6 SOILS OP THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



than- 10, which may well be occupied for the production of general 

 and special crops, provided slight precautions are taken to prevent 

 the too rapid run-off of the heavier rains. Thus, in areas topographi- 

 cally suited to cultivation, the Orangeburg fine sand is well drained 

 and only moderately susceptible to erosion, in sharp contrast with 

 the steeper slopes where erosion is a constant menace and where 

 reforestation is practically the only preventive of further destruction. 



The gullies along the margins of the type constitute the chief 

 obstructions to complete tillage. The land is stone free, the greater 

 portion of the type is moderately sloping, and the soft surface soil 

 is easily tilled. 



Practically all of the area of the Orangeburg fine sand thus far 

 encountered lies within the warm, temperate region of the Gulf 

 States, and principally within areas having a moderate to heavy 

 rainfall. Climatically the type is suited to the production of all 

 crops of the Southern States with the exception of those which are 

 restricted to frost-free territory. At the same time, the portions of 

 the type lying at the higher altitudes and along the northwestern 

 border of the Coastal Plain are also adapted to the production of 

 many crops common to more northern communities. The Orange- 

 burg fine sand has a wide range in crop-producing capacity, which 

 will be discussed in detail under another head. 



IMPROVEMENT IN SOIL EFFICIENCY. 



Owing to the textural peculiarities of the type, improvements in 

 its crop-producing efficiency may best be attained through the em- 

 ployment of those tillage methods leading to the retention near the 

 surface of larger amounts of soil moisture. Most important of these 

 is the restoration of organic matter to the surface soil. Originally 

 covered chiefly by pine forest, the vegetable litter accumulated in 

 relatively small quantities in this type and was found at shallow 

 depths within the surface soil of the type. With the cutting of the 

 timber and the occupation of the land for agricultural purposes, 

 chiefly for the production of cotton year after year, the organic mat- 

 ter was rapidly destroyed and over thousands of acres of the type 

 the pale, gray, sandy soil is apparently exhausted of its humus. 



As this exhaustion progressed crop yields deteriorated, and in 

 many instances only three or four crops of cotton wfere produced 

 before the land was thrown out and other areas planted to cotton 

 or to corn. Even under somewhat better conditions of agricultural 

 occupation the organic matter content in the surface soil has fre- 

 quently been exhausted within 8 or 10 years of the first occupation 

 of the land. Throughout practically the entire area where the 

 type occurs little or no effort has been made toward the restora- 

 tion of this organic matter, although its incorporation in the surface 



