Soils and Their Crop Adaptations 

 in New Hampshire 



By 



LLOYD E. GARLAND, HENRY R. ADAMS 

 and ROY L. DONAHUE^ 



I. Soils and their Characteristics 



A KNOWLEDGE of our soils and their use is necessary because soils 

 support plants and animals which provide us with food and fiber. 

 Our plants, including those grown for lumber, food, fiber, or for beauty, 

 all grow in the soil. The sale of these products from our soil provides part 

 of the living for many of the people in New Hampshire. 



Soil is the upper two or three feet of the relatively thin surface layers 

 which in most places in New Hampshire cover the bedrock. Through the 

 centuries, the surface material of broken rock fragments has been subjected 

 to the action of the weather. The material has undergone heating and cooling, 

 freezing and thawing, and leaching by rain. Plants and animals have grown 

 on and in this material. The original material now has mixed with it the 

 partially rotted remains of the animals, and roots, leaves, and stems of 

 countless generations of plants. The plant and animal residues have been 

 worked on by earthworms and other animal life, as well as by the lower 

 forms of plant life, such as fungi. In addition, each cubic foot of the ma- 

 terial contains millions of bacteria and other microscopic plants and animals 

 which get their living by breaking down organic matter and rock particles 

 to obtain food. 



The result of all of this activity is that the original material in the 

 surface layer has been markedly changed. It has some resemblance to the- 

 original material, but it is not the same. Some of the large rock particles 

 have been broken down into smaller ones; also, some plant nutrients have 

 been dissolved and carried away by water, while other nutrients have been 

 put into a form in which plants can use them more readily. 



It is this changed surface material that we call soil. In it grow most of 

 the plants which we use for food, feed and fiber, and for beautifying the 

 landscape. 



There are many diflferent kinds of soil. Some soils are sandy, coarse 

 and open to the movement of air and water, while others are clay-like and 

 tight. Some are deep to bedrock and others are shallow. Some soils are 



^Mr. Garland is New Hampshire State Soil Scientist, Soil Conservation Service; 

 Mr. Adams formerly was New Hampshire State Soil Scientist and is now Soil Scientist 

 in Classification and Correlation, Soil Conservation Service, Beltsville, Maryland; Mr. 

 Donahue is Agronomist. Now Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station. 



