SOILS OF FENDER COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA. 11 



nuts, cowpeas, velvet beans, soy beans, crab grass for hay, crimson 

 clover, bright tobacco, sorghum, strawberries, and a great variety of 

 vegetables, such as tomatoes, turnips, peppers, radishes, lettuce, 

 melons, cucumbers, beets, collards, cauliflower, eggplant, asparagus, 

 English peas, lima beans, snap beans, onions, and spinach. Rye, 

 oats, and vetch can be grown with a fair degree of success, especially 

 after a crop of velvet beans or other rank leguminous growth. Cot- 

 ton, strawberries, Irish potatoes, tomatoes, and spinach give better 

 yields where the clay comes within 8 or 10 inches of the surface. A 

 number of crops, vegetables particularly, mature earlier where the 

 soil is deeper. Corn, melons, and sweet potatoes succeed best in those 

 areas having a moderately deep soil. A bale of cotton, from 30 to 50 

 bushels of corn, 150 to 250 bushels of Irish potatoes, and 250 bushels 

 or more of sweet potatoes can be counted upon as reasonable yields, 

 provided proper rotations and cultural methods are practiced and 

 moderate applications of good fertilizers are used. 



Away from the influence of streams there are flat, rather poorly 

 drained areas of the Norfolk fine sandy loam, the surface soil of which 

 is usually dark gray to nearly black. In these areas, as with the better 

 drained phase, pale yellow material is encountered at a depth of a 

 few inches. At from 8 to about 20 inches this pale yellow, fine sandy 

 loam grades into a yellow, fine sandy clay, sometimes slightly mottled 

 with grayish or reddish-brown colors. The subsoil frequently re- 

 mains soggy for considerable periods after heavy rains. 



There is usually less hardwood and more pine on this phase. Gall- 

 berry and huckleberry bushes are quite conspicuous. This poorly 

 drained phase requires thorough ditching to be brought into proper 

 condition for agricultural use. Open ditches placed at intervals 

 ranging, according to local conditions, from 150 to 300 feet and having 

 a head depth of about 2 feet and a slope of 1 inch to 100 feet have 

 been found sufficient to give soil of this character excellent drainage. 

 When thoroughly drained this phase of the type is especially suited 

 to strawberries, onions, cabbage, and corn. 



The Norfolk fine sandy loam can be easily cultivated and with 

 careful treatment can be maintained in a relatively high state of 

 productiveness. Rotations should be practiced which include an 

 occasional crop of crimson clover, cowpeas, vetch, or rye to be turned 

 under green, as a means of replenishing the supply of organic matter. 

 Nitrogen should be largely supplied to the general farm crops by 

 growing the legumes. In the use of commercial fertilizer experi- 

 ence would seem to indicate that within certain limits the require- 

 ment of potash increases with increase in soil depth, while on the 

 other hand more phosphoric acid is needed to hasten maturity where 

 the clay comes nearer the surface. This seems particularly true with 



[Cir. 20] 



