Huddersfield Soils
By John Grainger

THE CONSTITUENTS OF SOIL

The constituents of soil are:
1 Mineral particles of various sizes and different construction.
2 Organic matter from the decomposition of plants and animals.
3 Various chemical substances, some of which can be used as plant food.
4 Water with substances in solution, occupying part of the space between the mineral particles.
5 Air, which fills the spaces between the mineral particles not occupied by water.

THE MINERAL PARTICLES can be graded into six sizes:

A Stones. . Over 5mm
B Gravel. . Between 5mm and 2mm
C Coarse Sand . Between 2mm and 0.2mm
D Fine Sand. . Between 0.2mm and 0.04mm
E Silt. . . Between 0.04 and 0.002mm
F Clay. . . Below 0.002

Stones are of importance only when they are present in quantities great enough to obstruct the plough or spade. This sometimes happens on the shallow sandstone soils of the district. The unfortunate cultivator must then laboriously clear his soil of superfluous stone to a sufficient depth for the wielding of his spade or the driving of his plough. Gravel neither troubles nor assists the grower of crops when it occurs in soil. The other four sizes of particles are, however, of great importance to the farmer or gardener. They can be considered in two groups, for the coarse and fine sands are but large and small members of the same family, whilst silt and clay are from another family. Chemical and physical differences separate the two groups. Sand particles are almost pure silica, and are solid; silt and clay are complex aluminosilicates and are colloidal or jelly-like, with only a central core of solid material. Soils with a considerable amount of silt and clay are spoken of as heavy soils, and those in which sands predominate are lighter soils. These term refer to the amount of energy required to work them. It is interesting that sand weighs more than an equal volume of clay. (Table 1)

Table 2 shows the relative amounts of soil particles in the four finer grades for the main types of Huddersfield soils. A large number of estimations were carried out according to the 1927 International Scale, and the author acknowledges the valued assistance of Mr. James Walton, B.Sc., and Mr. George Sheard, B.Sc., with some of the determinations. All the analyses are not given, but the averages shown in Table 2 are in every way typical of each soil type.

The sandstone soils of both Millstone Grits and Coal Measures are generally similar in composition, having considerably more of the large particles, coarse sand and fine sand, than of the finer silt and clay. They tend to produce a mat of turf if left as grassland, and are nearly always subject to summer drought, owing to their superlative drainage combined with the lack of water-holding power of the coarser particles. Coal Measure sandstones have usually more silt particles than Millstone Grit sandstones, a fact which renders them more retentive of water, and brings greater agricultural possibilities. Indeed, the plateau from Farnley Tyas to Thurstonland is a naturally fertile district.

Shale soils have a preponderance of the finer particles which is slightly greater in the Coal Measures than in the Millstone Grits. Their average analyses shown in Table 2 do not, however, indicate the profound difference in the natural supply of mineral nutrients which exists between those formations.

Glacial soils are the heaviest in the district, usually having 70 per cent, or more of the finer fractions. Alluvial soils have usually quite small amounts of clay. Fine sand appears to be the chief fraction, but there is a sufficiency of silt to make the soil retentive of water.

It should not be thought that heavy soils are better than light ground. The cultivator should recognize the particular qualities of each type, and adjust his work and cropping to the potentialities of his own plot.

These indications should only be interpreted in a general way, for their effects are not always sharply marked. Some crops, e.g. carrots, grow better on sandy soil than on clay ground, whilst the marked preference of roses for clay soil is now almost proverbial.

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