Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1862-01-10
Soils.

TO constitute the best soils for grain, prob
ably the best proportions are one-eighth
sand three eighths clay, four-eighths fossil
mari, or animal or vegetable humus. Either
of these, alone, would constitute a sterile
soil totally unfit for the purposes Of agricul-
ture. The quality of the soil is the result of
the mixture of these constituents, and the
infinite variety of soils arises from the inf
mite variety of the proportions Of each.
Some suppose, because a soil is black, that
it must be very rich; that is, it must con-
tain large proportion of humus but this is
not an invariable rule. Some whitsh or
greyish lands contain, sometimes, more hu
mus than that which is brown, or nearly
black. The color will not always be safe
guide. The best way for practical farmer
to test the amount Of humus in his SOIL is to
take a quantity and dry it so as to cxpel as
much moisture as possible, then weigh it.
and put it into some vessel, and heat it to a
red heat; let it remain at this heat for some
time and until all smoke or vapor ceases to
rise from it, and it becomes white. After
it is then cooled, weigh it again, and the loss
in weight will indicate the amount of humus
that has been burnt up.
Humus renders clay land more porous
and by dividing the particles of clay, pulver.
ICES it. 1t makes sandy soil more firm and
consistent, and enables them to retain mos
ture, and tends to neutraliZe the alkai in
soil that has too much lime in it, rendering
it mildcr and less irritating. But here a
very common maXims applies: there may
be too much of good thing When this
IS the case, the soil is spongy; absorbs toe
much water in wet weather, and contracts
and dilates by the change of weather, from
dry to wet, or, in common pallance viii
crdch. Fall grains cannot flourish in such
hands, as, in dry weather, it becomes so pull
verified that the roots cannot adhere to the
soil, and in wet weather will be perfectly
drowned 10y water. Spring corn and oats
will do much better on such land than wheat
and hence we find corn of the best kind, or
the alluvial bottoms of the Scioto and Miami
rivers, where wheat will all run to straoo, il
it grows at ALL Good wheat land ought and
must contain from fifty to sixty per cent. Of
clay, from thirty to forty per cent. Of sand
from three to twelve per cent. of carbonate Of
lime, and from five to six parts Of humus.--
Land containing from eighteen to thirty pei
cent. of clay, from seventy to eighty pei
cent. of sand, and from one to three per cent
of humus, is only fit for oats, beans, or buck.
wheat A soil containing twenty per cent
of pure clay. ten per cent. of humus, and the
rest sand, will produce excellent barley, and
good rye crops.
With these general statements for the
standard, we may say, the smaller the pro-
portion of clay, and the larger the proper,
ton of sand which enters into the compost
ton Of the soil, the more rapidly does it fall
in value, even if it contain ten or twelve pei
cent of humus, as the porous nature of the
soil allows the fertility to escape in the at
mosphere as well as leach down. The humus
of which we have been speaking, is not the
acid humus, of which we spoke in forme,
number. That, as we then stated, destroys
the fertility of soil. Barley crops become
less and less, as the acidity increases; rye
grown on such land is more liable to rust
and lodge down, and the grains contain less
flour. In raising grass as well as grains, ir
proportion as the acidity increases the lane
becomes less valuable.
Of the sweet, or fertile humus, there is gen
orally, in clay soils, about two per cent. O
humus. This humus, if increased d half o.
one per cent, will increase the value of the
soil per cent Ifland, then, containing two
per cent. of humus is worth $50, that con
tanning two and ahalf per cent. is worth $52,
so, and that containing three per cent $50
Bot the depth of the soil should also be ia
ken into account. fla soil, above the hare
pan, is three inches thick, and worth S3s
the same land, if the soil is six inches thick
is worth S50.-Ohio Farmer.