128 THE SOILS OF ST. MAKY's COUNTY 



The surface is slightly rolling or gently sloping, and the broad, flat divides 

 between the minor streams are covered by this soil. As the soil boars 

 (jiiite a variety of local names, it has seemed best to supplant them all 

 by the name Leonardtown loam. 



The extensive forests of wliite oak and pitch pine occurring over the 

 ujihmd region are found largely on this type of soil. AYhere small, 

 irregular depressions without any outlet are found the sweet gum also 

 flourishes. Where the Leonardtown loam is exposed on slopes to the 

 washing action of rains, scalds or washes frequently form and they 

 rapidly encroach upon the ai-able land. A permanent sod is the only 

 sui-e cure for these scars, though brush dams cause a temporary delay in 

 the progress of erosion. 



The cultivated areas of Leonardtown loam vary considerably in the 

 amounts of the various crops produced. Wheat, corn, and gi'ass are 

 best suited to this soil, while tobacco is better adapted to lighter, sandier 

 soils. This soil type forms the nearest approach to the heavy clays of 

 limestone regions that is found in the Coastal Plain of ^Maryland. A 

 treatment similar to that employed on the limestone soils should increase 

 the productivity of the Leonardtown loam. 



The soil consists of a silty yellow loam, fine ami powdery when dry, 

 but piuldling to a plastic clay-like mass when thoroughly wet. On re- 

 drying, this mass usually bakes to a hard, firm surface, or if stirred 

 before being sufficiently dried, it clods up into hard lumps. The subsoil 

 consists of a brittle mass of clay lenses, lumps, and fragments separated 

 from each other by seams and pockets of medium to fine sand. The 

 subsoil, if evenly mixed, would form a somewhat samly loam. l)ut its 

 peculiar structure causes it to act like a dense clay in its behavior 

 toward the water circulation. The lenses of clay are slightly flattened 

 and their edges overlap somewhat like the shingles on a roof. Conse- 

 quently, water in its passage through the subsoil, follows a roundabout 

 course along the sand-coated seams. Its progress downward is thus 

 much delayed, and the subsoil is as impervious and as retentive of 

 moisture as a hear}' clay soil. The peculiar structure also gives rise to 

 the brittleness noticed on plowing. 



