140 



SCIENCE AND SOIL 



soil has been cultivated for upward of two hundred years, but it is now little 

 valued and is covered with oak and pine over much of its area. It is worth 

 from $i to $3 an acre. The cultivated areas produce small crops of corn, 

 wheat, and an inferior grade of tobacco." 



To this statement of facts is added the opinion that " the 

 generally low estimation in which land is held is probably wholly 

 unjustified. ... In texture, in chemical composition, 1 and in 

 general agricultural value (when carefully and intelligently 

 farmed) these lands compare favorably with the Hagerstown loam 

 of western Maryland and Lancaster County, Pa., which are con- 

 sidered the most valuable soils of the Atlantic States for general 

 farm crops." (Report for 1900, page 33.) 



The Bureau of Soils also reports that 45,770 acres of this type of 

 soil are found in Prince George County, which borders the District 

 of Columbia on the east and south, concerning which the Bureau's 

 Report for 1901 contains the following statements: 



"The soil is not adapted to tobacco, and has consequently been allowed 

 to grow up to scrub forests, so that large portions of it are at present uncleared. 

 Such unimproved lands can be bought for $1.50 to $5.00 an acre, even within a 

 few miles of the District line. The soil has been badly neglected, and, when 

 cultivated, the methods have not been such as to promote fertility. It is fre- 

 quently acid, and needs lime and manure, or green crops turned under. When 

 properly handled, as it is in a few places, good yields of wheat, corn, and grass 

 are obtained." 



And to this statement of facts is also added the opinion that 

 " upon the whole it is one of the most promising soils 2 of the local- 



1 See Table 22 for chemical composition of the Leonardtown loam and the 

 loam and clay of the Hagerstown series. C. G. H. 



2 Determinations of the water-soluble constituents in 36 samples of Leonardtown 

 loam are included in the data which led Whitney and Cameron to draw the very 

 erroneous conclusions that "practically all soils contain sufficient plant food for 

 good crop yields, that this supply will be indefinitely maintained, and that the 

 actual yield of plants adapted to the soil depends mainly, under favorable climatic 

 conditions, upon the cultural methods and suitable crop rotations." (Bureau of 

 Soils Bulletin 22, page 64.) 



The following quotations are taken from page 34 of Bureau of Soils Bulletin 22 

 (1903). They furnish some information as to what is done when this soil is "properly 

 handled": 



"There is no apparent relation between the yield of crops and the soluble salt 

 content of soils, even where the yields per acre differ as much as from 4 bushels to 

 25 or 30 bushels. 



