The purpose of this experiment was to compare the kinds of soil in Pierce County versus Yakima County.

My family likes to garden and when we dig we find different kinds of soil. I chose to make a science project to help my family and others who garden.

The information gained from this experiment will help people who farm to choose what type of soil to look for when buying property. It couild also help gardeners decide which part of their property to use growing crops.

My hypothesis is that the soil in Yakima County will have a higher liklihood of being loam soil than in Pierce County.

I base my hypothesis on my observations that a lot of crops grow better in Yakima County than in Pierce County and the crops in Yakima County produce higher levels than in Pierce County.

The constants in this study were:
1. The amount of soil collected in each sample
2. The number of areas sampled in each county
3. The sampling technique

The manipulated variable was the place I got the soil.

The responding variable was the type of soil.

To measure the responding variable I need to get a quart sized jar to get the same measurements on any other jars.

1. Plan a trip to the Pierce County with your parents
2. When you get to the county, find a city that is in the county
3. Find a place that you can easily find soil to sample, like a park where the soil is fairly undisturbed
4. Take a quart jar (4 cups) and fill it with soil from the city
5. As soon as you are done, put a label on it saying “Pierce County, (the city)
6. Put the jar in a safe place where you can find it when you need it
7. Repeat 2,3,4,5, and 6 until four cities are sampled from that county
8. On the computer or in a notebook, make a log of the soil
9. Before you write anything in the log, examine the soil in the quart jars
10. In the log, write the city of where you sampled the soil and then write what type of soil that is in the jar
11. Repeat #10 until all the jars are in the log
12. To make sure that your samples are correct, test the sample again.
13. Make sure you write in your log that you resampled a city
14. Repeat #1-13 for sampling Yakima County
15. Instead of labeling the jars “Pierce County,” label the jars “Yakima County, (the city)”

The results of the experiment were that Yakima County’s sampled cities were all loam. Pierce County’s cities were mostly sandy loam and sandy soil. Since loam soil helps crops to grow the best, Yakima County has the best soil to grow crops in.
See graph below.

My hypothesis was that Yakima County would have the best soil to grow crops in.

The results indicate that this hypothesis should be accepted because in the experiment samples from Yakima County had all loam soil. Loam soil is the best soil to use to grow crops in. Yakima County had the best soil to grow crops in.

Because of the results of this experiment, I wonder if all of eastern Washington has loam soil. I wonder if Idaho has loam soil. I wonder if Pierce County has any city that has loam soil in it. I wonder if all of western Washington has sandy soil like Pierce County.

If I were to conduct this project again I would make sure that I had a standardized known soil sample with me to really determine if that city had that kind of soil. I would like to sample more cities in the county. I would like to try to have several samples from each city. If I were to conduct this project again I would make sure to try to have more counties from eastern and western Washington to sample.