THE CECIL SANDY LOAM. 11 



best of all, the stable manures, when these are available, should be 

 used. The fertilizers ordinarily applied to this soil type contain high 

 percentages of phosphoric acid and low percentages of nitrogen and 

 potash. Frequently the nitrogen content of such fertilizers should be 

 supplemented by ttte additional use of 300 or 400 pounds of cotton- 

 seed meal to the acre. 



In the production of special crops like Irish potatoes and tobacco 

 upon the Cecil sandy loam, the use of potash in greater quanties than 

 for the general farm crops has been found desirable. In the case of 

 the production of both tobacco and potatoes it is the general opinion 

 that the soil should not be limed preceding the planting, but that the 

 liming should follow these crops instead. 



LIMITATIONS UPON SPECIAL CROPS. 



In a sense the tobacco crop may be considered a special crop upon 

 the Cecil sandy loam. In the more northern tobacco-growing regions 

 of middle Virginia and central North Carolina the heavy export to- 

 bacco, or the plug tobacco, is grown to the best advantage only upon 

 those portions of the soil type where the heavy sandy clay or clay 

 subsoil exists within 5 or 6 inches of the surface. The area of the 

 Cecil sandy loam which is adapted to the production of this character 

 of tobacco is, therefore, limited by this condition. The bright fire- 

 cured cigarette tobacco, on the other hand, is only produced in its 

 best quality where the depth of the sandy loam surface soil exceeds 

 12 or 14 inches. Thus the requirements for two special grades of 

 tobacco vary somewhat even upon the same soil type, and care should 

 be used in the selection of the area devoted to the growth of each. 

 The production of the bright tobacco upon the Cecil sandy loam has 

 been somew'hat limited within the last few years, owing to competition 

 with tobacco of the same class grown upon the Norfolk fine sandy 

 loam and the Norfolk sandy loam of the Atlantic Coastal Plain 

 region. There are, however, extensive areas of the deeper phase of 

 the Cecil sandy loam from southern Virginia to central South Caro- 

 lina where this class of tobacco may be grown to good advantage if 

 the limitations above noted are observed. 



In the same way the small-grain crops, especially wheat, are best 

 suited to the shallow phase of the Cecil sandy loam, and the same 

 phase constitutes the best clover and grass land within the area of 

 the type. Thus the Cecil sandy loam, which is the lightest type of 

 soil reasonably well suited to general farming within the Piedmont, 

 has its restrictions and limitations, not only of soil texture, but also 

 of depth of surface soil material, determining the crops which may 

 be produced to the best advantage upon different portions of. its area. 



The climatic limitations attendant upon the geographic distribu- 

 tion of the type are somewhat marked. From central North Carolina 



