THE ORANGEBURG FINE SANDY LOAM. 17 



and the Orangeburg sand and fine sand, are better suited to the pro- 

 duction of melons as a trucking crop. 



The Orangeburg fine sandy loam constitutes one of the best of the 

 Coastal Plain soils for the production of peaches. The most suc- 

 cessful areas devoted to peach orcharding in central Georgia are 

 dominated by this type. Commercial orchards have also been planted 

 in Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas; and in all instances where 

 proper attention has been paid to the selection of sites which, through 

 their elevated and rolling nature, possess good air and water drain- 

 age, the orchards have been successful. The trees make good healthy 

 growth, come into bearing at an early date, and produce peaches of 

 exceptionally fine flavor and color. The Elberta variety is favored 

 for the principal plantings, but several others are also grown in 

 different localities. It is probable that no other Coastal Plain soil 

 type can compete with the Orangeburg fine sandy loam for the pro- 

 duction of this fruit. 



It is evident from a consideration of the Orangeburg fine sandy 

 loam, either as a general farming soil or as a vegetable and fruit 

 producing soil, that the type is exceptionally valuable in all areas 

 where it occurs with undulating to rolling surface topography. In 

 the hilly and broken regions its use for agricultural purposes is not 

 yet required, and such areas should remain in forest, or w r here cut 

 over should be reforested. 



Both the longleaf and loblolly pine are indigenous to the type, 

 and the latter tree readily reseeds upon all deforested areas which are 

 not at once overgrown to scrubby hardwoods and are reasonably 

 well protected from accidental fires. The time has arrived when the 

 timber crop must be considered as an essential part of the revenue- 

 producing resources of many Southern farms. It should be possible 

 for the majority of farms and plantations located in the more rolling 

 sections occupied by the Orangeburg v fine sandy loam and its asso- 

 ciated types to foster a growth of these Valuable species of timber 

 trees and, through properly directed management of wood-lot and 

 forest areas, to increase the revenues derived from annual crops by 

 the sale of selected timber. 



FARM EQUIPMENT. 



Farm equipment ranges from the light-weight one-mule hitch to 

 the three or four mule hitch used for hauling the heavy disk plows 

 and disk harrows. With a better understanding of the capabilities of 

 this soil and with increased prosperity of the farmers, leading to the 

 introduction of more adequate and modern farm machinery, there 

 will undoubtedly be rapid improvement in the farm equipment over 

 areas occupied by the Orangeburg fine sandy loam. 



For the proper tillage of this type upon any large scale, medium 

 to heavy weight work stock should be employed, and the greatest 



