THE TRINITY CLAY. 7 



the central prairie States for a considerable period of time and some 

 of the most valuable corn lands of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois have 

 been reclaimed from a swampy condition through the operation and 

 under the protection of such laws. Many thousands of acres of the 

 Trinity clay could be reclaimed for the safe and continuous produc- 

 tion of crops by cooperation between the State and its interested 

 citizens. 



Each particular area for which drainage and embankment are 

 proposed should be considered as an individual engineering unit, and 

 the services of a competent drainage engineer should be secured to 

 determine the feasibility of the work, the cost of the operation, and to 

 apportion that cost equitably under appropriate laws and articles 

 of incorporation over the different areas of land improved. It 

 would be impossible to describe the many features of the engineering 

 problem so that they would be even generally applicable to the 

 different areas which are capable of being reclaimed, but in general 

 it may be said that the Trinity clay can be bought in its undrained 

 and unprotected state at prices ranging from $1 to $10 an acre, and 

 that in the majority of instances the necessary embankments for the 

 diking and drainage of the land could be constructed at a cost not 

 to exceed $15 an acre for an average cost, or $25 an acre over con- 

 siderable areas in extreme cases. Since areas of this soil which are 

 not subject to inundation at the present time and which have con- 

 sequently been brought under intensive forms of tillage are held at 

 from $50 to $75 or $80 an acre, it is seen that the margin of profit 

 between the cost of the land and the cost of the improvement, on 

 the one side, and the ultimate value of the land when reclaimed is 

 sufficient to justify the expense of reclamation. The soil is well 

 supplied with organic matter. The vast preponderance of its area 

 is annually subject to surface renewal through the deposition of 

 added sediments from the uplands, and in rare instances only have 

 those farmers tilling the Trinity clay thought that there was any 

 necessity for the application of commercial fertilizers in order to 

 produce satisfactory crops. 



LIMITATIONS UPON SPECIAL CROPS. 



In general the Trinity clay is not well suited to the production of 

 any special crops. Small acreages of onions have been grown upon 

 this type in some of the more southern areas in Texas, and fair suc- 

 cess has been reported. It is not thought, however, that the type is 

 particularly well suited to this crop, since a more silty and friable 

 soil is generally chosen for onion growing. Similarly potatoes and 

 late garden vegetables are locally produced for home use upon an 

 extremely limited acreage of the Trinity clay. While this is desirable 



