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

Soil Moisture CharacteristicsBeverly soils are imperfectly drained. They aremoderately to slowly permeable. Saturatedconditions occur in the upper horizons forextended periods of time each year . Thesaturation period is prolonged where compactionhas occurred. Beverly soils have medium to highwater holding capacities, and moderate to rapidsurface runoff.General Soil CharacteristicsBeverly soil materials contain 27% or moreclay . The Ap, Btgj, and calcareous Ckgj horizonswhich commonly occur usually have clay loilm,silty day loam or silty day textures .Distinct to prominent, dark yellowishbrown toyellowish red mottles occur within the profile.Soil reaction ranges from slightly acid to neutral inthe upperAp and Btgj horizons, to mildly alkalinein the Ckgj horizons. Soil classification is typicallyGleyed Brunisolic Gray Brown Luvisol.Soil VariabilityOccasionally layers of medium or coarsetextured materials occur within the profile. Thelayers are variable in thickness and usually havesilt loam, loam, or fine sandy loam textures .Beverly soils were mapped where thin caps ofmedium or coarse textured materials overly thefine to very fine textured materials. Beverlycoarse phase (BV.C) soils were mapped where theupper materials consisted of 15 to 40 cm of coarsetextured materials . Beverly loamy phase (BVI)soils were mapped where the upper materialsconsisted of 15 to 40 cm of medium texturedmaterials .Beverly soils were commonly mapped incombination withBeverly loamy phase (BV L) andToledo (TO) soils. Beverly loamy phase (BVI)soils were often mapped in combination withTavistock (TA) and Toledo loamy phase (TOL)soils .Land Use/Management CommentsBeverly soils are rated Class 2D for commonfield crops when topography is not a limitation.They are used extensively for growing corn andwinter wheat. Beverly soils are suitable forgrowing a fairly wide range of special crops.They are particularly well suited for special fieldcrops such as soybeans and white beans . Theirsuitability increases for many special crops if theyare tile drained . Suitability ratings for selectedspecial crops are given in Tables 6, 7, and 8.Beverly soils are susceptible to compaction,and care must be taken not to use heavymachinery when they are too wet. A crop rotationwhich includes a forage crop will aid inmaintaining soil structure . Beverly and Beverlyloamy phase soils are also susceptible to watererosion due to the erodible nature of their surfacematerials. Planting cover crops and maintaininghigh crop residue levels will help to reduce therisk of erosion by water .Conservation tillage practices should beconsidered for Beverly coarse phase and Beverlyloamy phase soils. Conventional tillage practices,however, may be better on Beverly soils toimprove structure and enhance drainage.Bookton Soils (BO)Landform and TopographyBookton soils have developed on 40 to 100 cmthick veneers of coarse textured lacustrinematerials which are underlain by fine to very finetextured lacustrine materials . They mainly occuron upper and crest slope positions in landscapeswhich have gently undulating topography . Slopesgenerally range from 5 to 9% .Soil Moisture CharacteristicsBookton soils are well drained . The uppercoarse textured materials are rapidly permeableand have low water holding capacities. As aresult, these soils tend to be droughty. The lowerfine textured materials are moderately to slowlypermeable. Surface runoff is slow on nearly levelto gentle slopes, but increases on steeper slopes.General Soil CharacteristicsThe Ap horizons usually have fine sandy loamor loamy fine sand textures . The Bm horizonsusually have fine sandy loam, loamy fine sand,fine sand or sand textures. Clay enriched IlBthorizons often occur at the contact between theupper sandy materials and the lower clayeymaterials. The IICk horizons are calcareous andusually have silty clay loam or silty clay textures.Soil reaction ranges from strongly acid toneutral in the Ap horizons, to mildly alkaline inthe IICk horizons . Soil classification is typicallyBrunisolic Gray Brown Luvisol .Soil VariabilityThe aerial extent of Bookton soils in theCounty is limited . Occasionally Bookton soilshave gravelly layers which occur above the