THE SASSAFRAS SILT LOAM. 11 



preferred above all others in the North Atlantic district for the pro- 

 duction of the crops enumerated. It is a strong, fertile, well- 

 drained, level-surfaced soil, and every acre of it lias usually been 

 cleared and placed under cultivation. In the hands of skillful farm- 

 ers its crop-prqducing power has been increased from year to year 

 until yields higher than the average for other soils in its localities 

 are habitually produced. It is practically the only soil in the Atlan- 

 tic Coastal Plain which compares favorably with the soils of the 

 Limestone Valleys for the production of corn, wheat, and grass. It 

 is one of the best soils in the Coastal Plain for the production of 

 apples, pears, and peaches. It is well suited to the production of 

 Irish potatoes, and of tomatoes and sweet corn for canning purposes. 

 Its improvement may easily be accomplished through the restoration 

 of organic material to the surface soil, aided by the application of 

 lime. 



The Sassafras silt loam furnishes an excellent example of the con- 

 trast between a well-drained upland soil with level topography and 

 other soils of similar texture, but with different characteristic drain- 

 age and topographic features. It is thus strongly contrasted with 

 the Portsmouth silt loam which occurs in the same general region of 

 the Atlantic Coastal Plain, but which lacks the excellent natural 

 drainage of this type. The two soils are only comparable in the 

 production of corn, where each produces from 40 to 60 bushels per 

 acre under ordinary circumstances. Winter wheat, however, is not 

 suited to production upon the Portsmouth silt loam. Oats may only 

 be raised as a summer crop, and in the seeding to grass, timothy and 

 redtop are suited to the Portsmouth silt loam, whereas timothy, red 

 clover, and crimson clover may be grown upon the better drained 

 Sassafras silt loam. While potatoes and tomatoes are well suited to 

 the Sassafras silt loam, neither can be raised to particularly good 

 advantage upon the Portsmouth silt loam, but the latter is far the 

 better soil for the production of cabbage and onions. 



The Portsmouth silt loam is not under any circumstances favorable 

 to the production of apples and peaches, but is one of the chosen 

 strawberry soils of the Middle Atlantic States. 



It is thus apparent from these contrasts between the two types, 

 which are so closely similar in the texture of their soils and sub- 

 soils, but which differ materially in their drainage and in the source 

 of materials from which they are formed, that slight differences in 

 the characteristics of soils frequently exert a strong controlling influ- 

 ence upon the character of crops which may be raised economically 

 upon the different types. 



As a natural consequence of the suitability of the Sassafras silt 

 loam to the production of corn, oats, the grasses, and the leguminous 

 )rage crops, the type is one of the best soils in the North Atlantic 



