Sacramento daily record-union., 1882-05-13
AGRICULTURAL PAPERS.
SERIES PREPARED ESPECIALLY PoR
TIE "RECoRD-UHIoE."
Presenting instruction Contained in Lect-
ures from the Chair OF Agricult-.
ure, State U0iversity.
EIGHTEENTH PAPER

lOCdLlOu, COhpOblblOn auu may ~
said to be legion, yet it has been found
necessary to classify them according to
their origin and composition, in order that
the agriculturist may be able to distinguish
with greater or less precision between at
least the different classes of soil. This
definition and Classification has, however,
been of the most general kind, as it is prac-
tically as impossible to truly denominate
every particular soil as 1t is to define with
accuracy the exact differences and the
causes of the pecularities of the different
soils. Soils are divided, according to their
mode of formation, into sedeBtary and
transplsnted soils. These last are again
divided according to their mechanical COM
position, mainly into drift, alluvial and
colluvial soils. Sedentary soils are those
which have remained in their place of for
nation l. e., they have not been trans.
ported a. any previous time by water or
any other agency, but instead remain as
covering over or near the rocks by whose
disintegration they were formed. As one
would suppose, these soils, especially the
and of respondingly transient fertility.
Their proximate composition may be ascer-
tanned by an examination of the rocks from
which they were formed. Such an inspec-
tion enables
THE EXPERIENCED AGRICULTURIST
To judge quite correctly of their probable
productive resources. As compared to the
transported soils, the sedentary ones may
be said to be not abundant. They are
therefore neither as generally understood,
nor, owing to their common weakness
or shallowness, as eagerly sought for by
the farmer IS the transplanted ones. The
name transported soils describes their
formation. They are made up of materials
which have been transported from
greater or less distance by the action of
running or frozen water, and deposited as
q surface layer in their present positions.
The soils of all our river valleys and most
of our fertile plains and prairies have been
thus formed. Drift soils are those which
are formed by the deposition Of the coarser
material of the river and by the sediment
left by melting glaciers. They, therefore,
often consist of many different grades and
ally is this so of those formed by glacial
dispositions. Such soils were formed with
out any stratifcation or separation OF parts,
and consist of particles of soil matter
ranging in size from free sand to immense
masses of cohering material, interspersed
with the proverbially undesirable bowl
ders. The formation of drift soils by
glacial action is at the present time going
i,f fbnca xpbara aIaxyotaI
are in the temperature of perpetual snow.
In these drift soils there are sometimes diff
ferent grades of materials, as, for instance,
on the lower edges they are made up of
finer material which was carried out toward
the edges of the mass by the melted water,
their successive depositions forming soils of
different grades OF nneness in the immedi-
ate vicinity of the principal soil mass.
ALLUvIAL SOILS
Are those which have been transported by
running waters to sufficient distance, so
that the mineral and rocky matter has
been rounded by friction and worn down
to state of fine communion. From the
fact that the carrying capacity of running
water depends, other things being equal,
upoh the size and lightness of the matter
In suspension, it will be readily seen that
we must have numerous grades of even
alluvial soils. From this fact, too, arises
the strati6cation or layering OF the differ
ent grades of material. The heavy and
coarse material is deposited soon after
leaving the canyons and forms beds of
stone and gravel. These are followed by
beds of somewhat finer materials below
which, in turn, the coarser sand and finely
divided mineral matter are lodged while
the finely comminuted rock, with the clay,
etc., advances step further into the val
leys and forms the fertile river bottoms so
that when the water washes the delta or
mouth it generally carries only relatively
small amount of matter in suspension
This is composed of rock powder and other
impalpable material which will float in the
water as long as it is in motion, and it is
only deposited in the basins or settling
reservoirs. The alluvial formation has
been going on ever since the formation of
the earth's crust, and it is as continually
and quite perceptibly taking place at the
present time. This action goes on wherever
running water has access to mineral and
rocky matter which is subject to decompo-
sition and disintegration. By the term
alluvium, then, is meant the finer materi-
ais, and which make up the bulk of the
soil of our most fertile valleys, and which
are
THE LATER DISPOSITIONS OF THE WATERS.
When we remember that the more finely
divided are the rock and mineral matter
which make up the soil, the more readily
do the natural liquid solvents act upon the
nutritive inorganic matter contained in
them; the more readily do the roots, light
and air penetrate the soils and the more
readily are those physical conditions full
filled which best promote the chemical
formation of plant food, and hence the
growth and development of plants, we
can at thought conceive why the river
soils are more productive than those on
high table lands. But we are only speak
ing of the mechanical qualities of the soil,
and must leave the question of fertility for
some other time. Lastly, the colluvial
soils are mixture of drift or alluvial mat.
ter with particles of rocks and minerals,
the edges of which have not been rounded
by friction, and hence could not have been
transported to any great distance. Such
soils may be said to be made up of seden-
tary matter, mixed with more or less drift
and allavial sediments. In speaking of
soils, the farmer denominates them accord
ing to distinctions based upon their obvi-
Gus or external characters. These dstinc-
tions are generally based upon their SEEM
ing relative physical composition, and are
hence not always scientifically correct, but
are nevertheless of much practical benefit,
and could not be easily dispensed with.
For instance, the farmer in speaking of
soils would, according to their appearance
and apparent relatively preponderating in
gredient, call them gravelly, sandy, clayey,
loamy, peaty, etc. These terms, while not
conveying with them an exact knowledge
of the compositions, would still convey a
very distinct impression of the general
characters of the respective soils, or at
least of their distinctive features.
THE AGRICULTURAL CHEMIST