The story “The native land is the breadwinner of people. A generous and immeasurable nurse in love is all our planet Earth is a nurse, what soils are there, presentation

Man is a child of the Earth. And everything that he has, everything that supports his life, helps him defend himself from enemies, get food, improve his existence, is given by the Earth. The stone gave to primitive man shelter and weapons. From the moment a two-legged creature meaningfully picked up a stone, the process of civilization began. The stone became a weapon of hunting, defense and attack, the stone gave fire. Stone caves served as the first shelters from predators, from bad weather, and united the clan. Clay made it possible to make the first dishes. Stone, clay and fire helped humanity move into the Iron Age... And we haven’t yet talked about such a product as salt...

Throughout history, man has been using the Earth's storehouses, extracting from there everything necessary for life. After all, even in our “synthetic time”, the original product is still the gifts of the Earth.

People called the topmost layer of solid earth the bark. The composition of the bark is complex. Most of all it contained oxygen, silicon and aluminum. Then others come chemical elements, but there are significantly fewer of them. Of course, oxygen gas is not contained in the bark pure form. It is part of the oxides. After all, even ordinary sand is silicon oxide with all sorts of additives. A plain clay- aluminum oxide, but also with many additives. Previously fusible rocks earth's crust called "sial". “Si” comes from the word “silicium” - silicon, in Latin, “al” - from aluminum. This term is now obsolete.

The composition and structure of the Earth's crust have always interested humanity. And it’s not surprising - after all, it’s the top layer of our planets provides a person with everything necessary for life. First everything you need - coal and ore - people collected directly from the surface, they just had to stir up the soil a little. Unfortunately, those times are gone. The time has passed when oil flowed in tight fountains from shallow wells. The more industry developed, requiring ever new raw materials, the deeper miners and drillers had to dig into the depths. I'm not even talking about the fact that geologists we have to carefully study the structure of the earth's crust to find new deposits. Those that have been explored have long been exhausted. And new treasures are hidden in such a way that finding them from the surface can be oh so difficult...

Many mineral resources are hidden in such inaccessible areas that geological exploration has to use not only aerial photography, but also satellites to draw up geological maps, determine possible areas occurrence of mineral raw materials. You need to figure out whether the game is worth the candle. Because building a mine or drilling into the upper layers of the lithosphere is not even half the battle, but much less. After all, in order to extract treasures hidden in the depths, it is necessary to dig pits or build mines, bring and use drilling rigs, lay gas and oil pipelines with pumping stations. And how many people need to be involved in all this! And they all need not only places to work, but also housing, food, organization of everyday life and leisure, nurseries, kindergartens and schools...

Many of these questions relate to economic geography. Solving them is difficult, but very exciting.

Goals:

1. Introduce children to various types soils and their composition.

2. Introduce the concept of “substance cycle”.

3. Justify the need and reveal methods of soil conservation.

4. Develop cognitive activity, the ability to observe, compare, generalize.

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Subject. The earth is the nurse.

Goals:

1. Introduce children to different types of soils and their composition.

2. Introduce the concept of “substance cycle”.

3. Justify the need and reveal methods of soil conservation.

4. Develop cognitive activity, the ability to observe, compare, generalize.

Equipment: physical map of Russia; edge map; diagram “Soil types”; material for experiments; diagram “Soil composition”.

UUD. Cognitive: find answers to questions using the textbook, your life experiences and information received in class. Independent identification and formulation of a cognitive goal.

Regulatory: learn to express your assumption; learn to distinguish a correctly completed task from an incorrect one.

Communicative:listen and understand the speech of others; convey your position to others.

Progress of the lesson.

I. Organizational moment lesson.

The bell rang and the lesson began.

We need to know, study and protect nature.

II. Checking homework.

What topic did we study in the last lesson? (Minerals.)

1. Connect the mineral and the properties with arrows.

2. Work using individual cards.

I option.

1.Most often it is gray or pink color. Consists of many noticeable grains. Very durable. Polishes well.

2. Most often it happens brown. When wet, it molds well and retains the shape it is given. ________________________________

3. It is black in color and shiny. Solid but brittle. Lit. ________________________________

4. Colorless gas. Lighter than air. Burns well. ________________________________

Option II.

*Write the names of minerals.

1. He white, durable. In it you can see the remains of shells of marine organisms. _________________________________

2. It usually happens yellow, consists of individual grains, free-flowing.

_________________________________

3 . It is usually dark brown in color, loose, fragile, and burns well. It contains visible remains of the plants from which it is composed. _________________________________

4. Thick, oily, dark-colored liquid with a pungent odor. Burns well.

_________________________________

3. Game "Get to know me."

Very durable and elastic

A reliable friend for builders

Houses, steps, pedestals

They will become beautiful and noticeable.(Granite.)

The kids really need it

He's on the paths in the yard,

He's at a construction site and on the beach,

And it’s even melted in the glass.(Sand.)

Flowing through the pipe

Bakes pies. (Gas.)

He won't run without it

No bus, no taxi,

The rocket won't rise

Guess what it is?(Oil.)

No wonder she was stewing

In a blast furnace

Turned out great

Scissors, keys... (Iron ore.)

If you meet me on the road,

Your feet will get stuck

And make a bowl or vase,

You'll need it right away(Clay.)

They cover the roads with them

Streets in villages(Limestone.)

It brings warmth to homes,

Helps melt steel

Making paints and enamels

It's black and shiny

The assistant is real.(Coal.)

Grew up on swamp plants,

Became fuel and fertilizer(Peat.)

2. Working with the map.

According to conventional signs

You will find it if necessary

Any on the map

Underground treasures.

- Find deposits of coal, oil, iron ore, natural gas, peat.

3. Characteristics of minerals.

Brief description of mineral resources according to the plan:

a) name;

b) properties;

c) extraction method;

d) application, significance in the national economy.

III. Communicate the topic and objectives of the lesson.

1. Riddle.

- Guess the riddle and find out the topic of the lesson.

And the wind blows around me,

And sometimes the rain falls,

And it digs a hole in me

Agile field mouse.

And the sun gets stronger and stronger

He hugs me and whispers:

Get ready for the harvest.

- This is the land-nurse.

- Today in the lesson we will learn why people call the earth “nurse”.

III. Working on new material.

1. Fairy tale “The Wonderful Pantry”.

- I'll tell you a story about a magical pantry.

Wonderful pantry.

There is a wonderful pantry in the world.

You put a bag of grain in it, and in the fall you look: instead of one there are twenty in the pantry. A bucket of potatoes in a wonderful pantry turns into twenty buckets. A handful of seeds is made into a large pile of cucumbers, radishes, tomatoes, carrots.

Have you ever seen a seed with two wings? You blow on it and it flies away.

And such a seed will end up in a wonderful storeroom, lie there, and where the winged seed was, there stands a branchy tree, so big that you can’t grasp it. This is not a fairy tale. There really is a wonderful pantry. M. Ilyin

Of course, you already guessed what it is called.

Earth, soil.

Why?

- You sow a handful of grains, and you collect a hundred handfuls, etc.

- What has Mother Earth been doing for a long time?

- The earth feeds people. Plants that people eat grow on it.

- The earth feeds insects, birds, and animals. That is why the earth is called the nurse. Let's find out what the harvest depends on.

You have seen more than once that many herbs, shrubs and trees have roots that go deep into the ground. They extract from there the nutrients necessary for plant growth. Top layer soil with a thickness of 2–3 cm to 150–200 cm or more, on which plants grow is the soil layer, soil.

Examine the soil samples on your tables. What do you see?

- Remains of old dry leaves, old grass, dry insects.

What color is the soil?

- The soil is dark in color.

Let's remember what else is included in the soil.

2. Practical work.

Experience 1.

Teacher. Take a glass of water and drop a lump of soil into it. What do you see? What does this mean?

Students. Bubbles are coming from the soil. This means there is air in the soil.

Experience 2.

Teacher. Let's take paper napkin, put some soil on it and squeeze it hard. Shake the soil into the box. What's left on the napkin? What does this mean?

Students. Wet spot. This means there is water in the soil.

Experience 3.

Teacher. Now let's see what happened in the glass where we threw a lump of soil. What is the water like? What do you see at the bottom of the glass? What conclusion do we draw?

Students. The water in the glass became cloudy. There are grains of sand visible at the very bottom of the glass, and clay on top. This means that the soil contains sand and clay.

Experience 4.

Teacher. Let's heat up some soil. What do you see? Why is this happening?

Students. Smoke appeared above the ground, and one could feel bad smell. This burns old leaves, remnants of grass and insects.

Teacher. This burns humus, which was formed from the remains of plants and animals. It is called humus. What conclusion do we draw?

Students. The soil contains humus - humus.

Experience 5.

Teacher. Now I will take a few drops of water from the glass where we had the lump of soil and place them on the glass. I heat the glass over the fire. What do you see? What is it?

Students. formed on the glass white coating. This is salt.

Teacher. Salts are nutrients needed by plants. This means there are salts in the soil.

Students fill out the chart.

3. Story.

Video.

Teacher. The soil consists of sand, clay and humus. It contains water and air necessary for plant life. What do you think soil fertility depends on?

Students. From the amount of humus.

IN different countries soil different colors: it is sometimes brown, sometimes red, sometimes dark, almost black. And in our country, the soils are also very diverse. (Showing different soil samples.)

exists in nature large number soil types. It depends on the location in the country and on the composition of the soil. Review several basic soil types on page 171 of the textbook. Soil scientists study soils. Compare these soil samples. Which soil do you think is the most fertile?

Students. Chernozem, there is a lot of humus in it.

Teacher. Chernozem soils are especially fertile. Chernozems are one of the riches of our Motherland. They grow stable high yields of various crops. Large areas are occupied by podzolic soils. They are less fertile, but with the application of fertilizers and proper processing they can produce a high yield.

Fertility - the main property of soil.

Each natural area matches your soil type. What are the soils like in our region?

Physical exercise.

Video.

Teacher. The formation of soil began only with the appearance of living beings on Earth. Since then, for millions of years, there has been a continuous process of soil formation. Scientists estimate that it takes two thousand years to form a layer of soil 5 cm thick.

Hard rocks in nature are constantly being destroyed. The result is a loose layer consisting of small pebbles, sand, and clay. There is almost no nutrients needed by plants. But still some unpretentious plants and lichens settle here. Humus is formed from their remains under the influence of bacteria.

The teacher opens the diagram on the board:

Teacher. Plants can now settle in the soil. They give even more humus. Later, various animals settle in the soil: worms, larvae, moles, etc. They increase soil fertility.

The main part of the soil is humus. Salts are formed from it under the influence of microorganisms. Plants use them. Animals eat plants. When plants and animals die, their remains fall into the soil and, under the influence of various microorganisms: microbes, bacteria, fungi, insects, larvae, turn into humus. And then from the humus they form again useful substances. New plants use them. And new animals eat plants. This is how substances “travel” in nature, as if in a circle. From the soil - into plants, from plants - into the bodies of animals, and with the remains of plants and animals - back into the soil. Scientists say: there is a cycle of substances in nature.

Imagine that the soil suddenly disappeared. The circulation of substances will be interrupted. Plants and animals will disappear. This means that people will not be able to live on Earth either.

Soils, like other natural elements, need to be protected and careful attitude.

Soil is formed slowly in nature (only 1 cm “grows” in 250–300 years), and is destroyed quickly. Wind and water can wash away and disperse the soil in a few hours. large areas. To protect the soil from blowing and washing away, forest strips are laid. In this useful work Schoolchildren also participate: they collect seeds, help with sowing, weeding, planting and watering young seedlings.

And where the soil is taken care of, large harvests are harvested. After all, the higher the harvest, the richer our Motherland.

4. Reading the article “Soil Protection” on pp. 162–163 of the textbook.

Teacher. What needs to be done to protect the soil?

Students. It is necessary to plant forest shelterbelts, carry out snow retention, properly plow the soil, moderately apply fertilizers and pesticides, and moderately irrigate the soil.

IV. Consolidation of the studied material.

1. Answers to questions.

Teacher. What is soil called?

Students. Soil is the top loose, fertile layer of earth.

Teacher. What is soil made of?

Students. Soil consists of water, air, sand, clay, humus, and salts.

2. Crossword.

The layer of soil on which plants grow. (Soil.)

One of components soil. (Sand.)

A substance that increases soil fertility. (Humus.)

The main property of the soil. (Fertility.)

V. Lesson summary. Grading.

1. Answers to questions (page 163).

VI. Homework (page 160-163, answers to questions)

Class: 4

Presentation for the lesson

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Attention! Slide previews are for informational purposes only and may not represent all the features of the presentation. If you are interested this work, please download the full version.

Textbook: A.A. Pleshakov “The World Around Us” Publisher: Moscow “Enlightenment”, 2012.

Goals: introduce children to different types of soils and their composition, human environmental activities; promote a caring attitude towards the earth; promote the development of logical thinking, observation, and the ability to express one’s thoughts.

Equipment: laptop, projector, screen, presentation.

Didactic material: soil samples, minerals (oil, peat, coal), explanatory dictionaries (author S.I. Ozhegov), cards with riddles and symbols, textbooks and workbooks, map of natural areas.

I. Motivation for educational activities.

Hello guys! Are you ready for new discoveries?

We are a good friendly class,

Everything will work out for us!

Then let's start working! Let's wish each other good luck!

II. Checking homework.

Today we have another meeting of the “Researchers” club. Let me introduce the participants of our meeting. Our class today is divided into groups (captains' presentation). Let's remember the rules for working in groups. (Repeat the rules).

Task No. 1. Let's remember what minerals we talked about in the last lesson.

(On the tables of each group there are envelopes with three riddles. At the teacher’s command, work begins. Time is given for discussion - 3 minutes.)

Very durable and resilient
A reliable friend for builders
Houses, steps, pedestals
They will become beautiful and noticeable (granite)(Slide 2).

The kids really need it
He's on the paths in the yard,
He's at a construction site and on the beach,
And it’s even melted in glass (sand).

Flowing through the pipe
The pies are baked by gas.

He won't run without it
No bus, no taxi,
The rocket won't rise
Guess what it is? (oil).

No wonder she was stewing
In a blast furnace
Turned out great
Scissors, keys... (iron ore).

If you meet me on the road,
Your feet will get stuck
And make a bowl or vase,
You'll need it right away (clay).

They cover the roads with them
Streets in villages (limestone).

It brings warmth to homes,
Helps melt steel
Making paints and enamels
It's black and shiny
The assistant is real (corner).

Plants grew in the swamp,
Became fuel and fertilizer (peat).

Now let's check it out. (Teachers read the riddles and name the answer, each team).

Task No. 2. Now let's talk about some minerals in more detail. Each group must prepare a story about a mineral. But which ones you will learn about by opening these magic boxes (the Teacher invites the captains to choose one of the boxes that contain oil, peat, coal).

Teams must determine what kind of mineral it is, name its main property, where it is used, and select a symbol from envelope No. 2. (Slide 3).

Now let's start defending our projects. (Teams present, others can agree or add something).

What do these minerals have in common?

What other mineral has this same property?

Fizminutka

Like in spring, at an early hour (tilts)
The seeds have sprouted for us (turns).
We went out, reached for the sun (stretched),
Turn around and smile!
Hello sun! This is us! (we spread our arms to the sides)
We just left the ground (walking).

III. Formulating the topic and objectives of the lesson.

There is a word lost in the title of the topic of our lesson, find it by solving the riddle. (Slide 4).

“.........................-nurse”
They beat me, stab me, turn me over, cut me,
But I endure everything and cry with kindness (earth).

Today we have to find out why the land is called the “nurse” and whether it needs protection.

So, what is the purpose of our lesson? (Students state the purpose of the lesson again.)

IV. Discovery of “new knowledge”.

Soil and its composition.

How many of you know what the top layer of earth is called? (soil)

Try now to find the meaning of the word “soil” in the dictionary. (Working with explanatory dictionaries, finding out the meaning of the word).

Let's remember the composition of the soil? (Slide 5).

Introduction to soil samples.

The science of soils - soil science - was created by the Russian scientist - soil scientist Vasily Vasilyevich Dokuchaev. More than 100 years ago, he proved that the main types of soils are located on the earth according to zonation. Each natural zone has its own soil type. He compiled the first soil maps of Russia, created scientific classification soil Now let's get to know different types soil

The soils are not the same in different places in our country. Soil scientists distinguish 6 main types of soils. Let's look at sections of the main soil types (Slides 6,7).

Tundra soils are common in the tundra, in the taiga and mixed forests– podzolic soils, in deciduous forests – gray forest soils, in the steppes – chernozem soils. Swamps are characterized by bog soils, while meadows are characterized by meadow soils. (Working with a map of natural areas).

The most common soils in our country are podzolic, the most fertile are chernozems. (Examination of samples of podzolic and chernozem soils). These soils are rich in humus. The darker the soil, the more fertile it is. During the Second World War, the Nazis exported our black soil to Germany.

Bog soils contain a layer of peat. And in meadow soils, a thick layer of turf formed by the intertwining roots of herbaceous plants is clearly visible.

We met various types soils, but did not answer the question “Why is our land called the wet nurse?”

Let's listen to the tale of the magic pantry (student's story) (Slide 8).

“I'll tell you a story about a magical pantry. If you put a handful of grain in it, you will get a hundred handfuls in return. If you hide a potato, you will get a lot out. It's under our feet. And it is called earth. Yes, only then is she kind and generous, when people are kind to her, and when they skillfully cultivate the land: plow, fertilize, water. And rightly so. How is it possible to take everything from the earth and give nothing in return? Yes, here any pantry will be empty in an instant. So it is with the magic pantry. Mother Earth has been feeding people for a long time. But people did not always realize what wealth it concealed. At a time when people did not yet know how to plow and sow, they took only what the earth itself stored for them: berries, mushrooms, juicy stems. Then people realized that they could specially bring grains from the fields with them and plant them near their homes. The first ears of bread have grown. First barley, then wheat, rye. This is how the land became kind and generous, giving people rich harvests.”

Continue the saying: What goes around comes around... (Slide 9) How do you understand its meaning?

So why is the earth called the nurse? (The earth feeds people, plants grow on it that people eat).

But not only humans are fed by the earth, but also insects, birds, and animals.

Soil protection (Slide 10).

But she, our nurse, needs protection. After all, one centimeter of soil is formed in nature in 250-300 years! Therefore, our soil needs protection and careful treatment. But you will learn what you need to do for this by reading in the textbook on pages 32-34. (Checking what you read using conventional signs).

Consider conventional signs V workbook and tell me what needs to be done to protect the soil.

Drawing up a leaflet on soil protection (work in groups). Compare with the standard. (Slide 11).

V. Reflection.

The meeting of the “Researchers” club is coming to an end. Let's summarize our research work. Students' answers are based on the following principle:

Today's lesson was interesting...

It was a discovery for me...

I can use my experience...

Even in the old days, our ancestors called our land a wet nurse. They took it with them to distant countries as a talisman. They composed poems and songs about her. So let us also love, appreciate and take care of our nurse!

The great Russian scientist V.V. Dokuchaev said that land is more valuable than pearls and gold. People can live without gold, but without land...? (Slide 12).

Self-assessment of activities using the Knowledge Ladder, assessment of work by the teacher.

VI. Homework. (Slide 13).

Textbook p.31-34, work. notebook p.53 No. 2,3.

Find proverbs and riddles about the earth (optional).

Anatoly ONEGOV.

Science and life // Illustrations

Cucumbers, similar to pears, grow in the garden when there is a lack of potassium in the soil.

After the barley, oats were sown in the fields.

The area of ​​meadows is reduced, followed by a decrease in the amount of livestock and manure.

You've probably come across ugly cucumbers in cucumber beds at the end of summer, when almost the entire crop has been harvested. Some of them look like peppers - the tails of the cucumbers are thin and curled; others - like a pear - the “head” is poorly developed, and the bottom is swollen exactly like a pear. Cucumbers that look like twisted peppers grow in garden beds when the plants lack nitrogen, and fruits that resemble pears grow when there is a lack of potassium.

Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, as well as sulfur, magnesium, calcium, iron are required by plants in large quantities, which is why they are called macroelements. Plants need other substances necessary for nutrition - microelements - in much smaller doses. Microelements are considered: boron, manganese, copper, molybdenum, zinc, silicon, cobalt, sodium, iodine.

It has long been known how plants behave when they lack a particular macro- or microelement in their diet. There will not be enough nitrogen - and the plants will immediately slow down their growth, and the leaves will turn from green to light green.

If there is not enough phosphorus, their growth, flowering and fruit ripening will be delayed, the leaves will begin to acquire purple and side shoots will not form.

If there is not enough potassium, the leaves will become limp, brown spots will appear on them, and the edges will turn yellow.

With calcium deficiency, plants will not grow and will remain tiny dwarfs.

And in the absence of copper, they cannot develop at all and die soon after emergence.

Plants obtain all of the listed nutrients from the soil. Potassium, phosphorus, calcium, sulfur, iron... are in the ground, the same clay that lies below the top fertile layer of soil is rich in them. But nitrogen is not contained in the soil - it comes from the air as a result of the activity of special bacteria, which absorb nitrogen in the air and enrich the soil with this element.

For successful work Such bacteria require two conditions: access to oxygen in the soil and its weak acidity. This is why soils in low, damp places are much poorer in nitrogen than soils in high, dry places.

Unfortunately, the natural accumulation of nitrogen in the soil is slow, but cultivated plants can extract it very quickly - it only takes a few years. Other nutrients can also be removed from the soil quite quickly.

Back in the very beginning of the eighties in Finland, I was shown a drawing from a book addressed to schoolchildren. In the picture there were two loaves of bread next to each other. One is small, and the other is a giant bread. Under the picture there were the following captions: just recently, in order for our body to receive all the microelements it needs, it was enough to eat a small loaf of bread; Now that the earth has already worked for people, in order to get the same amount of necessary microelements, we need to eat this giant bread. This is how they explained to Finnish schoolchildren that without adding microelements to the soil normal life people will soon be impossible at all. It was no longer said that all macronutrients should be added to the soil - this was the truth.

Somehow in scientific literature I read about the grain harvests that were harvested under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in the Russian North (we were talking about monastery lands). These harvests were characterized by the following numbers: “sam-5”, “sam-7”, “sam-11”, or even “sam-13”. What is “sam-5”? They sowed a pound of grain, but received five pounds And “sam-13” - they sowed one pood, but grew 13 poods! Very high figures even in modern times: if you spend at least 200 kilograms of grain per hectare of arable land, then the harvest can be 26 centners per hectare. Keep in mind that in those days. there were no seeders today, and grain was not sown in rows, but scattered by hand, and the grain grew in a continuous thick wall. With this method of sowing, not 200-250 kilograms of seeds were used per hectare of arable land, but 400, and the harvest “sam-13” looked different. : not 26 centners per hectare, but 52 centners! And this is on northern arable land, orphan podzols, which were once reclaimed from the forest with the help of fire! at the site of the ashes it contained all the macro- and microelements, but there was no nitrogen left in the soil - it evaporated. There was nothing living in the burnt soil: neither aerobic microorganisms, nor bacteria that could bind nitrogen and transfer it to the soil. Only for a year or two did the bare desert yield any kind of harvest from ash (ash was the first mineral fertilizer that man encountered). Then people abandoned the recent fire, and it was gradually overgrown, first with willowherb (fireweed), then with raspberries, and later with birch, aspen, and alder. And on such ashes in the 17th century they harvested a harvest that is now unattainable for many modern farms?! And the magic wand was the most ordinary manure, which in the spring was taken out to the fields and plowed into the soil. Manure turned out to be the second fertilizer that man encountered, and it was organic, providing food for various microorganisms, and complete, containing all the nutrients necessary for the plant, including nitrogen.

At the same time, when rich harvests were collected in the northern lands, manure there was a commodity, had its own price, and cows were often kept on the farm not for milk and butter, but for fertilizer.

In the spring, the manure, still covered in snow, was transported to the fields. After the snow melted, when the ground dried out, it was plowed under. The arable land filled with manure rested until the fall, and in the fall the field was sown with winter rye. The next year, the rye was harvested, the stubble left over from the grain was plowed in the fall, and in the next spring, a spring crop, the same barley, was grown in this field. In the third year, oats were sown after barley.

The oats were harvested, and only the next spring the manure was again transported to the field. That is, manure was applied to the ground once every four years: 40 tons per hectare of arable land. This amount of manure was produced in four years by one cow with a calf and a small flock of sheep. It turns out that one cow could provide one hectare of arable land with complete fertilizer. If you want to plow and harvest from two hectares of arable land, get two cows.

By the way, 40 tons of manure per hectare of arable land is the current fertilizer norm for growing bread, potatoes, and cabbage. This proportion must also be maintained in our garden if we make do with only organic fertilizers. On a bed 1 meter wide and 10 meters long, 40 kilograms of manure must be applied once every four years - at the rate of 4 kilograms of manure per 1 square meter, or a bucket of manure (raw) per 2 square meters vegetable garden Using fresh manure applied in the fall, you can grow either cabbage or potatoes; then root vegetables, green vegetables. Before the third, and even more so the fourth crop, the soil must be amended, because we do not let our land fallow.

This is how the secret of high yields in our country was revealed to me. northern land. What was the situation with grain harvests further south, in the same middle lane our country?.. Here the harvests were much smaller, and over the years they continued to decline. Let's open the Complete Encyclopedia of Russian agriculture, volume X. The rye harvest in Russia in the last decade of the 19th century (average for all regions) was 40 poods per tithe, a little more than 6 centners per hectare. While in Germany it is 14 centners per hectare. But rye is the main bread for the Non-Black Earth Region, 6 centners per hectare is not pure profit, from here we must also subtract the grain that was left for seeds. What did the peasant and his family have to do then for a whole year of life?

In front of me is a small book - a lecture by Professor K. A. Timiryazev “Science and the Farmer”. On the cover there is an author's note: "The royalties from this book are intended for the benefit of the hungry."

The book appeared in 1906 and, apparently, is in no way dedicated to a specific year of famine caused by the elements - we're talking about about the victims of another, chronic famine in Russia:

“At the present time, unless some of Shchedrin’s generals do not realize that Russia is fed by the peasant. He himself calls the land his nurse. But is this really so? This is what, just yesterday, one could read in the newspapers: “ According to information received by the Highest meeting approved under the chairmanship of I. A. Goremykin on meeting the needs rural population, it turns out that in total in 50 provinces, the amount of bread per capita of both sexes does not reach the annual food norm for one soul, 20 poods is 3.4 poods, i.e. 17 percent less than the norm." That, whoever feeds Russia is underfed himself. And he is undernourished because the old nurse, the earth, refuses to continue to feed him... What needs to be done to solve this problem of two ears of grain? Who will bring this solution?

The cause of chronic hunger in Russia lay primarily in the lack of manure. At one time, the German proverb “the meadow is the breadwinner of the arable land” was widely known. Moreover, it was known exactly what size meadow could feed arable land with an area of ​​1 hectare: 2 hectares of meadow - 1 hectare of arable land. These figures can be confirmed by the same manure norm: one cow supplies 1 hectare of arable land with manure, and a cow is fed hay during the stall period by a meadow measuring 2 hectares.

But such “meadow-arable land” relationships were preserved only where there was plenty of land. There was prosperity in the north, population to the south grew very quickly and, in order to feed people, it was necessary to increase arable land at the expense of meadows. The area of ​​meadows was reduced, the amount of livestock and manure decreased, and then crops fell.

But this is not all the troubles of the land that was once known generous nurse. The meadows, where hay was harvested for cattle year after year, of course, lost their strength, their fertility, because at that time they were not fertilized. Each time, the hay contained less and less macro- and microelements necessary for plant nutrition. It turns out that manure became less and less valuable. In addition, slightly more than 40% of potassium and phosphorus, which are spent on the construction of plant tissues, were returned to the field. This is how the arable land lost its strength, because the meadow lost its strength, and then the manure. But hay was harvested from the same meadow year after year in the north, and the harvests there for a long time kept quite high.

It turns out that in the north, hay was most often cut from floodplain meadows, from lowlands that were washed every spring spring waters. Spring water carried with it large number nutrients washed away in different places during floods, and left them in the floodplain of a river, stream, or in a damp low meadow. The soil was fertilized every spring again and again, and therefore beautiful grass always grew here, used to feed livestock.

But even in previous times, not every farm was provided with floodplain lands. And there were not always enough ordinary, non-floodplain meadows. And then they plowed up those lands where they had recently prepared hay for livestock, forgetting that without a sufficient amount of manure there would not be the desired harvest.