148 THE SOILS OF CALVERT COUNTY 



by medium-sized quartz pebbles, very closely coherent and mixed with 

 little other soil material. Also along some of the slopes from the 

 upland region to tlie lower levels soil creep and rain wash have spread 

 considerable gravel over the slopes. This occurrence of gravel is 

 in part due to the exposure of gravel bands originally deposited along 

 with other material and in part to the concentration of the gravel by 

 the washing away of finer materials. The resulting soil conditions are 

 not very favorable to agricultural operations. 



The soil, such as it is, consists of from about 60 to 85 per cent or even 

 more of rounded, quartz pebbles, varying in size from that of a pea 

 to several inches in diameter. Some finer material present gives a 

 foothood for vegetation, and near Adelina corn and tobacco are raised 

 on this soil. Where a heavier subsoil is present, at no great depth, 

 a sufficient water content can be maintained to produce a crop under 

 favorable circumstances of rainfall. 



In some localities grapes are raised on soils nearly as gravelly, but 

 it is done in a climate where the rainfall is greater and the seasons of 

 drought not so frequent nor so prolonged. 



Irrigation would aid in crop production on this gravel soil, but it 

 is not well situated nor of sufficient value to warrant so expensive a 

 remedy. 



The Windsor Sand. 



This soil formation lies along the lower portions of the 

 stream divides in the southern part of the county, and occupies the 

 highest crests in the northern part. The surface of the formation is 

 usually gently rolling and the more level portions of the type are in- 

 terrupted by numerous small, flat-topped hills covered by Norfolk or 

 Leonardtown loam, or else consisting entirely of the barren subsoils 

 of these formations which have been exposed by rain-washing. In some 

 parts of the area — notably between Battle Creek and the Patuxent — ■ 

 gravel knolls and slopes are found scattered through this soil formation. 



The Windsor sand type owes its origin to the exposure of the horizon 

 of orange-colored sands and gravels described in the preceding section 



