SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES AND THEIR USE-MAY. 



THE VOLUSIA LOAM. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



The Volusia loam is an important general farming soil, extensively 

 developed in the elevated plateau region of northern Pennsylvania, 

 southern and central New York, and extreme northeastern Ohio. 

 Seven soil surveys made in this general region have included a total 

 of 554,082 acres of this type. It is estimated that the total extent of 

 the Volusia loam will aggregate not less than 2,500,000 acres. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF SOIL AND SUBSOIL. 



The surface soil of the Volusia loam to an average depth of 8 or 10 

 inches is a brown or yellowish-brown loam, somewhat gray and ashy 

 where drainage conditions have not become well established. The 

 subsoil is usually a yellow or mottled yellow and gray silty loam, 

 compact and dense in the upper portion, but filled with flat shale and 

 sandstone fragments at greater depths. Both soil and subsoil are 

 well filled with small chips and fragments of shale and sandstone 

 and the type is not infrequently known as " black gravel " land from 

 this circumstance. 



The Volusia loam is derived from a heavy covering of glacial till 

 which overlies the plateau region of southern New York and north- 

 ern Pennsylvania. The materials forming this type are chiefly of 

 local derivation, since the glacial ice reworked the shale and sand- 

 stone rock of the region with a small accession of stony and earthy 

 material brought in from localities farther north. These were ac- 

 cumulated to a considerable depth within the valleys and along the 

 lower slopes of the hills, but form only a thin coating at the highest 

 elevations. The total depth of the materials from which the Volusia 

 loam is derived varies from 2 or 3 feet to a maximum of more than 

 100 feet. This influences the agricultural value of the soil, the deeper 

 areas constituting the best farming lands within the type. 



The Volusia loam is characterized by the universal presence of in- 

 numerable fragments of shale and sandstone in both the soil and 

 subsoil and by its brown surface soil and yellowish-brown subsoil. 



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