THE SOIL THE HOME OF THE PLANTS. 43 



soil composed almost wholly of organic materials is 

 wet, spongy, and loose, and makes a poor home for 

 vegetables or flowers. Either place may be admirable 

 for a garden if properly treated by mixing the organic 

 and inorganic materials together. At once it becomes 

 plain that we must have some means of deciding 

 whether any particular soil has too much or too little 

 of either of these two classes of material. 



First we may look at the surface indications. These 

 are the color of the soil, and the position it occupies, 

 the plants growing upon it, and the amount of water 

 to be seen on the surface just after a rain. Soils com- 

 posed almost wholly of inorganic materials are full of 

 sand ; and such sands are gray, white, and light shades 

 of yellow or red, the most common colors being gray 

 and white. Organic soils are composed usually of the 

 remains of plants, and these are black or dark brown. 



The position of the soil whether it be at the top 

 of a hill, or on the side of a hill near the top, or 

 near the bottom, or in a level place is another indi- 

 cation. Organic materials are always lighter than 

 inorganic matter, and in running water will travel the 

 farthest, and be the last to sink. In a fall of rain, the 

 water running over the surface of a gentle slope may 

 sweep away all the organic matter, and leave the inor- 

 ganic behind. This makes it plain, that of two fields, 

 one on a hill-top and one in a valley, the hill field will 

 have more inorganic matter than the lower field in the 

 valley ; in like manner, the lower field will have more 

 organic than inorganic. In a field occupying a hill- 



