170 



RESOURCES OF TENNESSEE. 



together during heavy rains, so that the excess of water is not readily 

 absorbed and the drainage is apt to be poor. On the Jackson farm this 

 type has proved to be very little in need of lime or of any other mineral 

 element. Excellent crops of Japanese clover, peanuts, red clover and 

 alfalfa were obtained with little difficulty. In contrast with the good sup- 

 ply of the minerals, the nitrogen and humus supplies are very low. This 

 kind of soil therefore is not well suited to grain crops, and non-legumes 

 in general, but may be used to much advantage both for pastures and for 

 the production of legumes. 



FIG. 6. West Tennessee Experiment Station. 



Another common type of soil is reddish-colored. It is said to be by 

 nature fully the equal of the grayish-brown loam. No experimental work 

 has, however, been done on this soil by the Station, so that its specific 

 mineral plant food requirements are not known to the writer. This type 

 is light, easily tilled and contains more sand than the grayish-brown loams. 

 It is suitable to all common farm and garden crops, but erodes very easily, 

 so that it is apt to become poor in nitrogen and humus. 



Miscellaneous soils of the eastern section of West Tennessee. The re- 

 maining undescribed portion of West Tennessee, or about one-third of 

 the whole, extends in a somewhat triangular belt across the State fro;ii 

 north to south, and borders the Tennessee River in its flow to the north. 

 The width of this belt on the Mississippi line is about sixty miles and on 



