38 THE FIRST BOOK OF FARMING 



used in describing soil textures : Coarse, fine, open, 

 close, loose, hard, stiff, compact, soft, mellow, por- 

 ous, leachy, retentive, cloddy, lumpy, light, heavy. 

 Which of these terms will apply to the texture of 

 sand, which to clay, which to humus, which to the 

 garden soil, which to a soil that plant, roots can 

 easily penetrate? We find then that texture of the 

 soil depends largely on the relative amounts of 

 sand, silt, clay and humus that it contains. 



