..HY PRACTICE FOR PRAIR1E-PLAIXS PLANTING 



41 



be 10.— A Forest Service decidui irsery on terrace soil adjacent to 



the Missouri River, near Mandan, X. Dak. 



later because of salinity, either from salts present in the soil itself or 

 use of water highly charged with salts. 



On mechanical analysis the topsoil should preferably indicate 30 

 to 50 percent silt plus clay a and 50 to 70 percent sand, and it is desir- 

 able that the ratio of silt to clay range from 2: 1 up to 4: 1. Too much 

 clay (over 20 percent) in the topsoil causes undesirable baking and 

 cracking. A sandy clay topsoil would not be considered ideal because 

 of its tendency to form crusts, which seriously hinder emergence. 



Mechanical analyses of various portions of several prairie-plains 

 nurseries are given in table 7. It will be noted that the soils consid- 



Tvble 7. — Mechanical analyses of several prairie-plains nursery soils 



Xurscrv and area 



Fremont, Xebr.: 

 Area A_ 



Area B 



Towner. X. Oak 



Sioux Fall?, S. Dak. 

 Area A 



Area B . 



B. Dak. 

 . A 



Ar»- a B 



\y\ i NVa , ■. Dak 

 Area A 



Area B 



■ 



79.0 



- 



47.1 

 58 7 



27 - 

 10.9 



24.7 



Total 



silt plus 



clay 



Silt Clay 



Percent Perc-nt Percent 



Remarks 



33.4 



." 





21.0 

 13.7 



9 



3.0 



! 



39.8 



13.1 



41.3 



- 







9 



34.5 





62.1 



27 



7.5.3 



46.0 



- 







2 



Good hardwoods. An ideal nursery soil 

 from point of view of texture. 



Good ponderosa pine grown here. 



Fairly good for conifers but too sandy for 

 most hardwoods. Much improved by ad- 

 dition of liberal amounts of animal ma- 

 nures and superphosphate. 



Good 1-0 > Chinese elm in this part of nurs- 



An ideal nursery soil. 

 Alkali spot in which l-0> Chinese elm 

 stunted and chlorotic. 



Good : sfa in this part of nursery , 



but soil is hard to work. 

 Alkali spot in which 1 ■■■_■■ 

 stunted and chlorotic. 



Good 1-0 - Americ i S 



heavy for good tilth. 

 Alkali spot in which l-o • American elm was 



stunted and chlorotic. 



Samples were taken to a depth of 1 foot. Soil- :iydrometer method. 



1-year seedlings not transplanted before field planting. 



~ I ;>lus clay refers to those soil particles that are less than 0.05 mm. in diameter. Silt ranges from 0.05 

 to 0.005 mm. and clay is 0.005 or finer. Th< 

 and are colloidal in character. Sands range from 0.05 to 2.0 mm. 



