8 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



portion of the rotation tends to restore organic matter to the soil. 

 It is also noticeable that only one intertilled crop is produced in the 

 four years and the tendency toward exhaustion of organic matter, as 

 already noted, is thus decreased. In more southern locations the 

 usual crop rotation, where any rotation exists, consists in the pro- 

 duction of cotton upon part of the acreage, of corn upon the remain- 

 der, with both crops followed by winter oats. Little or no attempt 

 is made to seed to the grasses, which are considered undesirable upon 

 land to be devoted to cotton culture. Consequently this character of 

 cropping tends to exhaust the organic matter in the soil, exposes the 

 surface soil to erosion during a considerable part of the time, and is 

 thoroughly unsuited to bring out the best properties of the Cecil 

 sandy loam as a general farming type. 



In these more southern regions a greater profit could be derived 

 from the cultivation of this soil if a longer-term crop rotation should 

 be adopted. Varieties of cotton particularly suited to sandy lands 

 should be selected. Many of these varieties are known in the differ- 

 ent States where the type occurs through variety tests at the state ex- 

 periment stations, and some of them have been originated and propa- 

 gated upon this particular soil. 



It has been found to be a good practice in some localities to seed 

 the cotton land to winter vetch late in the season when the cotton is 

 laid by, in order to establish a leguminous winter cover crop over the 

 cotton field. This may be plowed under in the succeeding spring and 

 eorn raised upon the land. In many cases cowpeas should be sown 

 between the rows of corn at the last cultivation, giving an addi- 

 tional cover crop of a leguminous character. The land may then be 

 brought back to cotton production if a short rotation is desired, or a 

 winter grain crop may follow the corn, with grass seeding to occupy 

 the ground after the grain is removed. The longer rotation thus 

 outlined will aid in the upbuilding of the crop-producing power of 

 the soil, and in a series of years will usually give as great cash 

 returns as can now be obtained from the continuous planting of cotton 

 or corn upon the same ground with the mere alternation of those two 

 crops. Local .modifications of any general system of crop adapta- 

 tions must always be made to suit local soil and climatic conditions 

 and local market demands for crops. 



The textural characteristics of the Cecil sandy loam are such that 

 eareful tillage of the surface soil is required in order to maintain it 

 at its full crop-producing capacity. It is a soft, friable soil, easily 

 tilled by the use of light farm teams and light-weight tillage imple- 

 ments. Nevertheless it requires careful and frequent tillage which 

 shall maintain constantly a shallow mulch of dry earth over all culti- 

 vated fields. This " dust mulch," as it is known, interposes an in- 

 sulating blanket between the moist soil and the drying influence of the 



