soil fungi indispensable for the production of complete, health-carrying food. These fungi, distant relatives of the common toadstool, are found abundantly in every nature-approved soil and are so important that we plan to discuss them more fully in a later article. Suffice to say here that they rank close to the top as a member of the soil’s biotic family.
Sign of Soil Health
In the first six inches of a really good soil are found tiny, one-celled green plants in great numbers. These little plants are called algae, and they are able to build protein right there in the soil and likely do far more good than they are given credit for. The feeding roots of plants collect this protein and send it up to the food factory in the leaf where it is made available to us.
In other words–there you have the soils’ Biotic Life! There you the most important groups of that life. There are also other groups in this biological family, when conditions are normal, all working for us and all other plant and animal life and under the guidance of nature’s sublime Togetherness Law. Some non-colony ants carry a great deal of organic matter into the soil and consequently are valuable in the vast organic scheme of things. There are other valuable insects too, like some species of ground beetles, and a few worms other than the old earthworm, all of which do their parts in building and maintaining a fertile soil.
So you want nutritious, high-quality, health-carrying food… The Biotic Life of the soil is the key which opens the door to that kind of food, and absolutely no other key will fit the lock.
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I think there’s something to be said about this Togetherness Law. I may do a follow up blog on this later as more thoughts were provoked because of this article. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or find me on Facebook or Twitter to share ideas.