With more than adequate justification the great
Russian soil microbiologist N.S. Krasilnikov judged fertility by
counting the numbers of microbes present. He said,
". . soil fertility is determined by biological factors, mainly by
microorganisms. The development of life in soil endows it with the
property of fertility. The notion of soil is inseparable from the
notion of the development of living organisms in it. Soil is created
by microorganisms. Were this life dead or stopped, the former soil
would become an object of geology [not biology]."
Louise Howard, Sir Albert's second wife, made a very similar
judgment in her book, _Sir Albert Howard in India._
"A fertile soil, that is, a soil teeming with healthy life in the
shape of abundant microflora and microfauna, will bear healthy
plants, and these, when consumed by animals and man, will confer
health on animals and man. But an infertile soil, that is, one
lacking in sufficient microbial, fungous, and other life, will pass
on some form of deficiency to the plants, and such plant, in turn,
who pass on some form of deficiency to animal and man."
Although the two quotes substantively agree, Krasilnikov had a
broader understanding. The early writers of the organic movement
focused intently on mycorrhizal associations between soil fungi and
plant roots as _the_ hidden secret of plant health. Krasilnikov,
whose later writings benefited from massive Soviet research did not
deny the significance of mycorrhizal associations but stressed
plant-bacterial associations.
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