16 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



the production of alfalfa should not be attempted at once, and a 

 year or more should be devoted to building up the land, chiefly 

 through the incorporation of organic matter and the increase in the 

 depth of the surface soil. It is also essential that the area to be 

 devoted to alfalfa growing should be thoroughly summer fallowed 

 and cultivated at frequent intervals for the destruction of weeds be- 

 fore seeding is attempted. Where these precautions are taken, alfalfa 

 growing has proved successful on the Orangeburg fine sandy loam 

 and there are many scattered fields of small area located upon the 

 type which are cutting 3 tons or more of hay per acre each year. 

 With the present high price of alfalfa and other hay in practically 

 all of the cotton-growing States, yields of this magnitude compete 

 with cotton in acreage profit, while the labor required to tend and 

 harvest the crop is far less in the case of the alfalfa, as the greater 

 proportion of it can be performed by machinery. 



Vegetable and fruit crops. The Orangeburg fine sandy loam is 

 not a type suited to market gardening or trucking. It is sufficiently 

 valuable to warrant the more extensive growing of a few selected 

 vegetables, especially sweet potatoes, either for home use or for ship- 

 ment to the northern markets. Yields of To to 250 bushels per acre 

 are commonly reported, and with proper attention to the prepara- 

 tion and fertilization of the land an average yield in excess of 150 

 bushels per acre may be readily secured. 



Irish potatoes, for local consumption or for shipment during mid- 

 season to the northern markets, are also profitably grown on the 

 Orangeburg fine sandy loam. The yields are about the same as for 

 sweet potatoes or a little less. With greater attention to the prepa- 

 ration of the land, the incorporation of organic matter in the sur- 

 face soil, and the heavy fertilization of the crop, coupled with 

 proper tillage and, in some instances, with the spraying of the vines 

 to combat insect pests and fungous disease, this soil would prove 

 admirably adapted to potato growing. 



Among the special crops for market-gardening or trucking pur- 

 poses, tomatoes probably constitute the crop best suited to the Or- 

 angeburg fine sandy loam. Considerable areas of the type in central 

 Mississippi and in northeastern Texas are already devoted to the 

 production of this crop, with excellent results, and large additional 

 areas with proper transportation facilities might well be occupied 

 for tomato growing. Wherever possible the portion of the crop not 

 shipped in baskets to the northern markets should be canned at local 

 establishments. The yield per acre ranges from 100 to 150 bushels 

 under normal conditions, or to double that yield where conditions are 

 exceptionally favorable. Watermelons and cantaloupes are grown 

 locally and produce fair yields of good quality. It is probable that 

 the more sandy soils, such as the Norfolk fine sand, the Norfolk sand, 



