SOILS THEIR CHARACTERISTICS. 43 



allow water and air to pass freely through it, and by vir- 

 tue of its porosity it condenses and retains gaseous mat- 

 ter within, and it absorbs saline substances. Though such 

 a soil freely parts with a superabundance of water, yet in 

 dry weather it imbibes from the atmosphere large sup- 

 plies of moisture. Schubler found that 100 pounds of 

 dry humus would hold 190 pounds of water without losing 

 a drop. In dry weather 1,000 grains of it spread upon 

 a surface of fifty inches absorbed from the atmosphere 

 in three days 120 grains of moisture. Of silicious sand 

 the same amount absorbed nothing; sandy clay, 28 grains; 

 loamy clay, 35; stiff clay, 35; garden mould, 52. Hence 

 the best defence we have against drought is an abundant 

 supply of decayed organic matter in a loamy soil. Neither 

 clay, sand, humus, nor lime will, if pure, sustain a healthy 

 vegetation; but properly mixed, they constitute the main 

 ingredients of the richest soils in the world. As good 

 loam contains sufficient lime, it is constantly employed 

 with peat and sand, in varying proportions, by gardeners 

 as the essentials for proper development of the plants 

 they wish to grow therein. 



Where true peat cannot be obtained, leaf-mould from 

 the woods, black muck from the swamps, well decom- 

 posed and sweetened by exposure, or thoroughly rotted 

 turf mixed with powdered charcoal, are the besl substi- 

 tutes.* 



The depth of a soil is quite as important as its texture. 

 If not naturally deep, it must be made so by trenching. 

 Deep soils retain a constant supply of moisture in dry 

 weather, so that the plants do not suffer; they do not 

 become too wet in rainy seasons, as the earth drinks in 

 and retains the rain below the surface; hence they are 

 not so liable to wash away. If equally rich, they furnish 



* Rural Cyclopedia, Dr. Lindley. 



