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20 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Decembeb 28, 1911. 



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SOIL AND 



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THE FLORIST 



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SOME ELEMENTARY FACTS. 



[A paper by Harry F. Good, of SpringQeld, O.. 

 read before the Springfield Florists' Club, De- 

 cember 11, 1911.] 



Soil consists of the disintegrated ma- 

 terial of the hard crust of the earth, 

 mixed with decayed vegetable matter. 

 This disintegration is effected partly 

 by the chemical action of oxygen, car- 

 bonic acid and the other acid or alka- 

 line substances brought by the atmos- 

 phere to bear upon rocks, and partly 

 by the wearing action of water in a 

 fluid state or in the form of glaciers, 

 or by its bursting force when frozen 

 in deep clefts. 



Soils produced by running water, 

 floods and tides, are found along the 

 banks or at the mouths of rivers and 

 are generally called alluvial soil. Those 

 produced by glacial action are called 

 drift soils. Both of these forms of soil 

 are generally found at great distances 

 from the rocks of whose disintegrated 

 materials they are composed. By far 

 the greater amount of soil has been 

 formed by the weathering of rock 

 under atmospheric influence and is gen- 

 erally found close to or overlying the 

 rocks from which it has been produced. 



Just beneath the stratum of earth 

 which supplies nourishment to plant 

 life is a mass of earth or rock which is 

 unmixed with decayed vegetable matter 

 and is known as subsoil. This subsoil 

 may or may not be similar in its geolog- 

 ical constitution to the soil, and, owing 

 to the absence of vegetable matter, is 

 generally lighter than the latter. 



Fertile Soils From Barren Bocks. 



Every species of rock has produced 

 its soil, but the older formations, from 

 their greater hardness and power to 

 resist atmospheric action, produce, in 

 proportion to their exposed surfaces, 

 less soil than do the secondary or 

 tertiary groups. 



The fertility of the soil has no rela- 

 tion to the chronological succession of 

 the strata of the earth 's crust. Igneous 

 rocks, or those produced by fire, gen- 

 erally produce a fertile soil, though 

 such rocks seldom become thoroughly 

 disintegrated. Metamorphic rocks, or 

 those stratified rocks which, under pres- 

 sure, heat, chemical action, etc., have 

 changed from their original structure, 

 as limestone to marble, furnish an ex- 

 tremely poor quality, as do also the 

 Silurian systems. The Lias, Oolitic 

 and Wealden systems produce clay soils 

 of considerable fertility, but of the 

 densest texture and an intractable char- 

 acter. Soils formed from the cretaceous 

 or chalk group are variable in quality, 

 but when mixed with sand or clay they 

 display considerable fertility, their 

 greatest fault being that of not suffi- 

 ciently retaining moisture. 



The Constituents of Soils. 



Soils, however they may vary in their 

 geological character, are all resolvable 

 into a few elements; namely, the various 



compounds of alumina, iron, manganese, 

 the four alkaline metals, the seven 

 alkaline earths and the four organic, 

 elementary substances. These eighteen 

 bodies supply, singly or in combina- 

 tion, all the constituents necessary to 

 the growth of plants, each of them hav- 

 ing its own portion of the plant to sus- 

 tain. The silica, or non-metal element, 

 produces strength and rigidity in the 

 stems. Alumina gives tenacity to the 

 soil, thereby rendering it a stable sup- 

 port. Manganese perfects the seeds, 

 iron absorbing oxygen and ammonia 

 from the atmosphere and giving it up 

 as required by the plant. Of these 

 ingredients, silica, alumina and lime, 



The Editor Is pleased 

 w^hen a Reader 

 presents bis Ideas 

 on any subject treated in 



fVtf«^ 



As experience is tbe best 

 teacber, so do 'we 

 learn fastest by an 

 excbanee of experiences. 

 Many vL.luable points 

 are brouebt out 

 by discussion. 



Good penmanship, spellln? and 

 grammar, though desirable, are not 

 necessary. Write as you would talk 

 when doing your best. 



WK SHAIX, BE GLAD 

 TO HEAR FROM TOU 



along with the matter derived from 

 organic bodies, constitute the bulk of 

 the soil. The other ingredients exist 

 only in minute quantity and hence is 

 derived the common, quadruple division 

 of soils into siliceous or sandy, argilla- 

 ceous or clayey, calcareous or limy soils, 

 and humus or vegetable mold. 



Mechanical Condition of Soil. 



It is not sufficient that soil possess 

 all the ingredients necessary for ren- 

 dering it fertile, or that these ingredi- 

 ents are in a sufficiently pulverized 

 state to enable them to be absorbed. 

 There is, besides this, a mechanical con- 

 dition necessary. A soil which pos- 

 sesses too great a proportion of silica is 

 too little retentive of moisture, and has 

 not sufficient texture to be an effective 

 support of tall plants. A soil in which 

 calcareous matter abounds is too dry, 

 while one in which alumina predomi- 



nates is generally too retentive of mois- 

 ture, and a great excess of alumina ren- 

 ders soil so extremely tenacious as to 

 be almost incapable of being reduced to 

 a proper mechanical state. The soil 

 which is the most perfect is composed 

 of about equal proportions of silica and 

 alumina and is known as loam; it is 

 called sandy or clayey loam, according 

 as the silica or alumina predominates. 



Belation of Soil to Subsoil. 

 But the physical quality of soils does 

 not wholly depend upon their composi- 

 tion. They are largely affected by the 

 depth of the soil itself and the quality 

 of the subsoil. Should the soil and 

 subsoil both be retentive, or both por- 

 ous, the ill effects of these states as 

 to dryness or moisture are largely in- 

 creased. If porous and retentive soils 

 of good depth rest upon subsoils of a 

 contrary nature, the defects of the 

 former are, to a considerable degree, 

 amended. Hence we see that the ad- 

 vantages and disadvantages of these 

 conditions must, to a large extent, be 

 judged by the prevailing character of 

 the climates. A porous subsoil in a 

 cold and moist district is generally 

 preferable, and vice versa. Each class 

 of soil, when it possesses proper chem- 

 ical ingredients in quantity sufficient 

 for the wants of plants and of a 

 texture favorable to their growth, ex- 

 cels for certain species of plants. Clay 

 loams are unequal for production of 

 wheat Jra^ beans; sandy loams are suit- 

 able for barley, rye and root crops, 

 while a combination is well suited for 

 other cultivated crops or for permanent 

 pasture. 



Vegetable Mold, or Humus. 



Besides the calcareous or marly soil, 

 which is sometimes classed as sandy 

 soil, we have the humous soil, which has 

 characteristics all its own. It is not 

 devoid of consistency, like the sandy 

 soils, or retentive of moisture, like the 

 clayey soils, but in its natural state 

 is spongy, of a dark color, and when 

 dry becomes inflammable. It consists 

 wholly, or to a great extent, of vege- 

 table matter and is found in perfection 

 in the flat bottom lands of America, 

 in our ancient forests and in the peat 

 beds of many parts of the world. In 

 its decomposed state it is the richest 

 of soils, but in peat form it requires 

 long and continued drainage and the 

 application of decomposing agents be- 

 fore it can be rendered fit for use in the 

 production of crops. 



Improvement of Soil. 

 It may be plainly seen from the 

 foregoing that the improvement of a 

 soil is effected either by supplying the 

 substance required by plants, by alter- 

 ing its depth and texture, or by remov- 

 ing excess or supplying deficiency of 

 moisture. The first is done by the addi- 

 tion of manures to the soil, care being 

 taken that the manure contains the 

 proper ingredients and in such a condi- 

 tion as to be assimilated by the plants, 

 either directly or indirectly through 

 the soil and by the more thorough expo- 

 sure of the soil to the action of the 

 atmosphere. Thus, a soil which gathers 

 a' coat of leathery scum or moss over 

 it is injurious to plant growth, because 

 the soil in the pot can not properly 

 come in contact with the properties in 

 the atmosphere. The second form of 

 improvement is effected by the mixture 

 of marl or clay with sandy, chalky or 

 peat soils, and of lime ashes or burned 



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