39 



form small clods which cause sore fingers during hand weed- 

 ing is objectionable, and any rain at harvest time causes this 

 somewhat sticky soil to adhere to the bulbs, and render them 

 less salable. The tops do not cure down as well in the fall 

 on this heavy, silt loam, and this causes some inferior onions, 

 esjiecially if the season be wet and late. 'No doubt many 

 of you have noted similar instances with this or other crops 

 in your own farm experience without realizing that it might 

 be a case of soil adaptation. 



In the rapid development of tobacco growing in Florida 

 and near-by States during recent years soil selection has 

 been one of the most important factors ; indeed, within that 

 very considerable district possessing a suitable climate, soil 

 selection has been of chiefest importance, and this phase of 

 adaptation has been carried even to the point of breeding to- 

 bacco to suit local soil conditions. Deep sandy soils and light 

 sandy loams yield the thin elastic leaf desired for cigar 

 wrappers, while a similar surface soil, underlain by a dark 

 red clay loam subsoil — the Orangeburg sandy loam — yields 

 a thicker leaf of much heavier body, that is worthless for 

 cigar wrappers but very desirable for cigar fillers. These two 

 types of soil occur side by side, often on the same farm, at 

 the same elevation, and so of course under the same climatic 

 conditions. 



Sugar cane in the Gulf States grown on the soil type with 

 the red clay loam subsoil mentioned above yields a syrup 

 that brings a lower price than that from another type asso- 

 ciated with it, — the Norfolk sandy loam, — which has a 

 more plastic subsoil of yellow color. With other conditions 

 equal, the latter soil also yields more gallons of syrup per 

 acre than the t^'pe with the red subsoil. This is undoubtedly 

 due to the greater freedom with which the cane-root system 

 can penetrate the subsoil, as the red subsoil is stiff enough in 

 some cases to hinder root expansion, — a condition to which 

 the sugar cane plant is sejisitive. 



Sea-island cotton took its name from being grown on 

 islands along the coast of South Carolina. Its long, beauti- 

 ful staple is now secured in northern Florida and other Gulf 



