CHAPTER III 



SOILS {continued) 



Classification of Soils.— Soils have been divided into 

 classes, sub-classes, orders and species, somewhat analogous 

 to what has been done in regard to the various members of 

 the animal and vegetable kingdoms, but it is not necessary Eight classes 

 to do more here than to consider the eight principal classes, ° ^°' ^* 

 with their chief sub-divisions, into which the different soils 

 are usually placed. 



lY^.Q first class comprises the clay, or, as they are some- ciay soils, 

 times called, the argillaceous soils, which contain over 50 

 per cent, of clay. They are cold and difficult to work on 

 account of their stiffness. Water does not run through them 

 easily, and so they must be well drained in order to be 

 properly cultivated. As clay loses its plastic or sticky 

 property by being subjected to heat, it does good to a clay 

 soil to pass fire over it or to burn it in heaps and then spread 

 it over the land. Clay soils may or may not contain lime 

 up to the proportion of 5 percent., and thus they are divided 

 into two sub-classes. 



The second class comprises the loamy soils which contain Loams. 

 from 30 to 50 per cent, of clay. These soils may also be 

 with or without lime. 



The third class is the sandy loams, containing from 20 to Sandy 

 30 per cent, of clay, and they are also sub-divided according ^°^™^- 

 to the presence or absence of lime in them. 



Th.Q fourth class is the loamy sands ^ and contains from 10 sands. 



