14 SOILS OP THE EASTEEN UNITED STATES. 



regions the yields are extremely low, ranging from 5 to 12 bushels 

 per acre. In North Carolina and Virginia, particularly where wheat 

 is sowed immediately after the tobacco crop, thus receiving some 

 of the residual benefits of the heavy applications of fertilizer given 

 to the tobacco, the yields are considerably greater, ranging from 

 10 to 25 bushels per acre. The higher yields are only secured where 

 the very effective rotation of tobacco, followed by winter wheat, 

 followed by clover, has been adopted, and the wheat thus benefits 

 from the heavy fertilizer applications and from the organic matter 

 incorporated by the plowing under of the clover stubble. For the 

 northern regions, where the Cecil sandy loam is developed, this is 

 probably the most effective crop rotation which can be arranged. 

 In the more southern regions wheat is not a crop which one may 

 advise for general production upon the Cecil sandy loam. It should 

 rather be produced upon the Cecil clay. 



Oats are almost universally raised as a winter crop throughout 

 the entire area occupied by the Cecil sandy loam. Frequently the 

 crop is used for grazing purposes only, but in all regions where the 

 oats are also harvested for the grain, yields of 15 to 30 bushels per 

 acre are secured. The continued use of this crop is to be advised, 

 since it serves as an excellent winter cover to aid in the protection 

 of the soil against erosion and at the same time pays for the trouble 

 and expense of production through the grain or the grazing afforded. 

 The yields of oats upon the Cecil sandy loam are nowhere as heavy 

 as upon the Cecil clay. 



In Virginia and North Carolina a considerable acreage of the Cecil 

 sandy loam is each year devoted in regular rotation to the produc- 

 tion of hay. Timothy, redtop, and red clover are seeded following the 

 wheat crop. Under average conditions a yield of about 1 ton of 

 hay per acre is secured. Where heavy fertilization is practiced, and 

 particularly where the rotation of tobacco, wheat, and grass has been 

 followed for some time, yields double this are obtained. In the more 

 southern regions clover is sometimes grown, giving rather low yields. 

 Bermuda grass for pasturage purposes also occupies some of the more 

 sloping locations within the area of the Cecil sandy loam where it has 

 been permitted to grow partly for the purpose of restricting and re- 

 tarding the active erosion of the soil. Its use in this connection is 

 highly to be recommended, since there are few grasses native to the 

 South and capable of growing upon the more sandy soils which con- 

 stitute such an effective soil-binder as the Bermuda grass. Steep 

 and gullied slopes should not be plowed for the production of cotton 

 and corn, but the Bermuda-grass pasture should be made as perma- 

 nent as possible. For the more level upland areas redtop, brome 

 grass, and red clover are to be recommended for hay production upon 

 the Cecil sandy loam in southern North Carolina and southward. 



