PART 11. SOILS AND FARM CROPS 



CHAPTER XI 

 SOILS 



What the Soils Do. The layer of dirt or crust 

 that covers the earth is .called the soil. It is so thin 

 in places that the rocks appear through it. In other 

 places it is deep. Plants and insects, birds, beasts, 

 and men, are all fed on what grows in this layer of 

 soil. It is marvelous that soil will produce so many 

 different kinds of plants. 



A Light Soil. .As we go about we notice that the 

 soil of some fields looks quite different from that 

 of others. Here we find a loose soil in which we 

 can easily see a large amount of common sand. 

 There we find soil that contains so much clay that 

 bricks can be made of it. The more sand a soil 

 contains the easier it is to cultivate it. It works 

 better under the plow and harrow. For this reason 

 a sandy soil is said to be a light soil. 



Heavy Soil. Clay soils stick together and are 

 hard to work, both when they are very wet and very 

 dry. If we make clay into mud pies, they will crack 

 when they are dry. Clay soils behave this way in 

 the fields. We have all seen the big cracks in clay 

 soil in the dry midsummer. This kind of soil is said 



84 



