THE HOUSTON BLACK CLAY. 5 



that special crops, particularly vegetables and the other market- 

 garden products, are not at all well suited to production upon the 

 type. These crops may only be raised to advantage locally and in 

 small areas for home use or for the supply of some city in the imme- 

 diate neighborhood. 



The same characteristics of texture and of structure render the 

 Houston black clay one of the strongest and most fertile of the 

 general farming soils to be found in the Gulf Coastal Plain. In the 

 various areas where it occurs corn, cotton, oats, wheat, and various 

 forage crops are all produced to excellent advantage wherever the 

 rainfall is sufficient to bring them to maturity. 



The type has never been found suitable for the production of the 

 tree fruits, either apples or peaches, owing undoubtedly to the stiff, 

 waxy nature of the soil itself and to the presence of an extremely 

 stiff clay subsoil near the surface. 



IMPROVEMENT IN SOIL EFFICIENCY. 



In the majority of areas where it occurs the Houston black clay has 

 been cultivated continuously for a period ranging from 25 to 50 years 

 to a few crops, chief among which is cotton. In spite of the wonderful 

 natural fertility of the soil this continued one-crop production has led 

 to diminished yields. As a result, one of the first essentials for im- 

 provement in the efficiency of this soil consists in the adoption of 

 a crop rotation suited to the climatic conditions and to soil charac- 

 teristics of the Houston black clay under its dominant surroundings. 



In the more humid sections where the type is found, in east-central 

 and northeastern Texas and in southern Oklahoma, it is probable that 

 cotton should remain the dominant money crop. It is not desirable, 

 however, that this crop should be produced to the exclusion of all 

 others or in such acreage quantity as to prevent a systematic crop 

 rotation upon the farms. Following the cotton crop in any year it is 

 preferable that a crop of whiter oats should be sown upon the soil, to 

 be grazed off during the winter or turned under as a green-manuring 

 crop in the succeeding spring. At this time corn should be planted 

 upon the same acreage, and with the last cultivation in the fall cow- 

 peas, crimson clover, or some other leguminous crop should be seeded 

 in between the rows to make a fall and winter growth upon the area. 

 Where the acreage under cultivation would justify it this crop may 

 be followed by a summer crop of cowpeas raised for forage or hay. 

 It would then be possible in the succeeding year to return to the 

 cultivation of cotton. 



Local conditions of climate, markets, and possibilities of adjusting 

 the rotation to the fields of the individual farm or plantation will 

 necessarily modify the rotation which might be adopted in any par- 

 ticular locality. Winter wheat can also be grown upon the more 



