174 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The physical qualities of these soils contribute to their productiveness, 

 permitting a wide range of roots in the soil and subsoil. 



Light Sands. — There is a fourth class of soils, characterized by a large 

 excess of sand, open and porous, in many cases easily drifted by the wind, 

 the grass growing in bunches instead of an even sward, and the vegeta- 

 tion generally of a light character. The jack pine plains of the northern 

 counties are good examples, Seven samples of such sandy soils give this 

 average composition : 



Per cent. 



a<j . fLime .31 



•|s5 | Magnesia .17 



|£o j Potash .42 



g-S ^Phosphoric acid .09 



Sand and insoluble silicates 92.66 



By grouping in one table all these averages, we can better see their 

 relation to each other, and their possible needs of fertilizers. 



Wheat and grain lands 



Fruit soils _- 



Potato and utility soils 

 Sandy soils 



2.1 



O <D 

 ■I. — • 



•- o 



s. 



70.43 

 83.75 



'.«U">2 

 92.66 



One is struck with the steady increase of the sand and insoluble sili- 

 cates as the eye follows down the table, and the nearly uniform decrease 

 of the essential elements of plant food, the alkaline materials and phos- 

 phoric acid. Equally significant is the relatively small amount of the 

 essential ash elements in these soils, taken as a whole, as compared with 

 the inert materials in the soils. Take the average of the phosphoric acid 

 in this group of soils, and it is less than one-fifth of one per cent. Now, 

 an acre of soil taken to the depth of twelve inches would weigh 4,000.000 

 pounds. If such soil holds only one-fifth of one per cent of phosphoric 

 acid an acre one foot deep would contain 8,000 pounds, or enough for 350 

 crops of wheat with the straw 



A 

 would be desirable to add to the soil to improve its productive capacity 

 If a soil is deficient in lime, the natural remedy would be to apply lime, or 

 marl to tone up its composition. If the land is deficient in potash we may 

 add wood ashes or German potash salts. It is found that a soil rela- 

 tively deficient in potash will give better results by a good dose of lime, 

 which renders active the inert forms of potash in the soil. 



But the quest ion arises. Why apply manures to the soil when it already 

 contains such enormous quantities of mineral matter, even when the per- 

 centage is small. A soil that contains one per cent of lime holds enough 

 of that demon i to supply a main crop for a thousand years in succession. 



glance at this table would suggest the mineral materials that it 



