Sandy soil

“ This represents one of the great divisions of soil—sandy soil. The sea shores are great masses of pure sand. If soil were nothing but broken rock masses then indeed it would be very poor and unproductive. But the early forms of animal and vegetable life decaying became a part of the rock mass and a better soil resulted. So the soils we speak of as sandy soils have mixed with the sand other matter, sometimes clay, sometimes vegetable matter or humus, and often animal waste. ”

“ Unlike clay, sand does not hold water. Pour some water on to sand placed on the tin disk in a funnel (Fig. 8) ; it nearly all runs through at once. We should therefore expect a sandy field or a sandy road to dry up very quickly after rain and not to remain wet like a clay field. So much is this the case that people prefer to live on a sandy soil rather than on a clay. The most desirable residential districts round London, Hampstead on the north, and the stretch running from Haslemere on the south-west to Maidstone on the south-east, and other favoured regions, are all high up on the sand. ”

“ Decaying organic matter or humus is really the life of the soil and it is greatly needed in most of the farm soils of the eastern part of the country. It closes the pores of sandy soils and opens the clay, thus helping the sand to soak up and hold more moisture and lessening excessive ventilation, and at the same time helping the roots to take a firmer hold. It helps the clay to absorb rain, helps it to pump water faster, helps it to hold water longer in dry weather, increases ventilation, favors root penetration and increases heat absorption. ”

“ But when this is otherwise; when for instance a sandy soil four feet in depth is underlaid by impervious clay, underdrains may be quite as necessary as in the clay lands; since the depth of actually available soil mass would otherwise be reduced to two or two and a half feet only, by the water stagnating on the clay surface and rising from 16 to 24 inches in the sand. Soils thus shallowed can with difficulty be maintained in good productive condition even by the most energetic fertilization.
Moisture supplied by tap roots.—In most cases, sandy lands do not require underdraining ”

“ In sandy soils, planting may be deeper than in clay soils, for it requires less energy for a plant to push roots, stems, and leaves through the loose sandy soil than through the more compact clay soil; in a dry soil planting may be deeper than in wet soils; likewise, deep planting is safer in a loose soil than in one firmly compacted; finally, where the moist soil is considerable distance below the surface, deeper planting may be practiced than when the moist soil is near the surface. Countless experiments have been conducted on the subject of depth of seeding. ”

“ Clayey soil can provide plants with three times as much available water as sand, six times as much as a very coarse sandy soil. It might seem logical to conclude that a clayey garden would be the most drought resistant. But there's more to it. For some crops, deep sandy loams can provide just about as much usable moisture as clays. Sandy soils usually allow more extensive root development, so a plant with a naturally aggressive and deep root system may be able to occupy a much larger volume of sandy loam, ultimately coming up with more moisture than it could obtain from a heavy, airless clay. ”

“ Fig. 31. Wheat growing in soils supplied from below with water. All the water the plant gets has to travel upwards
Thus we shall expect great differences in the moisture of various soils. In some districts there is much more rain than in others, and therefore the soils get a larger supply of water. Sandy soils allow water to run through while a loam holds it like a sponge, in a loam also the water readily moves from wet to dry places. Further, water runs down hills and collects in low-lying hollows or valleys; here, therefore, the soil is moister than it is somewhat higher up. ”

“ While the physical character is of secondary importance, as generous crops are grown in sandy soil as well as in heavy loams, still the ideal soil is a sandy loam, i. e., a mixture of organic matter, clay and sand. A subsoil of gravel, or the presence of hard-pan, is not desirable, as cultivation to a depth of from twelve to fifteen inches is necessary to produce the best results. ”

“ If the soil is loose, drying quickly after rain, and if it can be scattered about by the hand like sand on the sea shore, we know we are on a sandy soil and can look for pits where builder's sand is dug. But it may very likely happen that the soil is something in between, and that neither sand pits nor {2} clay pits can be found; if we ask what sort of soil this is we are told it is a loam. A gravel soil will be known at once by its gravel pits, and a chalk soil by the white chalk quarries and old lime kilns, while a peat soil is black, sometimes marshy and nearly always spongey to tread on. ”

“ A body of sandy soil frequently lies not only upon clay, but in a basin; so that, if the sand were removed, a pond would remain. In such a case, a few deep drains, rightly placed, might be sufficient. This, however, is a case not often met with, though open, sandy soil upon clay is a common formation. ”

“ The clay and humus soils carry crops through dry weather better because of their power to hold moisture and to absorb or soak up moisture from below. It is for this reason also that clay and peaty soils more often need draining than sandy soils.
When rain falls on a sandy soil it enters readily, but it is apt to pass rapidly down and be, to a great extent, lost in the subsoil, for the sand has not sufficient power to hold much of it. ”

“ Sandy soils differ very materially: some are almost pure silex; while others are filled with a fine dust, and, although apparently loose, are much more nearly impervious to the air than heavier soils; on the former, nearly all will decay, and on the latter, most will be preserved. ”

“ In this case the soil containing the greater amount of moisture requires a much longer time to be dried, and heated up to the point of injury to the roots, than in the case of sandy soils of low absorptive power, whose store is exhausted in a few hours and then permits the surface to be heated up to the scalding point, searing the stems and root crowns. That such injury occurs much sooner in sandy lands than in well-cultivated clay soils, is a matter of common note in the arid region. ”

“ Sandy soil in the garden will produce early and quick results, and is especially adapted to melons, cucumbers, beans and a number of the other garden vegetables.
GRAVELLY SOIL is generally less desirable than either of the others; it has the bad qualities of sandy soil and not the good ones of clay, besides being poorer in plant food. (Calcareous, or limestone pebble, soils are an exception, but they are not widely encountered.) They are not suited for garden work, as tillage harms rather than helps them. ”

“ A mass of four feet of clay-loam soil is commonly, then, considered as sufficient to supply the needs of a crop; it being understood that in the humid region at least, such soils are usually the richest in plant food, so that a deeper range of the root system is not called for. It is quite otherwise in the sandy soils of the same region, which being usually poor in plant food, must afford a deeper penetration in order that an adequate amount of the same shall be within reach of the roots. Sandy lands, then, should be deep in order to repay cultivation ”

“ The soil is as sandy as in South Hutchinson. But dirt and fertilizer are brought from the back country and the soil is kept constantly renewed. It seems to me that with comparatively little work the sandy soil of the Arkansas valley can be made into a market garden, producing many times its present value, whenever our people take it into their heads to manufacture their own soil and apply water when needed and not just when it rains. That time will come, but probably not until a dense population forces a great increase in production. ”

“ There is every variety of soil from white sand, to the deep black vegetable alluvial mould, every variety, general speaking, having something of peculiar production, either of tree, shrub, herb, or flower. On the white sand, the Australian mahogany is found in great abundance, and of excellent quality; on the clay grounds, the red and blue gum trees appear; and sandy soils produce the Banksia and Protea.
For the first fifteen miles up the river, white sands present themselves on either side with some mixture of vegetable mould. In this district, white limestone is tolerably abundant. ”

“ Clay may be put on with advantage; and nothing benefits a hot chalky soil more than a good dose of mud from ponds and ditches, which supplies at once humus, alumina, and silicates, and gives ‘staple’ to the soil, while preventing it also from ‘burning.’ In the manuring of sandy soils great care is requisite, because of their absorbing power. In the bulb-growing districts of Holland, manure from cowsheds is worth an enormous price for digging into loose sand for a crop of Potatoes, to be followed by bulbs. Sandy soils are generally deficient in phosphates and alkalies ”

“ Only coarse sandy soil remains light and open without organic matter. Few soils are formed only of coarse sand, most are mixtures of sand, silt and clay. Sands are sharp-sided, relatively large rock particles similar to table salt or refined white sugar. Irregular edges keep sand particles separated, and allow the free movement of air and moisture. ”

“ A den in sandy soil in the open may be of maximum size in area occupied and yet scarcely present the appearance of a mound in any sense, due probably both to the fact that the sandy soil will not heap up to such a height over a honeycomb of tunnels as will a firmer or rocky soil, and also to its greater exposure to the leveling action of rains and the trampling of animals. ”

“ If there is a sand pit near you, or a field of sandy soil, you should get a supply for these experiments; if not, some builder's sand can be used. When the sand is dry you will see that the grains are large and hard. Further, they are all separate and do not stick together; if you make a hole in a heap of the sand, the sides fall in, there is nothing solid about it, and you can easily see the mistake of the foolish man who built his house upon the sand. When the sand is wet it sticks better and can be made into a good many things; at the seaside you can make a really fine castle with wet sand. ”

“ The soils upon which these successful crops are growing vary widely, both in their physical and chemical character, ranging from a light, sandy loam, with sandy subsoil, to a medium heavy clay, with compact clay subsoil, which indicates clearly that success does not depend so much upon the character of the soil as upon the methods of seeding, fertilization and after-treatment, though the most successful stands were, as a rule, obtained upon sandy soils, overlying a reasonably open subsoil. Twenty-seven growers had a more or less satisfactory experience, while 17 were absolute failures. ”

“ In humid climates like ours, sandy soils may seem very open and friable on the surface but frequently hold some unpleasant subsoil surprises. Over geologic time spans, mineral grains are slowly destroyed by weak soil acids and clay is formed from the breakdown products. Then heavy winter rainfall transports these minuscule clay particles deeper into the earth, where they concentrate. ”

“ A light, sandy soil should be given only a small application, as otherwise physical condition may be injured. The lime, used in excess, has an undue binding effect upon the sand. An application of 1000 pounds of stone-lime per acre can be made with safety. ”

“ The valleys which penetrate into the sandstone supporting these trap rocks, have usually a sandy soil, while that of the more elevated portions, though inconsiderable in quantity, is not sandy nor intermixed with pebbles or gravel. Among the few scattered and scrubby trees met with in this district, are oaks, willows, and the cotton-wood ”

“ It is especially worthy of observation, however, that sandy soils are the most readily amenable of any to the operation of tillage. If we cannot take much out of them, we can put any amount into them, and it is always necessary to calculate where the process of enrichment is to stop. It is not less worthy of observation that sandy soils can be rendered capable of producing almost every kind of crop, save cereals and pulse, and even these can be secured where there is some basis of peat or loam or clay with the sand. ”

“ The ease with which soils absorb, retain or lose moisture, depends mostly on their texture, humus content, physical condition, and surface slope or artificial drainage. It is to the extent that cultivation can modify these factors that more soil water can be made available to the growing crop. There are loose, open soils through which water percolates as through a sieve, and there are tight, gumbo soils which swell when the surface is moistened and become practically waterproof. Sandy soils take in water more readily than heavier soils, hence less precaution is necessary to prevent run-off. ”

“ Some sands which appear quite free from organic admixture are really the reverse. Faure has pointed out that the sandy soil of the Landes in Southwestern France contains a large amount of organic ingredient which is constantly decomposing and gives rise to periodic fevers. Under such sands, moreover, there is frequently a subsoil of clay. ”