Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-10-17
knows more about soils, perhaps, than

In the first place, what Is soil?
1t is the thin skin which incloses the
body Of old Mother Earth, formed Of
the dust Of the old lady's scourings.
We all know that 1t is disintegrated
rock, but the experts say that the
rock alone is not soil, and that 1t must
have humus or some vegetable or Or
ganic matter mixed with 1t to make
the crops grow. 1t must have water
and air and also the myriads Of little
devils Of a vegetable 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 1t may furnish
the root food for the plants. In order
that 1t may do this 1t must consist Of
particles which are infinitesimally
small. Many grains of the soil are so
little that you cannot see them except
when some millions are collected to-
gether. Take the Norfolk sand, which
runs along the eastern coast Of the
United States, from Florida to Long
Island. That is good vegetable ground,
but a great part of it is so fine that a
child's thimble will hold more Of its
particles than there are men, women
and children in this whole world. It
measures about 1000, 100000 to the
gram, and that many can be inclosed
in a cylinder one-fourth of an inch in
L -
There are other soils which have
even more particles than this, and it is
said that the best wheat lands and
grass lands are so fine that from TO-
O0O, 100000 to $4,000, 100000 separate
particles may be crowded into thim-
BILE.
These particles are usually roundish
in shape. They are separated by air
spaces, and a single cubic foot Of soil
Is said to expose to the roots Of the
plants an area Of surface equal to
three acres. That is, each particle can
be reached on all sides, and the aggre-
gate surface Of these billions Of parti-
cles equals three acres. 1t Is accord
ing to the division Of the particles and
the 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 laid down
upon the rocky surface Of the globe.
have before me map made by his bu-
reau which shows our great soil prov
inces. It Is in many colors, each of
which describes the land Of its loca-
ton. In the first place, there are the
soils which have been washed down
from the mountains. This is disinte-
grated rock, which has rolled over and
over, in these countless billions Of
grains, until 1t has built up the land
on the edge of the sea. We have
great strip Of that kind of soil running
along the Gulf Of Mexico and on the
Atlantic coast as far north as the edge
of New England. This is excellent
land for farming and vegetables.
| It raises corn and all sorts Of crops
In the south; in Florida 1t makes cot
ton and gives US the fruits Of the
tropics. OF this about 33,000,000 acres
have been already surveyed.
Just back Of this region, lying east
of the Appalachian mountains, is what
is known as the Piedmont plateau, an
other great strip of soil. This is made
Of different rock and is so situated
that the rock has disintegrated or rot
ted and lies where 1t went to pieces.
These soils have special character
of their own and they need a special
treatment.
Still further west is the Appalachian
region, which, as far as can under
stand, Is of less value than most other
Soils and to the north and west Of 1t,
comprising the upper Mississippi val
ley and the most of the land about the
great lakes, are what are known as the
glacial and loessial soils. These COM
prise a large part of the corn basket
ana UdShCI VI LhS OhteSe Ssos~S
and they are exceedingly rich.
You may have read Of the great
loess region Of China. It consists OF
mighty plateau Of clay made up OF
particles as fine as the finest dust.
/ over this the winds are constantly
blowing and through 1t some great
rivers run. The winds have carried
the dust all over central and eastern
China, and have built up there the
richest lands Of the world. The Yank-
tse Kiang and the Hoang Ho carry
down many billions Of tons or this
dirt every year, and that also goes 10
build up the land. In the same way
this upper Mississippi valley and the
remainder of the great Loessian prov
ince Of the United States, comprising
lands bordering the great lakes, Is
oyerlaid with wind-blown dust from
the Rocky Mountains, and Ii Is out or
| this dust that we get the wheat, corn
and meat which form our CHIEF FOOD
supply.
The greater part Of this wind-blown
| dust lies on bed OF rock Whlcn was
ground up and brought down by the
glaciers during the great ice ages or
the past. There are places where the
dust is not thick and where this gla-
cial soil lies close to the surface. This
also forms some of the best wheat
and farm lands. The Red River val
ley is a part Of it, and you may find
more about Lakes Erie and Ontario,
running up into New York, taking In
Buffalo, Oswego and going on clear to
the Canadian boundary. That land Is
excellent for fruits, and 1t Is one OF
our best regions for the production or
apples and grapes.
In addition to these soils we have
those which form the banks OF the
rivers and the lowlands adjoining.
They are scattered along the Mis-
souri, and Mississippi and the tribu-
taries which flow into them. They
come from the highlands near by and
are young soils, being usually more
productive than the territory from
which they have come. or these
about 13.O00,0 900 have been surveyed.
And then there are other special
patches, known as the limestone val
leys and uplands of which we have
tested between 100000 and S,000,-
900 acres. Some of these are found
under the blue grass of Kentucky,
ubara tbav nroduce excellent horses