8 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



months for the purpose of being plowed under to restore and main- 

 tain organic matter. Wherever this method of treatment is under- 

 taken, it is advisable, immediately after plowing under the crop, to 

 apply slaked quicklime to the surface soil to the extent of 1,500 or 

 2,000 pounds per acre. This is essential in order to promote the com- 

 plete and thorough disintegration and decomposition of the organic 

 matter incorporated with the soil, lest at a later date the roots of a 

 succeeding crop should penetrate to an undecornposed mass of green 

 and sour organic matter. The presence of the lime hastens the com- 

 plete decomposition of the organic matter and its rapid incorporation 

 with the surface soil. The lime should be applied to the soil at least 

 10 days or 2 weeks before the succeeding crop is planted and thor- 

 oughly harrowed in to a depth of 2 or 3 inches. 



There are several other crops which are available for green manur- 

 ing purposes, but they are not so valuable as the leguminous crops 

 already mentioned. These additional crops are winter wheat, win- 

 ter rye, or winter oats. There are circumstances under which each 

 may be used to advantage. 



In the trucking areas located near the northern cities it is fre- 

 quently possible for the truck farmer to secure large quantities of 

 stable manure from city livery stables and from other sources. 

 Under such conditions the stable manure is applied in large quanti- 

 ties as a top dressing, to be plowed and harrowed into the sur- 

 face soil. While this method of restoring organic matter is some- 

 times rather expensive, it is undoubtedly the most effective way to 

 maintain the producing power of the Norfolk sand. In more south- 

 ern locations it is frequently possible and desirable to apply cotton- 

 seed meal at the rate of 500 pounds per acre or more to constitute a 

 nitrogenous organic manure used to supplement the commercial ferti- 

 lizers which are employed to force the growth of the truck crop. 



This matter of restoring and maintaining organic material within 

 the surface soil of the Norfolk sand is one of the most important 

 improvements of the efficiency of this soil. 



Even after the organic matter content of the Norfolk sand has 

 been increased to a desirable amount, it is frequently necessary to 

 adopt certain methods of tillage particularly applicable to the main- 

 tenance of a moisture supply in such a coarse and open-textured soil. 

 It has been found through long years of experience by the best truck 

 growers and by a large number of farmers that those methods of 

 tillage must be adopted which frequently stir the surface soil to a 

 shallow depth. This gives rise to the formation of a thoroughly 

 dried surface layer, or " dust mulch," which interposes a blanket of 

 dry material between the evaporation processes of the atmosphere 

 above and the moisture content of the soil below. This practice, par- 

 ticularly in the case of the intertilled crops, produces excellent results 



