26 FllXD OPERATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF SOILS, 1919. 



fAKKINrjTON I.OA.M. 



The surface soil of the Carrinfifton loam is a dark-brown, mellow, 

 friablo loam, 12 to 10 inches deep, with an av<'ra<:e depth of about 14 

 inihes. This is undcrhiin by a yellowish-brown silty clay loam to 

 clay loam, faintly mottled with gray and yellow in the lower depths. 

 Coarse sand particles and occasional (rlacial j^ebbles are scattered 

 throu<j:h the subsoil layer. In places a gritty, coarse clay loam is 

 encountered at a depth of 28 to 30 inches, and iron stains are found 

 here and there. 



The Carrington loam is most extensively developed in the morainic 

 areas in the eastern half of the county, where the topography is 

 gently rolling to rolling. Other areas are found in the Avestern part, 

 along the Boone Kiver and extending back along its tributaries. 



The soil of this type is somewhat variable in texture and depth. 

 In the morainic region the surface soil is shallower, lighter in color, 

 and contains a higher percentage of fine sand than where found on 

 the gentle slopes along the smaller stream courses. Numerous out- 

 crops of calcareous sand and gravel occur along the tops of ridges 

 and knolls. Many narroAv draws and depressions lying between 

 these hills and occupied by heavy black silty clay loam are included 

 in this type. 



In the southwestern part of the county, along the steeper slopes 

 of the Boone River, erosion has exposed large patches of yellowish- 

 broAvn, gritty, clayey drift material. The Boone Eiver, in forming a 

 large bend about 2^ miles northwest of Woolstock, has cut into the 

 upland, leaving a perpendicular wall of this till, 30 to 40 feet high 

 and about 2 miles in length. These steeper eroded hillsides have 

 little value except as pasture land. Many of them are wooded and 

 support a natural growth of bluegrass. 



A variation occurs in sections 23, 25, and 36 in Troy Township, 

 along the east bank of the Boone River. Here the soil is a whitish- 

 gray silt loam at the surface and passes into a tenacious grayish- 

 brown subsoil containing many yellow mottlings and some iron 

 stains. The subsoil has an imj^ervious structure resembling hard- 

 pan. These areas are small, flat, and scattered, and contain a total 

 of about 25 acres. Because of their small area and close association 

 with the Carrington loam they were included with this type. 



In Belmond Township, and in small, widely separated areas on 

 some of the flat, gently sloping hillsides, the surface soils contain a 

 higher percentage of silt and less fine sand than the typical Carring- 

 ton loam. The texture here approaches a silt loam. 



The surface drainage and underdrainage are excellent over most 

 of the Carrington loam. On a few of the broad, flat tops, and gentle 

 slopes of the hills artificial drainage is beneficial. Very few gullies 



