The Bulletin 



15 



gravel, or quartz rock; tlie feldspar gives the clay, and tlie mica is seen 

 as flakes. These rocks give the Cecil and Durham soils. The Cecil 

 soils are gray to red in the surface portion and have bright red, hard, 

 brittle clay subsoils. The Cecil coarse sandy loam, sandy loam, fine 

 snndv loam, loam, clav lonm. and clav are formed. The Durham soils 



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Fig. 3. — A typical farm lioiiio 



are light gray and have yellow friable clay subsoils. Two types, the 

 coarse sandy loam and sandy loam, occur. From the red color of the 

 Cecil soils it would seem that the rocks from which they are derived 

 contain a higher percentage of the iron-bearing minerals than those 

 giving the Durham, and the oxidation of this iron gives it the intense 

 red color. 



The diorites are dark green heavy rocks, locally called "nigger head" 

 rocks, and occur throughout the granite and gneiss formations. The 

 Iredell soils have been derived from the weathering of this diorite. 

 They consist of gray to brown soils and have yellowish or bro-wnish- 

 yellow, waxy, putty-like, clay subsoils. Like the Mecklenburg soils, the 

 yelloAvish-green, soft diorite rock is generally found at 18 to 36 inches 

 below the surface. 



Along most of the streams throughout the county are developed nar- 

 row strips of bottom-land or alluvial soils. These soils represent ma- 

 terials washed from the uplands — that is, the cream of the uplands — 

 and deposited by overflow water upon the flood plains. The heavy ma- 

 terial is a brown to reddish-brown color, and where having a uniform 

 texture has been classed as Congaree silty clay loam. The material in 

 the bottom-lands is mixed up in texture and the soils have a lower agri- 

 cultural value due to lack of drainage. They are termed Meadow. 



