Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
and the decomposition process so rapid that it becomes difficult to increase the
humus content of the soil on a long-term basis.
In any event, what the climate dictates naturally will be the easiest level of organic
matter and humus to maintain; this is generally the same level as will be found in
an undisturbed forest or prairie of a similar soil type in a given climate.As a rule,
the further away from the Equator one goes, or the higher in altitude at a given
latitude, the higher the level of humus and organic matter in the soil will be. It can
be difficult to maintain even 2% Soil Organic Matter (SOM or just OM) in tropical
lowlands, while 10% or more SOM is common in some humid boreal climates.
Bog and peat soils are also found in tropical and subtropical climates but their
high organic matter content soon burns up when put into cultivation.
Humate Ores and Humic/Fulvic Acids
Humate ores form from massive layers of vegetation that have either been
covered over by subsequent sedimentary layers such as sand or volcanic ash,
which diminish leaching, or they form in impermeable clays below beds of soft
coal, where, as the humic substances leach out, they may be stopped by, held,
and concentrated in an underlying clay or shale layer (if one exists).
When a large area of this ancient vegetation has been sealed in by a sedimentary
layer of stone above it, it will not leach but continue to percolate, rising to the
stone lid above it, condensing, trickling back down, over and over for millions of
years. What effect this process may have on the properties of the humic
substances is unknown, but has been well described in the oldAlchemical
literature:
[...]Now in our Art you should closely imitate these natural processes. There
should be the Central Heat, the change of the water into air, the driving upward
of the air, its diffusion through the pores of the earth, its reappearance as
condensed but volatilized water.
The New Chemical Light, by Michael Sendivogius, 17th Century
[…] The earth conceives in her womb the splendour of the Sun,and by it the seeds
of the metals are well and equally warmed, just like the grain in the fields. Through
this warmth there is produced in the earth a vapour or spirit, which rises upward
and carries with it the most subtle elements. It might well be called a fifth element
for it is a quintessence, and contains the most volatile parts of all the elements.
This vapour strives to float upward through the summit of the mountains, but,
being covered with great rocks, they prevent it from doing so: for when it strikes
against them, it is compelled to descend again. It is drawn up by the Sun, it is
forced down again by the rocks, and as it falls the vapour is transmuted into a
liquid, i.e., sulphur and mercury. Of each of these a part is left behind—but that
which is volatile rises and descends again, more and more of it remaining
behind, and becoming fixed after each descent.
The Glory of the World, Or, Table of Paradise, by Anonymous, 1526 AD
