The Bulletin. ' 9 



the coast but which are not so well drained. The proverbial midsummer 

 drought that occurs in this section also aids by checking the vegetative 

 growth and maturing the crop earlier here than it would mature farther 

 east. 



While making a fair yield on practically all the soils of this section 

 of the State, there are some two or three that should be considered the 

 leading cotton soils of piedmont iN'orth Carolina, both on account of 

 greater areal extent and greater adaptability. These are the Cecil 

 Sandy Loam, the Cecil Clay Loam and, to less extent, the Cecil Clay. 



CECIL SANDY LOAM. 



This soil is a sandy loam of a brownish, yellowish or sometimes 

 grayish color, ranging from a few inches to ten or twelve inches in 

 depth, depending on the amount of local erosion. 



The subsoil is a red clay containing an appreciable amount of coarse 

 sand, both soil and subsoil carrying fragments of quartz or "white 

 flint rocks." 



The surface of this soil is gently to heavy rolling and hilly. Some- 

 times rather large areas are found, however, that are as level as a 

 farmer would care to have agricultural land. This type of soil may 

 be characterized, in a general way, as having a gray top and a red clay 

 bottom. 



CECIL CLAY LOAM. 



This is, perhaps, the next in importance of the cotton soils of the 

 piedmont section. The soil is about six inches deep and is character- 

 ized by a red surface soil and heavy clayey subsoil. Both soil and sub- 

 soil contain an appreciable amount of sharp sand, quartz, fragments of 

 undecomposed crystalline schists, and other metamorphosed rocks from 

 which the type is largely derived. 



CECIL CLAY. 



The surface of this soil is characterized in general by its red color 

 and absence of an appreciable amount of sand. It is a heavy red clay 

 which is in its typical development, very sticky when wet and rather 

 difficult to cultivate. The depth of the soil, which usually marks the 

 depth of plowing and the incorporation of organic matter, ranges from 

 four to six inches as a rule. 



While not a specially good cotton soil, still with proper treatment, 

 as much as a bale and a half to the acre has been secured from this type. 



All three of these soil types are found scattered over the whole pied- 

 mont section with the possible exception of the slate belt where they 

 will be found developed here and there where the rocks that give rise 

 to this series of soils outcrop. They are typically developed in the 

 counties of Iredell, Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Davidson, Randolph, Guil- 

 ford, Alamance, and Rowan. 



FUNDAMENTAL TREATMENT. 



In discussing the manipulation of these soils preparatory to the 

 production of cotton, only general principles and broad generalizations 



