mean by a 'kind' soil?"

"Well, if we apply manure here it will show in the crop for many
years. It is easy to build this soil up with manure; but, of course,
we have too little to treat it right."

"The soil is almost neutral," said Percy, testing with litmus and
acid. "Does clover grow on this soil?"

"Very little, except where we put manure."

Another composite sample of the soil was collected, and they walked
on.

"Now, here," said Mr. West, "is about the most productive upland on
the farm."

"Is that possible?" asked Percy, the question being directed more to
himself than to his host.

"That is according to my observation for about fifty years," he
replied. "Where we spread the farm fertilizer over this old pasture
land and plow it under for corn, we often harvest a crop of eight
barrels to the acre, while the average of the field will not be more
than five barrels.--A barrel of corn with us is five bushels."

They had stopped on one of the steepest slopes in the field.

"These hillsides would be considered the poorest land on the farm if
we were in the corn belt," said Percy, "but I think I understand the