THE KEY-NOTE OF GOOD FARMING. £5 



That is, they constitute a porous mass ; with a certain power of 

 absorbing moisture from the atmosphere, from rains and from the 

 " water table," * which lies at a greater or less depth below the 

 surface j with a greater or less ability to admit the circulation 

 of air ; with a certain power to absorb and retain heat ; and with 

 pores between its particles into which roots may penetrate. So 

 far as these qualities are concerned, the most fertile soils are those 

 which are loose in their texture, and neither light enough to become 

 too easily dry, nor so heavy as to be too excessively wet in rainy 

 seasons. Such soils may have a wide range of composition with- 

 out materially differing in fertility. All that is required is that they 

 contain enough clay to give them a good consistency, and enough 

 marl, or vegetable mould, or sand to prevent their being too stiff". 

 They may contain very little or very much sand, very little or 

 very much vegetable matter, and very little or very much marl. 

 Even the clay may be present in large or small proportion without 

 necessarily making the soil much richer or poorer. 



These mechanical ingredients of soils may vary in the follow- 

 ing proportions without materially affecting its fertility, pro- 

 viding, of course, that they are so apportioned to each other as 

 to make a mass of the proper consistency. 



Organic matter (vegetable mould) from 8 ozs. to 70 lbs. in 100 lbs. 



Clay «' 5 lbs " 35 " 



Sand (silicious) "20 " "90 " " 



Marl (calcareous or limy sand) " 5 " " 20 " " 



A perfectly fertile soil, out of which the water has been 

 dried, may contain as much as 98 or even 99 per cent, of matters 

 which never enter the roots of ordinarily cultivated plants, and 

 which only perform the mechanical offices set forth above. 



Intimately mixed with this mass of material, and, like it, de- 

 rived from the decomposition of the rocks or from the decay 



* By the " water-table" is meant the level of the standing water in the ground — the 

 water which is neither dried up from the surface, nor drained away below, by natural 

 or artificial means. It is nearer to the surface or farther away from it in proportion to 

 the completeness of the drainage, the dryness of the season, and the amount of rain-fall. 



