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The Cornell Reading-Courses 



KINDS OF SOIL 



As a result of the many processes at work, we find two general classes 

 of soil. One results from the gradual disintegration and decay of rocks. 

 Such soils have been formed in place ; that is, they have not been moved, 

 and we call them sedentary. The famous limestone soil of Kentucky is 

 of this class. The other class has been moved more or less, and is called 

 transported soil. Water, wind, and ice have been the chief means of trans- 

 porting the soil material. Our best soils, as a rule, have been formed in 

 the latter way. In New York the greater part of the soil on the uplands 



^.-■/l-^ffB. 







Fig. 7. — The accumulation of sediment and the remains of swamp plants in wet places 

 form extensive areas of very fertile soil, often of a muck character 



has been formed by ice, which has ground up the rock from many sources 

 and mixed it together in the helter-skelter stony mass generally found. 

 Along the rivers and streams, on the plains of Lakes Erie and Ontario, 

 and on the Long Island coast, the soils owe their character to water which 

 has transported, sorted, and deposited the material in groups, or areas, 

 of considerable uniformity. Thus we find clay in one place, silt in another, 

 and various grades of sand, gravel, and stones in still other places. These 

 different characters give the soils different relations to crop gro^\'th. Soils 

 formed by water are, in general, the most extensive and important agricul- 

 turally. They are usually fine and uniform in texture and level in 

 topography. 



