THE SOIL.
How nice it is to play in the soft dirt. The wind also likes to play with the dirt. It picks up the dirt and blows it in our faces.
When the rain plays with the dirt it makes mud. How the mud sticks to our feet, and leaves dirty tracks upon mother's clean floor. The mud soils our hands and clothes. Is there anyone who does not know how to make mud pies? We sometimes wish there was no dirt. What do you suppose would happen if our wish should come true? There would be no green fields. There would be no pretty meadows with their carpet of flowers.
Perhaps you know what the gardener calls the dirt in the fields. Did you ever hear him speak of the soil? He says that plants will not grow well if the soil is poor.
Let us find out what the soil is made of. Run out to the garden and get a handful of the dirt or soil. It feels fine and soft in our fingers. Here and there we find little hard grains and pieces of plant stems.
Now place the soil in a basin of water and shake it well. The water becomes muddy. It looks like the water which you see running down the street when it rains. Put your hand in the basin and at the bottom you can feel something soft like mud.
Pour the muddy water .out of the basin into another dish. Pour in more water and again shake the basin. Turn off the muddy water as before. After you have done this a number of times the mud will be gone. Now the water remains quite clear.
Let us see what there is left of the soil. There
in the bottom of our basin is a thin layer of sand. It looks much like the sand by the brook or upon the beach, but the grains are not of the same size. The larger grains have sharp points.
The sand by the brook was once mixed with clay. The water as it ran along finally washed the clay away and carried it down toward the river. The grains of sand were made smooth, so that we can find no sharp points upon them.
Let us turn now to our jar of muddy water. After it, has stood some hours the water no longer looks dirty. The fine particles of clay or mud which floated in the water have settled to the bottom. The clay feels very soft and slippery. There are no grains of sand in it.
Is there anything else in the water besides the clay? Yes, upon its surface there are many little pieces of leaves and stems of plants. These are soft and crumble if we try to pick them up.
We have found three things in the soil. There is first the sand, which feels hard and gritty when we rub it in our fingers. Then there is the clay in which we can feel no grit. When the clay dries it crumbles to a fine powder, and looks like the dust in the road. ' Last of all, there are the little pieces of plants.
Some kinds of soil contain much sand and little clay. Others are formed mostly of clay.
Would you not like to know how the soil is made?