Soil Fertility by Henry D. Foth and Boyd G. Ellis
This book is a hard-to-find item because it is out of print. It provides perhaps the simplest explanations around for the basic science behind soil advising. To make much use of this book does require remembering the basics from high school inorganic chemistry.
Preface:
This book has been written to serve as a text for a soil fertility course at the
j u n i o r – s e n i o r level and at the master’s level for students who have had an
introductory course in soil science and several basic science courses. We
have chosen to cover the most essential topics and not produce an all-inclusive
text to serve as a reference book. T h e treatment is an evolutionary one
which considers soils as dynamic, ever-changing bodies.
There has been major progress over the past three decades in the
accumulation of new knowledge and development of theories in the fields
of soil science, agronomy, plant physiology, and plant nutrition. Thus, the
production of this book has been an exciting challenge to integrate the most
recent information about soil fertility with the knowledge and theories
about weathering and soil evolution, mineralogy, exchange chemistry, soil
taxonomy, fertilizer technology, and plant growth and nutrition.
Soils are one of the world’s most important resources. We hope that
the information put forth in this book will help to increase the food supply
for the world’s expanding population.
We extend our special thanks to Mary Foth for the graphic art work
and to Nate Rufe for photographing the mineral models.
Henry D. Foth
Boyd G. Ellis
East Lansing, Michigan
June 1988