THE ORANGEBURG FINE SAND. 7 



soil is of fundamental importance if the type is to be occupied per- 

 manently for general farming. Excellent green manuring crops, 

 such as cowpeas, velvet beans, winter vetch, and crimson clover, may 

 all be grown upon the Orangeburg fine sand. The use of one or 

 more of these crops annually should, be included in the general rota- 

 tion schemes to be practiced in the tillage of the type. After a few 

 years of persistent effort in this respect the original productiveness 

 of the soil may be restored and frequently surpassed throughout 

 the greater portion of the area occupied by the type. Even winter 

 oats or winter rye, used as cover and green-manuring crops, consti- 

 tutes a vast improvement over the present system of clean tillage, no 

 winter cover crop, and no organic manure. 



Special methods of tillage should also be employed in conjunction 

 with the restoration of organic matter. Every effort should be di- 

 rected toward the packing of the subsoil immediately below plow 

 depth. For this purpose shallow plowing is particularly recom- 

 mended. The soil is sufficiently well drained, so that it is not usually 

 necessary to throw up ridges upon ,which the cotton or corn may be 

 planted. Shallow broadcast plowing should be the general rule, to 

 be followed immediately by the harrowing of the surface soil, lest 

 much needed soil moisture should evaporate rapidly from the freshly 

 plowed surface. 



After the cotton or corn crop has been planted the frequent shallow 

 tillage of the soil is necessary. For this purpose the spike-toothed 

 cultivator, the weeder, and the sweep are superior to the small turn 

 plow or the shovel cultivator. It is only necessary that the surface 

 earth should be stirred to a depth of about 1 inches in order to main- 

 tain a dry dust mulch which will largely prevent excessive evapora- 

 tion. Only in extreme cases where the grass has secured an unusual 

 . headway among the tilled crops should the turn plow be used. 



The gently sloping, stone-free character of the surface of the 

 Orangeburg fine sand, together with its incoherent, soft texture, favor 

 the more general use of the disk plow, the disk harrow, and the disk 

 cultivator. With such implements the trash and weeds of the pre- 

 ceding year may be thoroughly broken down and incorporated with 

 the surface soil, aiding in the maintenance of the organic matter con- 

 tent. At the same time the soil is sufficiently stirred to an even depth 

 and the surface of the land left comparatively level, presenting the 

 least possible surface for evaporation. The rate at which land may 

 be prepared by the disk machinery considerably exceeds that possible 

 by the use of the turn plow and the ordinary cotton-field implements. 

 A larger proportion of the work of preparing the land may also be 

 performed by horse power, with a consequent reduction in the ex- 

 penditure for human labor. 



The fertilization of the Orangeburg fine sand differs somewhat 

 from that of other upland cotton soils. Wherever possible all stable 



