Silt three grades fine, medium and coarse 0.002 mm to 0.006 mm to 0.020 mm to 0.063 mm). In actuality, silt is chemically distinct from clay, and unlike clay, grains of silt are approximately the same size in all dimensions; furthermore, their size ranges overlap. Clays are formed from thin plate-shaped particles held together by electrostatic forces, so present a cohesion. Pure silts are not cohesive. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Texture Classification system, the sand–silt distinction is made at the 0.05 mm particle size. The USDA system has been adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Natchez silt loam pasture and row crops are grown and the soil is very productive when good management is applied. A typical Natchez soil profile consists of a 3 inch top soil of dark grayish brown silt loam and to 8 inches, a subsurface of brown silt loam, a yellowish brown and dark yellowish brown silt loam subsoil to 36 inches and a substratum that is yellowish brown, and dark yellowish brown silt loam down to 80 inches. Classified as coarse-silty, mixed, superactive, thermic typic eutrudepts: Natchez soils are in the Inceptisols soil order. Inceptisols soils have developed in relatively young material that