The Bulletin 



19 



lished and will be an advantage in wet years. Moreover, deeper plow- 

 ing in the fall and the use of winter cover crops will prevent washing 

 on many of the slopes and largely eliminate the terracing now found 

 necessary. 



The Cecil clay loam, owing to the higher percentage of sand, is more 

 friable, works up into a better tilth, and is more easily handled with 

 light implements, or even machinery, than the Cecil clay. 



The cowpea vines, clover, or even the stubble of these crops or coarse 

 manures, would greatly benefit the soil. The type is susceptible of high 

 and lasting improvement, and by proper management its yields per acre 

 can, in many cases, be doubled or trebled. Rotation is an important 

 factor in such improvement. A practicable succession under existing 

 conditions, is corn the first year, sowing cowpeas at last cultivation ; then 

 oats or wheat, solving cowpeas again after harvesting ; cotton third year, 

 sowing crimson -clover after first picking of cotton. When the dairy 

 farming is extended around Charlotte more grasses, clovers, and ensilage 

 crops will be grown in the rotations. 



This soil, as a rule, in order to give maximum yields, needs relatively 

 large applications of acid phosphate and considerable nitrogen. The 

 last can be advantageously secured by growing leguminous crops, with 

 only the phosphate and potash being purchased. The commercial mix- 

 tures used generally have the formula 8-2-2 or 8-3-3, of which the usual 

 applications for cotton and corn range from 200 to 400 pounds per acre. 

 The home mixture is also used by some on their soils and nitrate of soda 

 is applied to growing crops in the spring. 



Land of the Cecil clay loam type varies greatly in price. Location 

 with respect to Charlotte and other markets is the chief factor deter- 

 mining values. Near the towns and along the railroads farms of this 

 type are worth from $35 to $75 an acre. In the vicinity of Charlotte 

 prices are higher, ranging from $75 to $300 an acre. 



The following table gives the average results of analyses of the soil 

 and subsoil of the Cecil clay loam : 



•The average chemical analyses herein reported are obtained from individual analyses of many 

 samples of each soil tj^pe. The average figures are trustworthy within certain limits. The probable 

 error for the methods used in determining the given constituents seem to be as follows: Nitrogen ± , 

 .015%;P2O6 ±. .015%; K2O ±, .05%; and CaO ±, .05%. 



