Issued January 14, 1910. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



BUREAU OF SOILS CIRCULAR No. 20. 

 MILTON WHITNEY, Chief of Bureau. 



SOILS OF FENDER COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: A PRELIMINARY 



REPORT. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA. 



In June, 1909, preliminary examinations were made of the soils 

 at a number of points in Fender County, North Carolina, for the 

 purpose of determining the character and agricultural possibilities 

 of the important types. 



Fender County, North Carolina, lies in the southeastern part of 

 the State, entirely within the Atlantic Coastal Plain. It borders on 

 the Atlantic Ocean, with a water frontage of 12 miles, and extends 

 inland a distance of 35 miles. Burgaw, situated near the center of 

 the county, is 23 miles north of Wilmington, the important export 

 town of North Carolina. The county embraces 883 square miles, or 

 565,120 acres. 



Topographically Fender County presents the appearance of a plain 

 interrupted by slight surface unevenness due to erosion. In a general 

 way the lay of the land would be described as flat to gently undulat- 

 ing, varied here and there by comparatively shallow valleys of 

 streams that cross or have their sources within the county. There is 

 no very perceptible slope in any direction. In fact, the surface is so 

 flat that there are large areas on which water stands for a consider- 

 able time after a heavy rain. The highest determined elevation, 66 

 feet, is that of the Atlantic Coast Line roadbed at Edgecombe, in 

 the central-eastern part of the county. The elevation at Willard, in 

 the northwestern part of the county, is 51 feet ; at Burgaw, near the 

 center, 57 feet; at Atkinson, in the central-western part, 63 feet; 

 while Castle Hayne, near the southern boundary, is 20 feet above 

 sea level. 



As the sources of streams are approached their valleys gradually 

 become shallower, until the drainage ways present merely wet de- 

 pressions marked by a thick growth of water-loving shrubbery. 

 There are a number of extensive areas into which no well-developed 

 drainage ways enter. The most notable of these are the savannas 

 open flat lands without tree growth or supporting only a scattering 

 growth of trees as, for instance, the " Big Savanna " north of 

 Burgaw. The most important streams are the Cape Fear and North 

 East rivers. Other important though smaller water courses are 

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