River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1905-08-31
REGULARITY or SOILS.
The Color of the Soil Is Not Always
an index to Its Fer
tility.


At the worlds fair in st. Louis wers
shown a considerable variety of soils.
most of those which / noticed coming
from the eastern part of the United
States, and were of a yellowish. yellow
red or dark red color. Cards on the jars
stated what particular crops each was
best adapted to produce, while soma
were represented at sterile. The writ
er's observations, and they have been
somewhat extensive, have been confined
to the south and west.
The "black waxy" lands of Texas, the
most tenacious perhaps to be found any,
where, are, or were before being partial
ly exhausted, among the most fertile in
the United States. These soils are pull
verulent to a certain degree when dry,
but never, during the drought do they
become dusty. think no man has ever
seen the impress of the human shoe in
the black lands of Texas. When wet
the soil acquires the tenacity of paste,
and the impart of the human foot leaves
an impression something like that
which would be left by a ham. The
depth of the soil is usually about eight
feet, and in 1851 and 1852 when tbs
writer first visited the country, farmers
were reaping 40 bushels of wheat per
acre by the most primitive and slovenly
methods of agriculture. But there are
adhesive black soils, bearing the closest
resemblance to these, that will not pro-
duce good crops; low lying compact
soils that seem to be run together"
drowned" and chilled" till nothing
butsa liberal admixture Of barn yard ma
nure, deep blowing and drainage will
enable the farmer to raise good crops on
them.
The red lands present the same para
dox. | have seen vast stretches of land,
red as red lead, in western Texas that
were supposed to be absolutely sterile.
Perhaps it may be found that these
lands are adapted to some crop not yet
tried. On the other hand, writes A. Fl.
Perry, in the Agricultural Epitomist,
there are red lands in Texas bordering
on the Gulf of Mexico in the Red river
bottoms, and in the coves leading into
the Brazos valleys, that are extremely
productive. On the north bank of Red
river, in the Choctaw nation, thera
spring spontaneously from the earth
wild grape vines almost as thick as
mans body. These soils are from rs to
IS feet deep and the farmers expect at
least SO bushels of corn per acre, no
matter how wet or how dry the season
may be. The color of these soils seems
to be due to the presence of oxide of iron.
The spurs of the Pidgeon mountains af-
ford another example of productive red
lands. The farms on the sides of these,
though tilted up on edge, produce well
while new. This soil is red with oxide
OF iron and the reason that it does not
all wash away during the first heavy
rain is found in it's high specific gravity
and the method of blowing.
In the Verdigris river valley in Kan.
sas is found dark sandy loan, % feet to
IS feet deep that is extremely produce
tive. But the most paradoxical of all
seems to be the ashy looking lands of
the far west. The ash color is the brand
OF poverty, the index of sterility almost
the world over, and yet have seen vast
stretches of country in Arizona and
California that looked more like a mix
ture of sand and ashes than anything
else, parched and sterile, and nude as
any sand bar, that when the water was
turned on produced corn that a tall man
could hardly reach the ears. and other
crops In proportion. The largest fig
tree | ever saw grew in this kind of soil
and here also found an alder (the same
that is found along the margins of
branches and used by boys for making
pop guns), that had attained a diameter
or seven inches and height of % feet
with great spreading branches like any
other forest tree. In the valley of the
Colorado river the Yuma Indians. as
Well as INDECENT and improvident whites.
plant crops after the waters have SUBJ
sided, and though the planting was done
six or eight weeks after the proper time
had passed, they got half crops with
out any more water from any source. I
have seen very fine corn growing in the
valley of the upper Arkansas river
Where there was little or nothing WIS.,
IDLE but white sand. From these obser-
vations | concluded that the surest in
dex to soils fertility was found in the
growth it produced and in grading large
areas of land for the United States gov
eminent, which it has fallen to the
writer's lot to do, as well as in the selec-
ton OF farms for myself and others. /
have followed this plan.