1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FAR:\IER. 



365 



loam and clay soil. 



CLASSIFICATION OF SOILS. 



HEN farmers are con- 

 versing with each other 

 with regard to soils, or 

 discussing questions re- 

 >%.v /^,-j lating to them in their 

 I'r^v^'^ clubs, there seems to be 

 jfy ^ no well understood, 

 •ommon standard among 

 them, wherebv each mav 

 /\j 1 /^i vli? comprehend at once, the 

 t ( ^^r»1il kind of soil spoken of. 



Six divisions have 

 been adopted by those 

 who have investigated 

 the matter. These are 

 rocky soil, stony soil, 

 gravelly soil, sandy soil. 

 When lands are so rocky 

 as to be unfit for cultivation, they scarcely 

 come under the term of soil, although they 

 often produce heavy crops of wood and tim- 

 ber. But they sometimes materially benefit 

 the crops in their neighborhood by the influ- 

 ence produced from their shade, moisture, and 

 protection from winds. Their gradual decom- 

 position furnishes a certain portion of lime, 

 potash and other fertilizing materials, which 

 are washed down, and greatly contribute to 

 the support of vegetation which is within their 

 reach. The mosses which rest upon these 

 rocks and cling to their sides, may appear to 

 the beholder as worthless vegetable life. — 

 But it is not so. They are living, active or- 

 ganisms, penetrating every fissure of the rock, 

 and imperceptibly corroding the solid struc- 

 tures and preparing them for future useful- 

 ness in soils, or composing soils themselves. 

 There are some other soils, peculiar in them- 

 selves, such as Avhat are denominated peat or 

 vegetable soils, or the prairie soils, which 

 have been annually burned over for ages, and 

 are highly charged with ashes and alkaline 

 salts. 



Some simple distinctions ought to be as- 

 sumed for reference, and in order to gain 

 these Professor Johnston has presented a 

 classification of soils which is based princi- 

 pally upon these chemical constituents. These 

 are 



1. Pure clay, consisting of about sixty 

 parts of silica, that is, flint, and forty parts 

 of alumina, — which is a common ingredient of 

 ■2 . 



clay — and oxide of iron. When this earth is 

 passed through water, no silicious sand will 

 settle at the bottom, and it rarely forms any 

 extent of soil. 



2. Strongest clay, tile clay, sticky clay, 

 consists of pure clay mixed with five to fifteen 

 parts of a silicious sand — that is, flinty sand. 



3 Clay loam differs from a clay soil, iu al- 

 lowing from fifteen to thirty parts of fine sand 

 to be separated from it by washing. By this 

 larger admixture of sand, the clayey parts are 

 mechanically separated, and the soil becomes 

 of a more free and friable nature. 



4. A loamy soil, upon washing, will leave 

 from thirty to sixty parts of sand on the bot- 

 tom of the vessel in which it is washed. 



5. A sandy loam will leave from sixtv to 

 ninety parts of sand. 



6. A sandy soil, or light sand, as it is 

 called, would have less than ten parts of clav. 

 Such a soil, if worthy of the name, would 

 scarcely produce any compensating crop. 



This classification may easily be made by 

 means of simple washing. The soil should 

 first be dried, and then after boiling in water 

 should be thoroughly stirred in some conven- 

 ient vessel. The sand will settle first, and 

 when it is at the bottom the liquid alone, hold- 

 ing the fine clay, &c., in suspension, mav be 

 poured off; when this has been done a few 

 times, nothing will remain at the bottom of 

 the vessel, besides nearly pure sand; this 

 may be dried and weighed, and the quantity 

 will indicate to which class of the above the 

 soil belongs. 



But the above classification has referred 

 only to the clay and sand, while lime is an im- 

 portant constituent of soils, and of whicli they 

 are seldom entirely destitute. 



7. Marly soils, in which the proportion of 

 lime is more than five parts, but does not ex- 

 ceed twenty parts of the whole weight of dry 

 soil. The marl is a sandy, loamy or clay 

 marl, according as the proportion of clay it 

 contains would place it under the one or other 

 denomination. 



8. Calcareous, or limy or chalky soils, in 

 which the lime exceeding twenty parts in one 

 hundred, becomes the distinguishing constitu- 

 ent. There are also, calcareous clays, or 

 loams, or sands, according to the proportions 

 of clay and sand which are present in them. 



Then vegetable matter is sometimes the 



