SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 323 



is found in the Brownsville area. Some alkali areas are found in 

 this soil, but yield readily to treatment. When well drained and 

 put under irrigation good yields of corn, cotton, sugar cane, lettuce, 

 cauliflower, tomatoes, beans, peas, cabbage, and other vegetables are 

 produced. The silt loam type of soil gives the best returns under 

 irrigation. It is well adapted to onions, which give an average yield 

 of 18,000 to 20,000 pounds per acre. Cotton has been grown under, 

 irrigation and where irrigated sweet potatoes produce 150 to 200 

 bushels per acre. Some corn has been grown on the irrigated land, 

 as have cabbages, beets, turnips, and Irish potatoes. Cabbage yields 

 about 13,000 pounds to the acre. Cowpeas do well on both the unir- 

 rigated and irrigated soils. 



Lufkin Series. This is found in Alabama, Louisiana, Missis- 

 sippi and Texas, is a gray surface soil, and heavy. It is not very pro- 

 ductive, but is believed to be well adapted to truck crops and to 

 peaches. 



Montrose Series. This is found in the south central part of 

 Mississippi, extending into Alabama; is gray in color and not well 

 adapted for agriculture. 



Norfolk Series. This consists of light colored sandy soil and 

 comprises the most important truck soils of the Coastal Plain, the 

 different soils not only being specially adapted to special kinds of 

 crops, but also having a wide general distribution from New York 

 to Texas. Of this series the fine sand taken all in all is the leading 

 soil for general trucking. In earliness it lies between the coarser soils 

 on the one hand and the finer on the other. It is less leachy and 

 droughty than the Norfolk sand or coarse sand, and is more easily 

 kept in a productive state. Besides the lighter truck crops, it is a 

 valuable soil in Florida for the production of a fine grade of Sumatra 

 wrapper tobacco, and in North Carolina and Virginia for cigarette 

 tobacco and peanuts. In Maryland it is the best soil for the French 

 type of tobacco. In trucking areas large acreages are devoted to straw- 

 berry culture. In the sea islands of South Carolina it is the principal 

 soil upon which the long-staple cotton industry has been developed. 



Of the coarser types of the series the gravel and gravelly loam are 

 not extensively developed and are not at present of much agricul- 

 tural value. The coarse sand and coarse sandy loam are in the same 

 category, but the Norfolk sand, which is a type of wide distribution, 

 is an important soil because of its extreme earliness, and a conse- 

 quent special use in the forcing of light truck crops for the very 

 early market. It is a leachy and droughty soil and requires heavy 

 manuring and fertilizing to produce profitable yields. Asparagus 

 has proved a most profitable crop on this soil in North Carolina, and 

 watermelons are grown with success in Georgia, extra early potatoes 

 and lettuce in Virginia. These crops indicate special uses of the Nor- 

 folk sand, but there are many others that do equally as well in one 

 or another part of its wide occurrence. A special adaptation in the 

 sea islands is long-staple cotton. 



The fine sandy loam is not so valuable for early truck as the fine 

 sand, but is an excellent medium to late truck soil and in some sec- 



