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Soil texture often plays an important role in the interpretation of soil analytical data for fertilizer advisory purposes. A reliable and inexpensive method of clay content estimation is, therefore, a requirement of most advisory laboratories. This note discusses the use of sample density (i.e. the mass of a scooped volume of soil) as an index of clay content. A strong relationship was found to exist between sample density and clay content, and such estimates of clay content were superior to those obtained by experienced pedologists using the “finger test” procedure. The use of this quick and simple procedure is considered to be ideally suited to soil testing laboratories handling large numbers of samples.

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