40 THE OLIVER PLOW BOOK 



mitting great quantities of moisture to escape. 

 Clay never works up into a loose, mellow seed 

 bed, but rather one of clods or fine dust which 

 blows easily. Cultivated when wet, clay forms into 

 clods of different sizes, from that of a walnut to as 

 large as a person's head, depending upon the kind and 

 amount of cultivation. The grain is fine and has a 

 peculiarity not discernible in any other type of soil. 

 Moist clay is soft and sticky. It can be kneaded and 

 formed into various shapes and bodies. Small boys, 

 unable to buy marbles, use clay very successfully for 

 making them. A small piece of clay can be easily 

 smoothed and polished by the fingernail. While polish- 

 ing a greasy or soapy feeling will be noted. Moist clay, 

 when rubbed between the thumb and finger, has a slip- 

 pery feeling. Persons walking on a sloping bank of 

 wet clay are apt to have their feet slide out from under 

 them very suddenly. Clay in a powdered condition 

 when moistened, has a peculiar odor unlike anything 

 else. Clay in color may be red, yellow, blue, white, 

 black or chocolate. 



For the most part clay soils when plowed too dry, 

 form large clods which are decidedly hard to break into 

 pulverized condition. If such soil lacks humus in 

 sufficient quantities to keep it friable, it nearly always 

 forms a powdered surface. Among these peculiarities 

 of clay the fact that it holds moisture longest, bakes 

 hardest, and forms clods easiest should be a warning that 

 the greatest of care must be exercised in plowing dry 

 clay soils, if there is a possibility of rainy weather com- 

 ing between the time of plowing and planting, because 

 the dry soil in this powdered condition will run into a 

 sticky, plastic mass which will later dry hard and crack 



