The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-10-03
In the first place. what is soil?

tue BODY OF Ola Mother Earth, form ed
of the dust Of the old lady's scour-
| ingS We all know that ii is disinte-
grated rock. but the experts say that
the rcck alone is not soil, and that il
must have humus or some vegetable
Or organic matter mixed with it to
make the crops grow. 1t must have
water and air and also the nyriadS Of
| little devils Of vegetab bic sort known
as bacteria.
All rock is mineral. and the soil Is
made up of minerals washed from the
rocks by the rains and loosened by
other agencies so that it may furnish
the root food for the plants In ord ; r
that it may do this it mug INSIST OF
particles which are ir eSimally
small. Many grains of oil are 50
| little that you cannot 5 4em except
wren some millions a. objected to-
gcther. Take the Norf, sand which
United States from Fio tn Long
Island That is good vegeta. Ss.- md,
but great part of it is SO fiji. s.. a
Child'S thimble will hold more its
particles than there are men, women
and children in this whole world. 1t
measures about two billions to the
gram. and that many can be incloSed
in a cylinder one-fourth Of an inch in
diameter and half an inch long.
There are other soils which have
even more particles than this. and il
is said that the best wheat lands and
grass lands are fine that from ten
to fourteen billion separate particles
or grains may be crowded into q
thimble
These particles are usually round
ish IN shape. They are separated by
air spaces and j single cubic foot of
soil is said to expose to the roots OF
the plants an area of surface equal &c
three acres. That is. each particle can
be reached on all sides, and the aggre-
/ gate surface Of these billions of par
ticles equals three acres. 1t is accord
ing to the division of. the particles and
fthe character of their contents, as
We'll as according to the way they
have been laid down. that We know
what our soils are.
How the United States Was Made.
DR.. Whitney could tell you just
! about how the United States was
/ made He knows where the soils
! came from and how they were laiC
| down upon the rocky surface Of tho
i globe. / have before me map made
by his bureau which shows our grea
/ soil provinces 1t is in many colors
each Of which describes the land OF
| its location. In the first place there
are the soils which have been washed
| down from the mountains. This i
/ dsintegrated rock, which has rolled
over and over, in these countless bill
/ lions of grains, until it has built VI
! the land on the edge Of the sea. VIZ
have great strip Of that kind Of sol
running along the Gulf of Mexico anf
on the Atlantic coast as far north a;
! the edge of New England. This is eX
| celIent land for farming and veSeta
! bles
II raises corn and all sorts Of crop!
in the South: in Florida it makes cot
ton and gives US the fruits Of the trOp
les. OF this about thirty-three mil
| lion acres have been already surveyed
Just back Of this region lying cas-
of the Appalachian mountains i:
what is known as the Piedmont pla
/ teau. another great strip of soil. Ihl:
is made of a different rock and is Sc
situated that the rock has disinte-
grated or rotted and lies where i
went to pieces These soils have
| special character Of their own, anc
thy need special treatment.
The LOeSS Of the United States.
Still further west is the Appalach
! ian region. which. as far as | can un
derstanG is of less value than mos
/ other soils, and to the north and ives
| Of it. comprising the upper Mississippi
/ Valley and the most of the land abOu
I the Great Lakes are what are known
comprise a large part of the corr
! basket and bread basket Of the Unit
/ ed States. and they are exceedingi.
rich.
You may have read of the great
/ loess region of China. It consists Of
a mighty plateau of clay made up 0
/ particles as fine as the finest dust
Over this the winds are constant,
I blowing and through it some grea
/ rivers run The winds have carried
| the dust all over central and eastern
/ China. and have built up there tbs
richest lands Of the world. The Yang
tse kiang and the Hoang Ho carr,
! down many billions of tons Of thi!
| dirt every year. and that also goes II
! build up the land. In the same way
/ this upper Mississippi Valley and the
| remainder of the great loessian pro
vince of the United States. comprisins
| lands bordering the Great Lakes. i: