soil, unlike the other great factor in food production — climate — can be 

 so modified by man as to produce very large and very profitable re- 

 turns for the required outlay of labor and money. 



This leaflet is written for the purpose of calling attention to some 

 of the more important points that should be kept clearly in mind if 

 we are to use our soils to the best advantage. 



WHAT IS A SOIL? 



Any mixture of small pieces of broken rocks and decaying vegetable 

 matter on which plants may grow is properly called soil. As we go 

 about we notice that the soil of some fields looks quite different from 

 that of other fields. In some places we find a loose soil which we can 

 easily see contains a large amount of common sand. In other places 

 we find soil that contains so much clay that bricks can be made from 

 it. "We also find mixtures of the sand and clay, some containing 

 nearly equal parts of each and others having a greater quantity of 

 either sand or clay. The mixtures of sand and clay are often called 

 loam. 



KINDS OF SOIL. 



Some soils are much more easily plowed and cultivated than others 

 and such soils are known as light soils. The more sand a soil contains 

 the more easily is it cultivated. For this reason a soil containing 

 much sand is known as light soil. But we must not think that such 

 soils are light in weight, for a cubic foot of sand weighs about twenty- 

 five poimds more than a cubic foot of what we call a heavy clay. We 

 call the clay hea^y because it sticks together and is hard to work. 



Different parts of the same field may be quite different in color. 

 The red color of some clays is due to iron compounds, but the brown 

 and black color of moist soils is due to the black matter, or humus, 

 which is the result of the decay of plants. The leaf mould which we 

 find under the dead leaves in the woods is a good example of this 

 material which plays such an important part in our soils. 



We often describe a soil by the kind of timber that grew on it. 

 This is a useful method, because it has been found that the wal- 

 nut and maple grow on rich, strong lands, the poplar and oak on 

 lands of medium quality, and the beech and black gum on cold, wet, 

 heavy lands, that require very complete drainage if they are to lie used 



