Ocean State Libraries

An introduction to soil, its formation, importance, conservation, various kinds, and the plant and animal life found in it.

"Combines facts and science activities to provide an introduction to soil and its essential role in everyday life, covering such practical topics as soil runoff, composting, and soil composition." --

"When a teaspoon of soil contains millions of species, and when we pave over the earth on a daily basis, what does that mean for our future? What is the risk to our food supply, the planet's wildlife, the soil on which every life-form depends? Who much undeveloped, untrodden ground do we even have left? Paul Bogard set out to answer these questions in The Ground Beneath Us, and what he discovered is astounding. From New York (where more than 118,000,000...

"It is easy to take the soil beneath our feet for granted but students will never look at it the same way after reading this book. They will learn about the forces of nature that formed the soil and gave it the properties that make life sustainable. Among the things found in soil are the minerals our bodies need and the bacteria that can heal us. This book touches on the history of natural healing, from the Native Americans using herbal remedies to...

"What we do to the soil, we do to ourselves. Soil is the unlikely story of our most maligned resource as swashbuckling hero. A saga of bombs, ice ages and civilisations falling. Of ancient hunger, modern sicknesses and gastronomic delight. It features poison gas, climate collapse and a mind-blowing explanation of how rain is formed. For too long, we've not only neglected the land beneath us, we've squandered and debased it, by over-clearing, over-grazing...

Intended for both small and medium-size gardens, Improving Your Soil reveals the steps to take to achieve the perfect soil base in which to grow plants. With directions on amending poor soil, modifying mediocre earth, aerating compacted topsoil and substrates, and testing pH levels, this book enables gardeners to nurture their plants and promote more abundant growth. The features of good soil include proper structure and nutrients that encourage healthy...

Presents advice on how to improve growing soil, discussing some of the current misconceptions about soil and providing the best methods for adding enhancements that will produce nutrient-dense foods.

A major history of early Americans' ideas about conservation Fifty-years after the American Revolution, the yeoman farmers who made up a large part of the new country's voters faced a crisis. The very soil of American farms seemed to be failing, and agricultural prosperity, upon which the Republic was founded, was threatened. Steven Stoll's passionate and brilliantly argued book explores the tempestuous debates that erupted between "improvers," who...