MEADOW. 5 



Meadow. They are subject to only minor accumulations of new soil- 

 forming material, they have definite textural characteristics ovei 

 wide areas, and they really constitute poorly drained portions of per- 

 fectly definite upland soil types. Thus, a portion of the area of such 

 a soil as the Norfolk silt loam may be locally depressed, subject to the 

 accumulation of seepage waters, and in meadow condition so far as 

 drainage is concerned. Its textural condition, however, is estab- 

 lished and sufficiently uniform over considerable areas to constitute 

 it a definite soil type. Such an area may readily be reclaimed by sim- 

 ple drainage. It will change only by the slow accumulation of addi- 

 tional organic matter. The deposition of mineral soil material is 

 reduced to a minimum and consists of & small amount of wash around 

 the margin of the area and of the trifling deposits of wind-blown earth. 

 Such areas are classed with the respective soil types and their present 

 lack of drainage indicated by some convenient symbol. 



Meadow differs from the soils of those uplands of the Coastal Plains 

 region which are frequently flat, depressed, and poorly drained, in 

 some very essential characteristics of the arrangement of the different 

 textures of soil material. In the Meadow of the alluvial bottoms 

 there is always a tendency toward the definite arrangements of the 

 different textures of materials which is dependent upon the changing 

 courses and velocities of the streams at times of overflow. There is 

 a banding or semilinear arrangement along the margins of the main 

 streams or along the banks of the temporary channels formed by the 

 flood waters. Such alternations of sand, silt, and clay are caused by 

 the checking of the velocity of the water when the stream channel is 

 abandoned. The coarser particles are deposited almost at once along 

 the stream margins, forming the sandy bars and front lands. At a 

 greater distance the silt and clay are laid down. This gives rise to 

 the characteristic linear arrangement of soils of different texture 

 along the flood plains of the larger streams. In the bottoms of the 

 more torrential streams such arrangement is usually lacking, but there 

 is rapid alternation from sand to silt or clay within short stretches 

 along the stream course. Thus, under all conditions of alluvial depo- 

 sition, all textures of soil-making material are deposited within nar- 

 row geographical limits and often in the most bewildering complexity 

 of arrangement. 



The soils of even the lower lying Coastal Plains deposits, which may 

 resemble Meadow in many other respects, are usually lacking in these 

 characteristics. Instead of materials heterogeneously deposited, 

 there are areas of assorted soil textures resulting from the action of 

 waves and of marine currents, giving rise to large areas of different 

 textured soils. There is no characteristic linear arrangement induced 

 by the direction of the course of land streams, but rather an arrange- 

 ment roughly or plainly associated with the shore line trends and the 



