GROUP OF SANDY SOILS 
45 
white sand or sandstone rock lies at thirty to thirty-six inches, 
but generally the soil is over three feet deep. 
The topography is nearly level and the drainage is often defi¬ 
cient both because of the level topography and the impervious 
subsoil. Where the surface soil is more sandy, and the sub¬ 
soil clay layer lies at twenty-four to thirty inches or below this 
soil is not too wet to raise fair crops. Several small clearings 
are cutivated and corn, beans, potatoes, and rye are grown. 
Most of the soil is uncleared, and the vegetation consists of 
oak, poplar, jack pine, and willow brush. Moss and leather leaf 
cover the surface of the ground. 
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND FERTILITY OF SANDY 
SOILS 
The sandy soils are generally lower in content of phosphorus 
and nitrogen than the heavier soils. The fine sands and sandy 
loams are somewhat better supplied than the sands. Per acre, 
eight inches of soil, the sands have from 900 to 1,000 pounds of 
nitrogen, and about four hundred pounds of phosphorus, while 
the fine sands and sandy loams have from 1,400 to 1,600 pounds 
of nitrogen, and five hundred to eight hundred pounds of phos¬ 
phorus. The potassium amounts to from twenty to twenty- 
five thousand pounds per acre. 
In some respects sandy soils have advantages over heavier 
soils. They become drier and therefore warmer and can be 
worked earlier in the spring and more quickly after rains than 
heavier soils. These advantages are particularly important in 
regions of short growing periods. But when the soil is too 
sandy it does not hold sufficient water from one rainfall to 
another to satisfy the needs of the growing crops and it there¬ 
fore suffers from drought. Moreover, some sandy soils are 
lower in their supply of the chemical elements demanded by 
crops than heavier soils. When these two factors become too 
low they limit the profitable farming of these soils. In the 
mapping of the Soil Survey those soils which are classed as 
sandy loams have fairly good water holding capacity, and when 
their fertility is properly maintained their good qualities in 
regard to warmth and earliness can be taken advantage of and 
they can be farmed with profit. But soils which are classified 
as sands and some of the fine sands do not have sufficient water 
