the finest silt in one cubic inch.  In other words, if all the particles in one cubic inch of soil consisting of fine silt were placed side by side, they would form a continuous chain over a thousand miles long.  The farmer, when he tills the soil, deals with countless numbers of individual soil grains, far surpassing the understanding of the human mind.  It is the immense number of constituent soil particles that gives to the soil many of its most valuable properties.

It must be remembered that no natural soil is made up of particles all of which are of the same size; all sizes, from the coarsest sand to the finest clay, are usually present.  These particles of all sizes are not arranged in the soil in a regular, orderly way; they are not placed side by side with geometrical regularity; they are rather jumbled together in every possible way.  The larger sand grains touch and form comparatively large interstitial spaces into which the finer silt and clay grains filter.  Then, again, the clay particles, which have cementing properties, bind, as it were, one particle to another.  A sand grain may have attached to it hundreds, or it may be thousands, of the smaller silt grains; or a regiment of smaller soil grains may themselves be clustered into one large grain by cementing power of the clay.  Further, in the presence of lime and similar substances, these complex soil grains are grouped into yet larger and more complex groups.  The beneficial effect of lime is usually due to this power of grouping untold numbers of soil particles into larger groups.  When by correct soil culture the individual soil grains are thus grouped into large clusters, the soil is said to be in good tilth.  Anything that tends to destroy these complex soil grains, as, for instance, plowing the soil when it is too wet, weakens the crop-producing power of the soil.  This complexity of structure is one of the chief reasons for the difficulty of understanding clearly the physical laws governing soils.

Pore-space of soils

It follows from this description of soil structure that the soil grains do not fill the whole of the soil space.  The tendency is rather to form clusters of soil grains which, though touching at many points, leave comparatively large empty spaces.  This pore space in soils varies greatly, but with a maximum of about 55 per cent.  In soils formed under arid conditions the percentage of pore-space is somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 per cent.  There are some arid soils, notably gypsum soils, the particles of which are so uniform size that the pore-space is exceedingly small.  Such soils are always difficult to prepare for agricultural purposes.