14 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



loupes has recently been planted upon this soil type, but it is believed 

 that certain of the soils of the Clarksville series will be found to be 

 better suited for the extension of this crop. Strawberries have also 

 been grown locally upon the Hagerstown loam. In a few localities 

 in northern Alabama peanuts and tomatoes have been successfully 

 grown upon the type. All of these crops may be considered as of 

 subordinate importance if the total extent of the Hagerstown loam 

 in the eastern United States is held in view, although each has con- 

 siderable importance in the particular locality where it is grown. 



Fruits. In general the Hagerstown loam has been considered 

 too valuable for the production of corn, wheat, grass, or tobacco to 

 be devoted extensively to the production of any tree fruits. How- 

 ever, there has been a growing appreciation of the value of this soil 

 for the production of certain types of apples. In southeastern 

 Pennsylvania locations within the area of the Hagerstown loam 

 which possess good air and water drainage and over which the sur- 

 face soil has a depth of 12 to 18 inches have been selected for the 

 planting of the York Imperial, the Stayman Winesap, and the 

 Smokehouse apples. The two former are adapted to all properly 

 drained areas of the type, while the Smokehouse is only well suited 

 to production upon the deeper phase already mentioned. Farther 

 south, in Maryland and in Virginia, there are some commercial 

 orchards upon this type, and here orchards of the York Imperial, 

 Ben Davis, Stayman Winesap, Yellow Transparent, and Grimes 

 Golden have been planted. They bear rank in the order named 

 in then* degree of adaptation to production upon this type. The 

 first three of these apples might well be grown at proper elevations 

 upon the Hagerstown loam hi the valleys of eastern Tennessee. 



Peaches are not well suited to production upon the Hagerstown 

 loam in any of its areas. By contrast they are well suited to the 

 production upon other types commonly found in association with it, 

 and the planting of peach orchards is not, therefore, to be recom- 

 mended upon this type. 



Because of the preeminent adaptation of the Hagerstown loam 

 to the production of corn, wheat, and grass as standard crops and of 

 tobacco and hemp as special crops, the agriculture of the regions 

 dominated by this type has naturally gravitated into a certain 

 standard crop rotation. In the more northern regions in Pennsyl- 

 vania, Maryland, and the Valley of Virginia this standard rotation 

 consists of one year of corn followed by either one or two years of 

 wheat, which is succeeded by two years of grass production, when 

 the rotation again returns to corn. This is one of the oldest standard 

 rotations in the eastern United States, and it has undoubtedly been 

 maintained without interruption upon some of the older farms in south- 

 eastern Pennsylvania since the middle of the eighteenth century. 



