SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 327 



peas, and beans. The fine sandy loam is of limited extent. Some 

 areas produce heavy yields of wheat, oats, corn, while others are 

 better suited to melons, sugar beets, Irish potatoes, and alfalfa. The 

 principal crop on the sandy loam is corn. It is also suited to truck 

 crops. The heavier silt loam and clay loam are both valuable soils, 

 though as yet only small areas have been encountered in the soil 

 survey. Heavy yields of grass, corn, alfalfa, Kafir corn, sorghum, 

 and moderate yields of small grains are obtained. 



Waverly Series. This is composed of light colored alluvial soils 

 subject to overflow. Less productive than the Wabash soils, this series 

 is adapted to the same wide range of crops. 



Wheeling Series. These brown to yellowish-brown soils occur 

 on gravel terraces, along streams issuing from glacial regions. Ex- 

 cellent soils for general farming purposes and fruit and truck 

 growing. 



PIEDMONT PLATEAU. 



Lying between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the Appalachian 

 Mountains and extending from the Hudson River to east central 

 Alabama is an area of gently rolling to hilly country known as the 

 Piedmont Plateau. On the Atlantic side it is closely defined by the 

 "fall line," which separates it from the Coastal Plain, but on the 

 northwestern side the boundary is not so sharp, although in the main 

 distinct. In its northern extension the Piedmont Plateau is quite 

 narrow, but broadens toward the south, attaining its greatest width in 

 North Carolina. 



The surface features are those of a broad, rolling plain that has 

 been deeply cut by an intricate system of small streams whose valley 

 walls are rounded and covered with soil, although many small gorges 

 and rocky areas occur. The altitude varies from 300 feet to more 

 than 1,000 feet above sea level. 



The extreme northern part of the Piedmont region, in New Jer- 

 sey, has been glaciated, but elsewhere the soils are purely residual in 

 origin and have been derived almost exclusively from the weathering 

 of igneous and metamorphic rocks. The chief exception is the de- 

 tached areas of sandstones and shales of Triassic age. Marked differ- 

 ences in the character of the rock and the method of formation has 

 given rise to a number of soil types, those derived from crystalline 

 rocks being the most numerous and widely distributed. Among these 

 the soils of the Cecil and Chester series predominate. The principal 

 types formed from the sandstones and shales are included in the 

 Penn series. 



Cecil Series. This includes the most important and widely dis- 

 tributed soils of the Piedmont Plateau. The heavier members are 

 known as the red-clay lands and are characterized by red clay sub- 

 soils, with gray to red soils ranging in texture from sand to clay, the 

 lighter colors prevailing with the sandy members. 



The soils of the Cecil series produce general farm crops through- 

 out their extent and in the South cotton is the important crop. Both 

 heavy export and bright tobacco are generally grown, the character 

 of the leaf produced depending on the depth and texture of the soil. 



