SOIL PROFILE AND ROOT PENETRATION BY APPLE TREES 7 



Ground-water conditions in soils intended for orchard planting 

 where trees show signs of distress by their scant foliage or low pro- 

 duction, can be determined by making test holes with a soil-sampling 

 auger or a post-hole digger and by keeping a record of the height to 

 which the ground water rises in the hole and the time required for 

 it to disappear. 



When young orchards are to be planted, good soils should be 

 selected, the surface carefully smoothed, and adequate surface run-off 

 provided. Orchards already planted should be given the best surface 

 drainage possible. 



SOIL GROUPS 



For convenience of study, soils used for orchards in this district 

 may be divided into three broad groups: (1) Soils with open subsoils. 

 These are brown, light-brown, or reddish-brown soils with subsoils 

 which do not restrict underdrainage. They occupy broad ridges, 

 terraces, and well-drained uplands and have no gray and mottled 

 layer in the upper subsoil or such a layer, if present, only slightly 

 developed. (2) Soils with tight subsoils. These are brown to 

 grayish-brown soils with subsoils that restrict underdrainage. They 

 occupy parts of ridges, nearly smooth and flat areas, are imperfectly 

 drained, and have the gray and mottled layer of the upper subsoil 

 strongly developed. (3) Dark-colored soils with poorly drained sub- 

 soils. These are dark grayish-brown or nearly black soils which have 

 the underdrainage restricted by saturation of the deep subsoil and 

 occupy low, depressed, and basinlike areas. In the upper subsoil is 

 a light-gray layer, grading below into a strongly mottled layer of 

 gray and rust brown. The deep subsoil may consist of reddish- 

 brown fine sand or fine sandy loam, of sandy clay, and in places of 

 gravelly sandy till. 



These groups do not include the marsh and muck lands or the 

 recently deposited alluvial soils of the stream valleys, which are not 

 suited for orchard planting. 



In figure 2, A, is shown a profile of Alton gravelly fine sandy loam 

 which is extensively developed along the ridge and in other places. 

 It has a well-drained surface soil and open gravelly subsoil, and 

 belongs to the soils of group 1. Figure 2, B, shows a profile of Poygan 

 silty clay loam which has a highly granular surface soil, a strongly 

 developed gray layer, and a hard clodd}^ structure in the upper part 

 of the subsoil. The deep subsoil is compact till, near the surface of 

 which is a heavy accumulation of lime. This is one of the imperfectly 

 drained soils of group 2. Figure 2, C, shows a profile of Granby loam, 

 a soil of group 3, which has a nearly black very granular surface soil 

 and a light-gray layer below a depth of 11 inches with a sharp line 

 of transition between. 



The most striking feature of these analyses is is the heavy accumula- 

 tion of lime in the deep subsoil. The soil of group 1, in the 60- to 

 84-inch layer, shows' a lime content (expressed as CaO) of 8.06 percent; 

 in group 2, in the 22- to 36-inch layer, it is 10.53 percent; and in 

 group 3, in the 36- to 48-inch layer, it is 6.17 percent. This indi- 

 cates an abundance of lime for any plants with roots sufficiently deep 

 to reach it. 



