280 DRY FARMING 



and chlorides) in the depth occupied by the roots ex- 

 ceed one per cent, of the dry weight of the soil and only 

 a few resistant species can be expected to give good crops 

 when the quantity exceeds one-half of one per cent/' 



Loose Top Soils 



This is a local name applied to a peculiar type of very 

 heavy soil which both in the unbroken as well as in the 

 cultivated condition frequentlty carries a loose or springy 

 layer of soil three or four inches in depth. The vegeta- 

 tion is rather sparse, mostly grasses of a bunchy nature 

 with considerable sage brush in some parts. Very few 

 native trees or shrubs are found growing on it. 



This soil bakes very readily after being wet and on 

 drying opens up in large cracks often wide enough to 

 let the plow wheel in to the axle. The rain water and 

 some of the loose particles of soil pass into these cracks 

 and on freezing and expansion later there results the 

 roughened surface popularly spoken of as "hummocks". 

 A considerable area of this type of soil lying west and 

 south of Goose Lake in Saskatchewan was spoken of 

 among the early ranchers as the Saskatchewan desert. 



This soil when broken is dark in color, the loose spots 

 appearing almost a slate blue. Even in dry weather it 

 seems damp when plowed and if -the dry weather con- 

 tinues after plowing, the soil of the furrow slice becomes 

 very hard. After rains it "slakes" down forming a loose 

 surface dry on top and wet underneath and inclined to 

 bake and crack in the heat after heavy rains. The soil 

 is very deep, rich and very fertile but cold and rather 

 difficult to till. 



235. How Loose Top Land is Broken. — This land is us- 

 ually broken with rod plows instead of the ordinary 



