THE NORFOLK SAND. 11 



best advantage upon the type. In all of the regions from Long 

 Island southward to Cape Hatteras, in what may be termed the 

 North Atlantic section, the Norfolk sand is universally used for the 

 production of corn. The yields of corn as a field or grain crop are 

 universally low. It is onl} r upon those fields where the owners have 

 systematically produced winter cover crops, particularly the crimson 

 clover, to be plowed under as green manure, that an} r thing like satis- 

 factory yields are secured. Even under the conditions of best prepa- 

 ration and most perfect tillage, the yields rarely rise above 35 to 40 

 bushels per acre and yields of such magnitude are decidedly unusual. 

 Upon fields less well prepared, and within which less attention has 

 been paid to the maintenance of organic matter in the surface soil, 

 the yields decline to 20 bushels per acre for a general average in the 

 North Atlantic States, and are even as low as 10 bushels per acre in 

 seasons of unusual drought. South of Cape Hatteras corn is only 

 produced to a limited extent upon the Norfolk sand. Yields ranging 

 from 5 to 15 bushels per acre, with an average of from 8 to 10 

 bushels, are too low to justify the production of this crop upon this 

 type of soil. 



Some attempts are made in the more northern States to produce 

 other general crops upon the Norfolk sand. Oats are sometimes 

 seeded as a summer grain, giving yields which range from 18 to 25 

 bushels per acre, with a small grow r th of straw. Rye is grown as 

 practically the only winter grain, giving small yields. Occasionally 

 the farmer attempts a seeding to some of the grasses. Wherever 

 reasonable success is attained in such seeding, low yields of hay rang- 

 ing from three-fourths of a ton to 1 ton per acre are secured. Of 

 course under peculiarly favorable circumstances or with exceptionally 

 good tillage these yields are exceeded. However, the yields of all 

 general farm crops are so .low that the Norfolk sand is only tilled 

 for the purpose of their production when it occurs in small areas 

 associated with other more valuable general farming soils at points 

 so remote from transportation that the production of truck crops is 

 not possible or in locations where the knowledge of the production 

 of such crops is not general. 



In the more southern States cotton is grown upon the Norfolk 

 sand to a considerable extent. The type is not particularly chosen 

 for this purpose, but where areas of it occur upon the farm it is 

 planted, like practically all of the other soils of the Atlantic and 

 Gulf coast regions, to this crop. The yields are universally low, 

 ranging from one-fourth to two-fifths bale per acre. It is only under 

 unusual circumstances of low-lying position or an extra amount of 

 organic matter in the surface soil that these yields are ever exceeded. 



