THE CECIL CLAY. 5 



water, flowing across the surface of the fields, has only been able to 

 move the silt and clay particles, and there has been resultant accu- 

 mulation of the coarser sands, giving rise to the Cecil sandy loam. 

 Upon the steeper slopes and in the more broken sections where the 

 velocity of the moving water has been greater, the entire surface- 

 soil mass has frequently been removed, exposing the stiff tenacious 

 clays in the form of galled and gullied hillsides. Many areas of the 

 Cecil clay have thus originated through the complete removal of the 

 surface soils which formerly existed over their area. This mode of 

 formation for the Cecil clay is more nearly universal in the Southern 

 States than in the northern regions where it is found. In fact, in 

 Pennsylvania and Maryland, where the surface of the Cecil clay is 

 more gently rolling or undulating, it does not suffer severely from 

 soil erosion, and its peculiarities are derived from the weathering of 

 a particular group of crystalline rocks, some of whose minerals con- 

 tain large quantities of iron. The weathering of these ferruginous 

 minerals gives rise to the deep-red plastic clay. 



LIMITATIONS OF USE. 



The texture of the Cecil clay precludes the possibility of growing 

 any special crops to advantage upon this soil. It is not successfully 

 used for the production of any vegetable or small fruit crop, ex- 

 cept for home consumption, and it is not adapted to the produc- 

 tion of peaches. In fact it is strictly limited in its best utilization 

 to the production of the staple general farm crops, and to the pro- 

 duction of apples in the more northern locations where it occurs. 

 For these latter crops it is a strong, durable, productive type of soil. 



The principal limitation upon the satisfactory use of the Cecil 

 clay is that enforced by excessive erosion. This difficulty is more 

 prevalent in the more southern latitudes, where the spring season is 

 frequently marked by torrential rainfalls resulting in the bodily 

 removal of the surface soil from all of the steeper slopes. This 

 excessive erosion of the Cecil clay may be prevented by proper 

 methods of handling the type. All of the steeper slopes within the 

 soil type should either be reclothed by forest growths or should be 

 permanently laid down to some pasture grass suited to the climate in 

 which the area occurs. In the extreme Southern States Bermuda 

 grass is the best soil binder for this purpose. 



In the latitude of Virginia the Kentucky bluegrass grows to ad- 

 vantage upon the Cecil clay and may be used for such permanent 

 pasturage purposes. In Maryland and in Pennsylvania the ordinary 

 grasses sown for hay may be used to advantage, and bluegrass would 

 also constitute a valuable portion of the seeding. There are extensive 

 areas of the Cecil clay now subject to erosion which may still be 

 maintained in the production of tilled crops and may be utilized for 



