60 The Sugar-Beet in America 
Taste III.— Noumser or Soi, ParticLes IN A Gram OF SOIL 
or DIFFERENT TEXTURES 
NaME wae | oe Gece 
1. Fine gravel . . . . 2.000—1.000 2.52 
2. Coarsesand. .. . 1.000-0.500 1,723 
3. Medium sand .. . 0.500-0.250 13,500 
4. Finesand. . .. . 0.250-0.100 123,600 
5. Very finesand . .. 0.100-0.050 1,687,000 
6. Silts = 2 s *& = 5 0.050-0.005 65,000,000 
7. Clay . . . . . .{| Less than 0.005 | 45,500,000,000 
A soil composed entirely of particles of a single size is 
never found; hence the name given to a soil type depends 
on the relative mixture of these various sizes. The terms 
most commonly used for these mixtures are: (1) coarse 
sand, (2) medium sand, (3) fine sand, (4) sandy loam, (5) 
loam, (6) silt loam, (7) clay loam, and (8) clay. Farmers, 
speaking in a general way, usually call their soil sand, 
loam, or clay. 
Of the properties of the soil affected by texture, prob- 
ably none is of greater practical importance than the 
water-holding capacity. Moisture is held in thin films 
around the soil particles and the quantity that can be re- 
tained depends largely on the surface area of the particles, 
which, in turn, depends on the size of the particles. This 
is illustrated by the fact that a coarse sand will hold 
scarcely 15 per cent of water, whereas a clay may hold 
45 per cent. 
