Junior Naturalist Monthly. 339 



TEXTURE OF THE SOIL. 



G. F. Warren. 



Some of the Junior Naturalists collected samples of soil last fall. 

 Perhaps you have called it dirt or earth. I think that soil is a better 

 name for it, then we can use the word dirt to apply to dirty faces, 

 and earth to mean the whole world. The soil is only that part of the 

 earth on which plants grow or might be made to grow. What things 

 could we have to eat and wear if there was no soil? Could we have 

 linen handkerchiefs? Cahco dresses? Woolen mittens? Beefsteak? 

 Why? Could we have sealskin coats? Codfish? Those who 

 collected samples last fall know some of the ways in which soils differ. 

 Some are yellow and some are brown, some are hard and some are 

 mellow, some are coarse and some are fine. This month we want 

 you to see what you can find out about coarse and fine soils. Men 

 who study soils call this the texture of the soil. 



Did you get some sand and clay when you collected soils last fall? 

 If you did not, then get a little of each of these and samples of other 

 soils. Rub some of each between the thumb and finger. Which 

 is composed of larger particles? Can you find one single particle of 

 clay? Of sand? What other differences do you find between sand 

 and clay? 



If a soil has such a mixture of large and small particles that it is 

 neither clayey nor sandy, it is called a loam. Sometimes one is 

 really not a clay nor does it have enough large particles to make it 

 a loam, so we call it a clay loam. What kind of soil would a sandy 

 loam be? Which of these five kinds of soil is in your yard or garden? 

 Do you think of any crops that grow best on a sandy soil? On a clay 

 soil? Which one of the five kinds would you prefer for a garden? 

 Which ones are sticky? Which one is used for making brick? Which 

 makes "mud pies" best? 



A FEW EXPERIMENTS WITH SOILS. 



Experiment /.—Put sand in one bottle of water and clay in another. 

 Shake each bottle. Which settles more rapidly? Why? 



Experiment II. — How could you separate the different sized 

 particles in a loamy soil? Thoroughly shake such a soil in a bottle 

 of water. Let it stand for two or three minutes, and then pour the 

 roily water into another bottle. Let this stand for about an hour. 

 If the water is still roily, pour it into a pan and let it evaporate. 

 When the sediments are all dry, compare them and see which is 

 coarser. 



