The Characters of Soils. —The compositional 
characters of soils have already been sufficiently 
adverted to in the section on the “ Composition 
of Soils;” and their adaptational characters, for 
the various kinds of ordinary cropping, are in- 
structively glanced at in the last column of the 
tabular classification of soils which we have 
given from Schiibler. But their economical char- 
acters, or those which concern the facilities and 
rewards and accidents of tillage,—their indica- 
tional characters, or those which reveal impor- 
tant intrinsic properties through the medium of 
colour,—their relative chemical characters, or 
those which concern the kind and degrees of 
connexion with the chemical agencies of the 
atmosphere,—their relative geological characters, 
or those which concern the kind and degree of 
connexion with the agencies and influences of 
| the subsoil,—and their intrinsic mutational 
characters, or those which concern the changes 
or fluctuations of constitution resulting from 
successions of vegetable growth,—all these also 
claim to be well understood ; and we shall here 
devote a paragraph to each class. 
The economical characters of soils comprise a 
subclass which might be called the mechanical, 
and they also impinge upon, or partially comprise, 
some of the compositional, the chemical, and the 
geological; yet they constitute a sufficiently dis- 
tinct class, and eminently deserve to be treated 
as one on account of their mutual connexions 
and their aggregate importance. A stiff or heavy 
soil is one difficult to be worked, such as most 
clays; and a free or light soil is one easy to be 
worked, such as all sands and gravels, most loamy 
sands, and some sandy chalks and limestone 
gravels, A hard soil is one which constantly 
tends to dry cohesion and dry cloddiness, how- 
ever well or often worked ; and a soft soil is one 
which constantly tends to crumbliness and inco- 
hesion, in consequence of being too silicious, or 
too often ploughed, or too much marled. A wet 
soil is one which is continually so, or which can- 
| not easily or long be put into the opposite con- 
dition, such as a clay upon a retentive subsoil ; 
and a dry soil is the opposite of a wet one, such 
as sand or loamy sand upon an open subsoil. A 
retentive or close soil is one which does not allow 
| the ready permeation of surface water, but holds 
| much of it till it be dissipated by evaporation ; 
and an irretentive or open soil, is one which 
readily allows the infiltration of water, and holds 
-no collections or stagnations of it either on the 
surface or in the interior. A smooth soil is even 
and slippery when wet; a rough soil is irregular 
| and corrugated when dry; a coarse soil consists, 
_ ina considerable degree, of large granules and 
| unreduced boulders and fragments; a fine soil is 
either minutely granular or, in a considerabie 
degree, impalpably powdery ; and a fine-skinned 
soil assumes either a smooth or a finely granu- 
lated surface when finished off by tillage. A 
| deep soil comprises a great depth of mould or of 
alluvium, or has a somewhat uniform composi- 
tion from the surface down toa greater depth 
than the plough can reach; and a thin or shallow 
one comprises a comparatively thin stratum of 
mould, and passes soon into the botanical sub- 
soil, but, in many instances, is capable of being | 
easily deepened by courses of tillage, trenching, 
cultivation, and manuring. A rich soil yields a 
large return of produce for a moderate quantity 
of manure; and a poor one yields only a middling 
or even small return of produce for an enormous | 
quantity of manure. A grateful soil yields larger 
returns of produce than might be fairly expected 
from the labour and manure bestowed upon it; 
a kindly soil makes a regular and steady and 
corresponding return for every ameliorating 
operation performed upon it; a churlish one 
yields smaller returns of produce than might be 
fairly expected from the labour and manure be- 
stowed upon it; and a hungry one yields ordinary 
returns of produce, or is maintained in a moder- | 
ately fertile condition, only when it is dosed with 
large and frequent supplies of manure. A sharp 
soil is either a warm, dry, and early one, bring- 
ing crops to a speedier maturity than other soils 
in the same circumstances of subsoil, situation, | 
climate, and georgy,—or it isa peculiarly open | 
one, which contains so large a proportion of 
small gritty stones as quickly to clear up the | 
plough-irons; and a deaf soil is the opposite of 
a sharp one in the latter sense, containing so 
large a proportion of soft, spongy, inert vegetable | 
matter as to act chokingly against the plough 
or be carried forward on its bosom. 
The colours of soils, regarded as indicational 
characters, reveal in some instances the consti- 
tution of soils, in others their economical pro- 
perties, in others their chemical capacities, and 
in others the changes which they undergo from 
cultivation. A black humous soil consists mainly 
of crude peat or of deep vegetable mould, and is 
rapidly absorbent of heat, and has beén observed 
to rise, in one hour, by simple exposure to sun- 
shine, from a temperature of 65° to a tempera- | 
ture of 88°. 
only 4° of additional temperature in the same 
circumstances in which a black humous soil ac- 
quired 33°. 
paratively high degrees of temperature, and, in 
common with the black, are called warm soils; 
and yellow, pale, bluish, and grey soils acquire 
comparatively low degrees of temperature, and, 
in common with the calcareous white, are called 
cold soils. Brown and red soils vary in grada- 
tions of hue from hair-auburn to dark chestnut, 
and include the rich and numerous sub-class 
popularly called hazel soils, and owe their char- 
acteristic tints to various combinations of oxide 
of iron, and comprise a large proportion of the 
Brown and red soils acquire com- | 
A white calcareous soil containsa | 
large proportion of chalk, and is very slowly ab- | 
sorbent of heat, and has been observed to acquire | 
loamy soils, the sandy loams, and the loamy | 
sands. Yellow, pale, grey, and bluish soils com- | 
