THE CECIL, SANDY LOAM. 5 



is to be found at the higher elevations usually, except when these 

 elevations consist of low mountain ridges or steep slopes. The Cecil 

 sandy loam lies at an altitude from 350 to 1,200 feet above sea level. 

 It is usually found more extensively developed at medium altitudes 

 rather than at either extreme. Owing to the somewhat sandy nature 

 of the surface soil and to its considerable depth, as well as to its topo- 

 graphic position, the Cecil sandy loam is normally well drained, and 

 is consequently easily warmed and early. There are small areas 

 within the type where the surface is so flat that natural outlet for 

 excess soil moisture is not furnished, and in such small local areas 

 drainage would sometimes be beneficial. In general, however, this is 

 not a fundamental requisite with the soil. The region is practically 

 devoid of swampy areas. 



The Cecil sandy loam thus constitutes not only a desirable type of 

 soil for agricultural uses, but it also occurs in such positions that the 

 surroundings of the farm home and its healthfulness are frequently 

 more desirable than the average. 



The chief ^problem for those who farm the Cecil sandy loam is that 

 of maintaining the soil type against erosion. The rainfall within the 

 district where the type occurs is not infrequently heavy, and comes, 

 largely, in the form of torrential downpours during the early part of 

 the spring season, when the surface soil is not protected by the cover 

 of any vegetative growth. Unless the soil has been properly managed 

 by contour farming, terracing, the incorporation of organic matter, 

 and deep plowing, it is sometimes difficult to maintain the soil against 

 active erosion, particularly around the heads of small streams and 

 along slopes of any great degree of declivity. In fact, it has been 

 observed during the progress of the numerous soil surveys in this 

 section that the area of the Cecil sandy loam is annually decreasing 

 through the bodily removal of the surface sandy loam covering and 

 its transportation down the gullies, streams, and rivers of the Pied- 

 mont section. Not infrequently where the surface soil is shallow a 

 heavy rainfall will completely saturate the 4 or 5 inches of mellow 

 surface soil, will lubricate the underlying stiff clay, and, if the slopes 

 be at all steep, the surface soil under these conditions will bodily slip 

 down hill, leaving a red gash or scar formed by the exposed subsoil. 

 Land of this character must be so handled that the surface soil may 

 not become saturated to this degree, but that the water falling at any 

 one time may be absorbed by a deeper soil reservoir capable of main- 

 taining both the soil and the soil moisture against the downward pull 

 of gravity along the slope. 



LIMITATIONS OF USE. 



The mellow sandy loam surface soil of the Cecil sandy loam, while 

 rendering it easily warmed and tilled, also causes it to be susceptible 



