Evening star., 1951-02-11
Making q Poor Soil Better
Standard Requisites for Good Soil Include
Aerotion, Supply of Humus, Surface Cover
By W. H. Younemon
Gordsn Editor

DR.. r. w. Parker, soils authority
Of the USDA recently wrote that
the Fundamental requirements of
a productive soil include the most
favorable combination Of soil mois-
ture and air. an ample supply of
moisture and enough air to allow
the roots to breathe. Heavier tex
tured soils are most often faced
with the moisture and air prob
lens"
And, after listening to DR.. Fred
Grau. Director Of Turf Research
at the Beltsville Plant Industry
Station, describe a new machine
developed for the aeration of golf
course turf, and how it had i'm
proved the grass on fairways and
putting green's. it would seem that
we should remodel the standard
recommendations for soil improve
ment. DR.. Grau described the ma
chine, built to cut small cores in
the soil so that the plant roots
might obtain air which is so neces-
sary for them to function. OBJ
viously few gardeners can afford
to obtain the services of such a
machine, even though they were
available.
Clay Makes Poor Drainage.
Most of the soils in this area
are of comparatively heavy clay
with tight underlayers which make
for poor drainage. The lack Of
porosity plus retaining rainfall to
the point where it excludes air
should make grass growing diff
cult unless provision is made
whereby the clay particles are
separated sufficiently to permit air
circulation.
No doubt the addition of humus
In whatever form has helped. This
is especially true of the new lawn.
Peatmoss. compost. green manures
and any other material mixed with
the soil before seeding helped to
improve the physical texture. This
enabled the grass to make a start
and from then on, If we were able
to keep the grass growing vigor-
ously. the decaying roots helped
to maintain a fair soil condition.
But DR.. Grau's comments would
indicate that we might go step
further. Before sowing seed. sand
or some other material might well
be mixed with the clay to give it
more or less permanent porosity.
Rough, coarse bank sand and soft
coal ashes are two materials that
should be more or less readily
available for the improvement of
heavy clay soils. Smooth, fine
river sand is not as useful for this
purpose. Obviously it is imprac-
ticable to add sufficient sand or
ashes to improve the texture of
the lawn soil to depth of more
than a few inches. Even for a
four inch depth. 1t would take a
layer of sand at least an inch
thick-a good many cubic yards.
for the average sized city lot.
The cinders from the furnace
were dumped on the flower beds
for a good many years before the
soil was "broken-up" to a depth
of 10 or IL inches on one city
lot that knew.
Cheaper Humus Supply.
OF course it goes without saying
that a combination of humus and
sand should help to approach the
ideal condition. The problem
though is how to secure enough
humus without an undue outlay.
DR.. Myron Anderson stated that
sawdust was an inexpensive, avail
able, material which worked very
well if nitrogen in some form
were mixed with it. Green manure
crops. however. are likely to be
the most inexpensive.
A spring-sown crop of soybeans,
buckwheat. Kobe or Korean lespe-
deza. oats, ETC.. allowed to grow
until we'll developed and turned
under in the fall, will add a con-
siderable amount of humus to
the soil. If it is a poor soil such
as is usually left on the surface
when the contractor rough grades,
some lime and fertilizer will be
needed to give the green manure
crop a start. Any legume used
0espedeza and soybeans) will
need to be innoculated before SOW
ing so that 1t will be able to
function properly.
For fall seeding the gardener