What Kind of Soil Have You Got? A e wilkinson 



VERY FEW OF US HAVE THE "IDEAL" BUT THAT'S NO CAUSE FOR DESPAIR— SPECIAL MERITS OF EACH TYPE 



THOUGH the ideal would be a sandy soil 

 with good soil texture, high moisture 

 and air con tent, and good subsoil, yet the 

 practical fact remains that most of us 

 have to put up with the particular soil of the re- 

 gion. To improve the soils not ideal, our most 

 important step is working in a supply of man- 

 ure. It is not possible to obtain too much man- 

 ure. Some of the best truck gardeners near 

 the larger cities secure and apply as 

 high as forty and fifty tons of well rotted 

 manure to the acre. If the home gardener 

 will consider just what this manure does to 

 the soil — supplying plant food, increasing the 

 water-holding and 

 air-holding capacity 

 of the soil, and in- 

 creasing the root ac- 

 tivities — there is one 

 question that he 

 would be quitewilling 

 to obtain a large sup- 

 ply of manure for the 

 work of improving 

 his garden. This ma- 

 nure is to be turned 

 under and thoroughly 

 harrowed and mixed 

 with the soil. 



The first point to 

 notice is the texture 

 of the soil. By tex- 

 ture is meant the size 

 of the particles and 

 the friability or loose- 

 ness of the soil. A 

 good example of a 

 soil of fine texture 

 is seen in that found 

 in the average com- 

 mercial greenhouse. 

 It has been "manu- 

 factured," by mixing. A good mixture 

 is one part well rotted manure, one part 

 sand, and two parts rotted sod. In the 

 garden the object is to strive to reach this 

 type as nearly as possible. 



If a soil with a very early or quick char- 

 acteristic is desired a coarse sand is indicated 

 because the coarse sand is well drained and, 

 therefore warms up very early in the spring, 

 advancing the time at which planting may 

 begin. Coarse sands are also warmer through- 

 out the growing period which respond easily 

 to irrigation. Soils of this particular type 

 need liberal applications of humus-making 

 material turned under yearly. This material 

 may take the form of stable manure or green 

 crops. 



Medium sands are not quite so early as 

 the coarse sands; nor so productive. How- 

 ever, they do hold the moisture and plant 

 food much longer. The fine sands are the 

 most productive garden soils, because of their 

 lessened expense in maintaining fertility. 

 Coupled with this, they have some of the 

 advantages of the medium sandy soils. 



The clay soil is the least desirable for the 

 majority of vegetable crops. They are of 

 very fine texture; so fine indeed that they 

 come into a very compact condition very 

 easily, necessitating great care in manage- 

 ment. By proper management and the ad- 

 dition of certain materials, and in the course 

 of time, the correct granular condition will be 

 brought about in a clay soil. The necessary 

 steps in handling clay are, first, to apply a 



large amount of horse manure which has a 

 tendency to loosen the soil and render it 

 more porous. From four to six inches of 

 manure spread over the surface is none too 

 much. This may be repeated yearly. A 

 heavy application of manure in the fall may 

 be repeated the following spring. In all 

 cases the manure should be thoroughly in- 

 corporated with the soil by plowing and 

 fitting. 



Clay may be improved by the addition of 

 other soils of differing characteristics. Coarse 

 sands or stove coal ashes can be mixed with a 

 clay garden soil and will correct its faults. 



Gravelly soil is generally over-drained because of space 

 between particles. Manure is a binder, filler, and moisture 

 holder 



Clay soil. The particles are 

 as shown. Unsuited to crops, 

 vation 



Mulching improves a clay soil. This may con- 

 sist of composted materialsuchasgarden waste, 

 lawn rakings, leaves and other decomposed 

 vegetable matter, or of decomposed manure, 



Sand is loose and dry. Greatly in need of manure, hu- 

 mus, etc., to give texture, when it is a most desirable soil 

 for early and quick crops 



all of which retard tendencies toward pack- 

 ing. A word of caution: do not work clay 

 soils while they are very wet, because this 

 will spoil the physical condition, the packing 



30 



making them very lumpy and less productive. 

 Between the clay and the sandy soils are 

 the loams. These loams may vary from 

 light heavy and in all cases are easy to 

 manipulate and are adapted to a wide range 

 of garden crops. They are, as a rule, the 

 soils in the average garden. 



The average moisture that a soil contains 

 is of great importance. Now water is held in 

 the soil in several ways. There is capillary 

 water, sometimes spoken of as film water, 

 because it is water that surrounds each 

 particle of soil as a film. Where the par- 

 ticles of soil are very small the greatest 

 amount of film or 

 capillary water is 

 found. Free water 

 is that which is found 

 in the soil between 

 particles and is of lit- 

 tle benefit to the 

 growing crops. As a 

 rule, the smaller the 

 particles of soil, the 

 greater the absorp- 

 tive power of this 

 soil. Taking this 

 statement in terms 

 of soil, sandy soils 

 (especially the coarse 

 sands) suffer a great 

 deal more during 

 drouth than do the 

 clays or silty soils. 

 Therefore, it is often 

 necessary to irrigate. 

 If soil is weak in the 

 capillarity of the sub- 

 soil, that is, if the sub- 

 soil is composed of 

 large particles, a crop 

 of good size cannot be 

 matured during the average season unless 

 some form of irrigation is practised. The 

 depth of the water table would have a great 

 influence on the strength or weakness of this 

 capillary action. This water table or free 

 water should not be too high, causing the 

 soil to be soggy. The land should at all times 

 be well drained. However, it is important 

 that this drainage should not be overdone, 

 because, if one wishes to produce a large crop, 

 an abundant and constant supply of water 

 is absolutely necessary. 



In many cases a correct system of drainage 

 will consist of nothing more than a line of 

 three- or four-inch tile running across the 

 garden and draining the low spots. 



Soil temperature is another factor. This 

 depends, generally speaking, upon the water 

 content and air content. If the soil is full of 

 water (thereby being low in air content), 

 it is generally cool. Clays are of this type. 

 If the air penetrates the soil to some depth, 

 it has a tendency to warm up the soil quickly 

 in the springtime. 



Near the surface of the soil the tem- 

 perature is higher. The color of the soil also 

 has some influence upon the temperature. 

 Dark soils tend to absorb heat and are spoken 

 of many times as being warmer, whereas the 

 light soils throw off or reflect the sun's rays 

 and the heat and are sometimes not quite 

 so warm. If the relationship of moisture 

 and air is taken into consideration, however, 

 color will not be found to have so great an 

 influence. 



very small and bind or cake 

 Needs some filler and culti- 



