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The Bulletin 



CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 



CECIL CLAY LOAM 



The Cecil clay loam is one of the largest and most important soil types 

 in the county. It ranks next in size to the sandy loam, covering as it 

 does 65,216 acres, or 27 per cent of the county. It is one of the impor- 

 tant soils of the Piedmont platean. It is generally recognized as the "red 

 land" or "mulatto land," and spots of it are called "push land." In 

 many places it closely approaches the red clay, but differs from this in 

 that the surface is a brown to red loam or clay loam carrying more sand 

 and being of a more mellow structure than the heavy red clay. The 

 subsoil is a bright red stiff clay, hard when dry and plastic Avlien wet, 

 and usually has some Avhite sand or quartz rock in the form of veins. 

 The spots of dull brown loam having a depth of 10 to 15 inches are 

 called "push land" or "dead land" because the soil does not slide easily 

 from the plow. The Cecil clay loam occurs in all parts of the county, but 

 its greatest development is found in the southeastei'ii i):irr between the 

 Catawba and South Fork rivers. Other large areas are mapped in River 

 Bend Township, through Dallas Townshi]), and frnm Concord Clinrcli 

 north to Webb Chapel. 



In surface features this st)il is siniibir to the associated upland soils; 

 that is, it has smooth gently rolling to rolling areas on thi' divides and 

 steep hilly to broken areas near many of the streams. South of Belmont 

 lies a comparatively smooth ridge. l)nt the slopes ai'e hilly and broken. 

 Some of the roughest to])ography of this soil is seen to ilie west of Stan- 

 ley, south of Tlardins, and generally along tlic i-ivci-s and larger creeks, 

 llain water rnns oft' of tin- surface i-ajjidlv and in nianv ]ilaces gullies 



