Soils vary signifi cantly in their properties. They may be deep in some places, shallow in others, black or gray in colour, sandy or clayey in texture. Although the soil mantle covering Manitoba is far from uniform, all soils have some common factors. For example, all soil is a mixture of organic and mineral material plus water and air. While the major components remain the same, the proportion of each component in this mixture varies from soil to soil. Every farm may consist of several types of soil. To date, over 1,000 different soil types have been recognized in Manitoba, about 550 of which can be found in agroManitoba. They are not scattered randomly, but occur in definite geographic areas and in certain patterns. Signifi cant differences set apart the soil of a poorly drained pothole from the adjacent well-drained ridge or hilltop while relatively small differences occur between adjacent soils on level fi elds of uniform texture.