8 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



upon the individual plantation or farm, it is not probable that the 

 type should be used to any extent for the production of vegetables 

 or late market garden crops. Other soils better suited to this purpose 

 are usually present upon the uplands and the Trinity clay should, 

 therefore, be omitted from the list of special cropping soils. 



In some areas, particularly near the Gulf coast in Texas, the 

 Trinity clay has been used to a limited extent for the production of 

 rice. This use of the type necessitates the building of embankments, 

 not only to keep out flood waters, but also to maintain at a proper 

 level the irrigation waters used in the production of the crop. The 

 soil produces heavy yields of rice, but some difficulty is occasionally 

 experienced under irrigation owing to the stiff, waxy character of the 

 surface soil. 



Sugar cane is grown only to a limited extent at present upon the 

 Trinity clay and that in the most southern areas. The type, how- 

 ever, should constitute an admirable soil for the production of cane, 

 being equaled or excelled only by the Wabash clay of the Mississippi 

 drainage system. The extension of sugar-cane production upon the 

 type is to be recommended for the more southern areas. 



EXTENT OF OCCUPATION. 



It is probable that, taking into consideration all the areas of the 

 Trinity clay which have been encountered in the soil surveys, not 

 over 10 or 15 per cent of the total area mapped is used for the pro- 

 duction of farm crops. The remainder of the type consists most fre- 

 quently of heavily timbered bottom lands, where the oak, ash, elm, 

 pecan, and bois d'arc constitute the principal growth in the more 

 northern regions. In the more southern regions mesquite forms im- 

 penetrable thickets upon the Trinity clay. In general there is a 

 fair to rank growth of grass upon the type in the forested areas. 

 Along the southern and western limits of its extent there are not in- 

 frequent openings and small prairies in the timbered bottoms. These 

 are usually heavily grass grown and furnish excellent grazing for 

 cattle. Hogs are also extensively grazed upon these bottom-land 

 soils, securing an abundant supply of mast in the autumn. It is only 

 in the northern regions of Texas and in some of the broader bottoms 

 in Alabama and Mississippi that extensive areas of the Trinity clay 

 have been cleared and used for crop production. In almost all in- 

 stances such areas lie at slightly higher levels than normal or are 

 otherwise naturally protected from any except extreme overflows. 

 A considerable additional area is occasionally tilled when the spring 

 freshets are not particularly high or long continued. Sufficient 

 areas have been occupied in all regions where the Trinity clay oc- 

 curs to demonstrate thoroughly its unexampled fertility and the 

 desirability of its further occupation for the more intensive forms of 



