56 SOILS 



beans, etc., enjoy this type of soil. Clover and alfalfa 

 will do well upon it, provided the soil is deep; 

 black raspberries and peaches also thrive upon 

 sandy loams. However, they are preeminently 

 vegetable gardening soils. 



In handling these soils the important thing to 

 do is to remedy their chief defects, which are leach- 

 iness, and, as a consequence, deficiency in available 

 plant food. They need to be fertilised highly 

 and are likely to be benefited most of all by stable 

 manure, which corrects both defects. Usually it 

 is not best to plow them in the fall and leave them 

 over winter without a cover crop, because much 

 plant food will be lost by leaching. 



v CLAY SOILS 



Soils containing 60 per cent, or more of clay and 

 silt are commonly called clay soils. A large part 

 of so-called clay soil may be silt. Some clay soils are 

 80 to 90 per cent clay and silt; these are usually 

 worthless for farming. Clay soils are exactly the 

 reverse of sandy soils in nature and in agricultural 

 value. The very small spaces between the ex- 

 ceedingly fine grains admit air and water very 

 slowly. When a clay soil is once thoroughly w r et 

 it is sticky ; when dry it cracks and bakes- and be- 

 comes cloddy. Hence, such soils are not only hard 

 to till, but they are also hard on plants, often being 

 too wet in a wet time and too dry in a dry time. 

 The difficulty lies in the slowness of clay soils to 

 move water. The dark, bluish-gray colour which 

 so many clays possess is mostly due to the presence 

 of iron oxide or iron sulphide; the red or yellow, 

 is due to the presence of peroxide and protoxide of 

 iron. 



