10 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



within the type, they have constituted areas which the individual 

 farmer was willing to set aside from his general farming operations 

 in order to establish either his home orchard or a small planting upon 

 a commercial scale. Thus apple orcharding within recent times has 

 been decidedly of secondary importance in all areas occupied by the 

 Hagerstown loam. This limitation of the type with regard to fruit 

 culture is economic rather than inherent in the soil or in its climatic 

 surroundings. 







EXTENT OF OCCUPATION. 



The Hagerstown loam was one of the first soils in the eastern United 

 States to be cleared of its heavy timber growth and occupied for farm 

 use. Pioneer agriculture in southeastern Pennsylvania had its begin- 

 ning upon this soil type and upon associated soils in the same general 

 region. By the beginning of the eighteenth century the superior 

 productiveness of the soils of the Hagerstown series, including the 

 Hagerstown loam, had been recognized and the land was eagerly 

 sought for the establishment of farms. With the influx of the German 

 population into southeastern Pennsylvania about 1740 there was an 

 added demand for these lands, since these settlers soon learned to 

 prize the limestone soils above all others in the region. As a result 

 the limestone valleys of the southeastern counties of Pennsylvania 

 were rapidly filled with careful, skillful, German farmers. No labor 

 was too great in the clearing of the heavy hardwood growths from 

 soils of this character, and even the earliest title deeds to land in the 

 region carefully set aside the period of time when the waters of local 

 streams might be used by adjoining landowners for the purposes of 

 irrigation. No little engineering skill was shown in storing the water 

 of the smaller streams and even in conducting such waters across low 

 divides for the purposes of watering the meadows, upon which prac- 

 tically all grass was grown at that period. Some of these irrigation 

 systems are still maintained practically upon their original lines, 

 though many have now fallen into disuse. With the growth of popu- 

 lation the descendants of these early German settlers frequently 

 followed these valley lands to the south and southwest and became 

 established in the Hagerstown and Frederick Valleys of Maryland 

 and even in the Great Valley of Virginia. Wherever the limestone 

 valleys led them these careful farmers pushed on. The same high 

 estimation of these soils of the Hagerstown series, dominated by the 

 Hagerstown loam, was rapidly acquired by settlers of other origin. 

 Thus during the 200 years during which soils of this character have 

 been known to American farming, the Hagerstown loam and its 

 associated soils have been eagerly sought for complete occupation 

 by the best farmers. As a result very little land of this character 

 remains uncleared and untilled, and practically every available acre 



