The Soils of Elgin County - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

fine textured morainal materials consisting of PortStanley till. The till materials of these soils differfrom the usual fine textured lacustrine materialsby having coarse fragments within the profile anda tendency to have better structure.Maplewood and Maplewood till phase soilswere most often mapped in combination withTavistock (TA) and Tavistock till phase (TA.T)soils, respectively .Land Use/Management CommentsMaplewood and Maplewood till phase soilsboth require tile drainage in order to reach theirpotential capabilities for common field cropproduction . They are rated Class 2W. Duemainly to their wetness limitations, they havelimited suitability for most special crops. If theyare tile drained, however, their suitabilityincreases for many special crops . Suitabilityratings for selected special crops are given inTables 6, 7, and 8.Maplewood and Maplewood till phase soilsare susceptible to compaction. Care should betaken, therefore, not to use heavy machinery onthese soils when they are too wet. Conventionaltillage practices may be best on these soils toimprove soil structure and enhance drainage .Consideration should be given, however, tominimum till and no-till conservation tillagepractices for fall crops.Melbourne Soils (ME)Landform and TopographyMelbourne soils have developed onblankets offine to very fine textured lacustrine materials .They usually occur in landscapes which haveundulating to hummocky topography. Slopesgenerally range from 10 to 15%.Soil Moisture CharacteristicsMelbourne soils are moderately well drainedand slowly permeable. Saturated conditions mayoccur in the upper horizons for short periods oftime each year. Melbourne soils have medium tohigh water holding capacities, but may bedroughty during dry periods because of strongwater retention by the clayey materials. Surfacerunoff is rapid . Soil cracks which may developduring the summer will increase permeability andreduce surface runoff.General Soil CharacteristicsMelbourne soil materials usually contain atleast 40% clay . They also contain one or morelayers within the profile which contain more than60% clay. The Ap horizons frequently have siltyclay or clay textures . Textures of the Bt andcalcareous Ckgj horizons are usually silty clay,clay, or heavy clay .Distinct mottles occur at a depth of 50 to 100cm from the surface . Soil reaction ranges fromslightly acid to neutral in the Ap horizons, tomildly alkaline in the Ckgj horizons . Soilclassification is typically Brunisolic Gray BrownLuvisol .Soil VariabilityThe aerial extent of Melbourne soils in theCounty is limited . They occur mainly inAldborough Township on the lacustrine clay plainlocated north-west of the St . Thomas moraine .Melbourne soils tend to occur only in landscapeswhich have steep slopes and rapid surface runoff.They were mapped in combination with Ekfrid(EK) soils .Land Use/Management CommentsMelbourne soils are rated Class 3D forcommon field crops when topography is not alimitation. They are capable of producingacceptable yields of common field crops, but goodmanagement practices are necessary. When thesurface slopes are not too steep, they are suitablefor a fairly wide range of special crops . They arehighly suitable for special field crops such assoybeans and white beans . Suitability ratings forselected special crops are given in Tables 6, 7, and8 .Conventional tillage practices may be best onthese soils to improve structure and enhancedrainage. A crop rotation which includes a foragecrop will also aid in improving soil structure.Consideration should be given, however, to no-tillconservation tillage practices for fall crops.Middlemarch Soils (MI)Landform and TopographyMiddlemarch soils have developed on coarsetextured ice-contact stratified drift materials . Thecoarse textured drift materials usually containlayers of gravelly materials. They commonly arefound on mid to lower slope positions on isolatedsandy ridges or knolls which occur in clayey tillmorainal landscapes. Slopes generally range from2 to 9% .40