THE soil.. 1)7 



known as felspar, dissolving a portion of it 

 and leaving a residue which is clay. A little 

 search amongst the stones in a garden is 

 almost sure to reveal that while some. of the 

 stones are quite hard, others are relatively 

 soft; some being found which may be crushed 

 in the hand, or crushed or broken by the 

 spade. In these soft stones the felspar has 

 been attacked and partly converted into clay. 



3. It requires little observation to see that 

 the particles of which the soil is composed 

 vary greatly in size. This variation is of great 

 importance, agriculturally, for the nature of the 

 soil is greatly influenced by the preponderance 

 of large or small particles. By stirring up a 

 small quantity of soil with water and pouring 

 it away, repeating the operation until the 

 water comes away clear, the fine and coarse 

 particles may be separated from one another ; 

 and by stirring up the water containing the 

 finer particles, and pouring away again, a fur- 

 ther separation may be made into fine and very 

 fine particles. It will be noticed that the 

 water remains muddy for a long time indica- 

 ting the presence of particles of an extreme 

 degree of fineness; these very fine particles are 

 clay. This method, carried out with cer- 

 tain precautions, is largely employed in 



