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

atings for selected special crops are given inTables 6; 7, and 8.Brantford 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. Brantford andBrantford loamy phase soils are also susceptible towater erosion. Planting cover crops andmaintaining high crop residue levels will aid inreducing the risk of erosion by water . Brantfordsoils, particularly those with medium or coarsetextured surface materials, are suitable for anumber of conservation tillage practices .Brisbane Soils (BI)Landform and TopographyBrisbane soils have developed on 15 to 40 cmthick veneers of coarse textured lacustrinematerials which are underlain by gravelly coarsetextured fluvial outwash materials . Brisbane soilsmost often occur on mid and lower slope positionsin landscapes which have nearly level or verygently undulating topography . Slopes range from1 to 5%.Soil Moisture CharacteristicsBrisbane soils are imperfectly drained andrapidly permeable . The imperfect drainageconditions associated with these soils are due tohigh water table levels which occur mainly in thewinter and early spring. They have low waterholding capacities and slow surface runoff .General Soil CharacteristicsThe Ap and Bra or Bmgj horizons usuallyoccur in the upper coarse textured lacustrinematerials and have sandy loam or loamy sandtextures. Clay enriched Btgj or IIBtgj horizonscommonly occur above the calcareous HCkgjhorizons. The clay enriched B horizons usuallyhave sandy loam textures, while the HCkgjhorizons usually have gravelly coarse sand orgravelly sand textures .Distinct to prominent, strong brown to darkyellowish brown mottles occur within the profile.Soil reaction ranges from slightly acid to neutral inthe Ap horizons, to mildly alkaline in theunderlying IICkgj horizons. Soil classification istypically Gleyed Brunisolic Gray Brown Luvisol .Soil VariabilityBrisbane soils mainly occur in areas which arenear or adjacent to the Thames River and largecreeks which run through the County . Frequentlythe upper lacustrine materials contain gravelwhich may range as high as 20% in some soils .Occasionally the upper materials have loamtextures, or the underlying fluvial materials consistof alternating layers of - sandy and gravellymaterials . Burford (BU) or Camilla (CM) mayoccur in landscapes where Brisbane soils weremapped .Land Use/Management CommentsBrisbane soils are rated Class 2F for commonfield crops when topography is not a limitation.They are suitable for a fairly wide range of specialcrops, especially field crops such as white beans,spring canola, and winter rapeseed . Theirsuitability increases for many special crops if theyare tile drained or supplemental irrigation iscarried out. Suitability ratings for selected specialcrops are given in Tables 6, 7, and 8.Brisbane soils are susceptible to wind erosion.Planting cover crops, establishing windbreaks, andcarrying out management practices whichmaintain organic matter levels, will aid inreducing the risk of erosion by wind .Conservation -tillage practices, particularly no-tillpractices, should be considered for these soils.Burford Soils (BU)Landform and TopographyBurford soils have developed on 15 to 40 cmthick veneers of coarse textured lacustrinematerials which are underlain by gravelly coarsetextured fluvial outwash materials . These soilsusually occur on upper and crest slope positionsin landscapes where the topography is eitherinclined or undulating. Slopes generally rangefrom 2 to 5% .Soil Moisture CharacteristicsBurford soils are rapidly drained and rapidlypermeable . They have low water holdingcapacities and slow surface runoff, except onslopes greater than 5% where runoff may bemoderate .General Soil CharacteristicsThe Ap and Bm horizons usually occur in theupper coarse textured lacustrine materials andhave sandy loam or loamy sand textures. Clayenriched Bt or IIBt horizons commonly occur31