SOILS. 17 



Kinds of Soils. — Soils are known to the agriculturist 

 by names drawn from their external appearance or 

 from some peculiarity which they show when worked. 

 Many of such names have a local application only. 



Clayey Soils are commonly characterized by ex- 

 treme fineness of texture and by great retentive power 

 for water. When subjected to a mechanical analysis 

 their particles are found to be the finest of all soil par- 

 ticles. 



Sandy Soils are those which contain 80 per cent or 

 more of sand. Silica or grains of quartz withstand the 

 disintegrating agencies beyond all others, and hence 

 when once in the soil never change their form. How- 

 ever, there are all kinds of sandy soils, from the one 

 which contains but little to the soil carrying 90 per 

 cent of sand. 



Gravelly Soils contain an abundance of small stones 

 or pebbles which in themselves are worthless, but aid 

 in a mechanical way to- keep the soil open, assist in 

 drainage, and store solar heat. Many gravelly soils are 

 exceedingly fertile. 



Loamy Soils are those intermediate in character be- 

 tween sandy and clayey. They can be worked freely, 

 not having sufficient clay to be heavy, nor sand and 

 gravel in such large quantities as to make them too 

 open. 



To express suggested differences we have the terms 

 Sandy LoaiUy Sandy Clay^ Gravelly Loam, and Grav- 

 elly Clay. 



Gumbo Soils are loams with sufficient plastic clay 

 mixed with them to make them exceedingly sticky or 

 adhesive when wet. They are fertile soils when prop- 



