Loams or Loamy Soils, consist of mixtures of the sands, silt and clay with some organic matter.  The term loam is applied to a soil which, from its appearance in the field and the feeling when handled, appears to be about one-half sand and the other half silt and clay with more or less organic matter.  These are naturally fine in texture and quite sticky when wet.  They would be called clay by many on account of their stickiness.  They are good soils for general farming and produce good grain, grass, corn, potatoes, cotton, vegetables, etc.

Sandy Loams, averaging about three-fifths sand and two-fifths silt and clay.  These soils are tilled easily and are the lightest desirable soil for general farming.  They are particularly adapted to corn and cotton and in some instances are used for small fruits and truck crops.

Silt Loam consists largely of silt with a small amount of sand, clay, and organic matter.  These soils are some of the most difficult to till, but when well drained they are with careful management good general farming soils, producing good corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, alfalfa and fair cotton.

Clay Loams.—­These soils contain more clay than the silt loams.  They are stiff, sticky soils, and some of them are difficult to till.  They are generally considered the strongest soils for general farming.  They are particularly adapted to wheat, hay, corn and grass.

Gravelly loams are from one-fourth to two-thirds coarse grained; the remaining fine soil may be sandy loam, silt or clay loam.  They are adapted to various crops according to the character of the fine soil.  Some of them are best planted to fruit and forest.

Stony Loam.—­Like the gravelly loam the stony loams are one-fourth to three-fourths sandy, silty or clay loam, the remainder being rock fragments of larger size than the gravel.  These fragments are sometimes rough and irregular and sometimes rounded.  The stones interfere seriously with tillage, and naturally the soils are best planted with forest or fruit.

Clay Soils.—­Clay soils are mixtures of sand, silt, clay and humus, the clay existing in quite large quantities, there being a greater preponderance of the clay characteristics than in the clay loams; they are very heavy, sticky, and difficult to manage.  Some clay soils are not worth farming.  Those that can be profitably tilled are adapted to wheat, corn, hay and pasture.

Adobe Soils.—­These are peculiar soils of the dry West.  They are mixtures of clay, silt, some sand and large amounts of humus.  Their peculiar characteristic is that they are very sticky when wet and bake very hard when dry and are, therefore, very difficult to manage, though they are generally very productive when they are moist enough to support crops.

Swamp Muck is a dark brown or black swamp soil consisting of large amounts of humus or decaying organic matter mixed with some fine sand and clay.  It is found in low wet places.