6 SELECTION OF LAND IN THE GULF COAST REGION. 



condition of either can not long prevail in normal seasons. The soil, 

 on the other hand, should be sufficiently retentive of moisture to carry 

 a crop safely through a dry period should one occur. The ideal soil 

 in this respect is a loam or sandy loam, not less than 5 or 6 inches 

 nor more than 15 or 20 inches deep, overlying a moderately com- 

 pact sandy clay subsoil. The greater depth to which the latter 

 extends without essential change in character the better. 



In a type of this kind a heavy rainfall is largely absorbed by 

 the soil and held, as it were, until much of it is diffused through 

 the subsoil. The excess water gravitational water in the soil sinks 

 downward with comparative rapidity, so that the saturated condi- 

 tion of the soil is of short duration, although a sufficient amount of 

 moisture capillary water is retained in the subsoil and under- 

 tying stratum to supply the soil with moisture as the latter is taken 

 up by the growing plants or lost at the surface by evaporation. 



In short, the soil and subsoil should have the power of main- 

 taining a reasonably uniform moisture content throughout consid- 

 erable extremes in precipitation. This is a principle in soil physics 

 of universal application, but particularly important in a region 

 where hard rains followed by comparatively high rates of evapora- 

 tion are the normal, rather than abnormal, weather conditions. 



Such desirable qualities are possessed in high degree by all the 

 heavier types of the Orangeburg and Greenville soils. 1 Some of the 

 Huston and upland Norfolk soils are also very satisfactory in this 

 respect. 



The yellow or brownish-yellow subsoils of the heavier Norfolk 

 types have not, as a rule, such perfect underdrainage as the red or 

 reddish-brown material underlying the above-mentioned soils. Some 

 of the Norfolk and associated types are inclined to be too retentive 

 of moisture. In places this is due to the lack of surface drainage, 

 but more frequently there is a closeness of structure that admits of 

 only a rather slow reduction in any excess of soil water. 2 



In general all the gray sandy soils with yellowish clay subsoils 

 are safest as the coloration of the latter approaches reddish-yellow 

 or brown tints. Land having a pale yellow subsoil with tendency 

 to grayish mottling usually requires drainage. Very light gray, or 

 " putty colored," material almost invariably indicates badly water- 

 logged conditions during a part of each year. 3 The occurrence of 



1 See descriptions of the Orangeburg and Greenville types in soil survey reports of Butler, 

 Henry, Coffee, Pike, and Baldwin Counties, Ala. ; also reports on Gadsden, Escambia, and 

 Jefferson Counties, Pla. 



2 See descriptions of Norfolk types in various soil survey reports of areas in the Southern 

 States. In the late surveys the types having light-red or reddish-brown subsoil^ 

 assigned to the Ruston series. 



8 See descriptions of the Myatt soils of northern Florida and southern Alabama, also of 

 the Kalmia, Waverly, and Ocklocknee series. 



