4 BULLETIN 46, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ing is represented by intensive dairying, where the cattle are kept 

 inclosed most of the time and fed. It is a fine grain soil, but is better 

 for red clover, orchard grass, and other hay grasses than for pasture 

 grasses. It is also well adapted to cowpeas and to fall and winter 

 apples of the general class of the Winesap, and produces a heavy leaf 

 tobacco for plug fillers and for the export trade. 



Louisa series. — The soils of this series are gray to light gray and 

 the subsoils red. The material is derived from talcose and mica- 

 ceous schists and imperfectly crystalline slates. The structure is un- 

 favorable to the maintenance of good tilth, and the soils have a 

 tendency to bake and check on drying. The members of this series 

 are less productive than the corresponding types of the Cecil series. 

 They can, however, be improved, especially by fall plowing, the 

 growing of legumes and winter cover crops, liming, and the incor- 

 poration of organic matter. They are best suited to general farm 

 crops, such as corn, grain, forage crops, and cotton. 



The loam is best suited to wheat, corn, oats, and tobacco. The 

 yields of these crops are much smaller than upon the Cecil soils. 

 The tobacco is a heavy type. Clover catches poorly, but by liming 

 and drainage a good stand may be secured. The fine sandy loam 

 produces a fine-textured tobacco on the light and deeper phases, 

 while the heavier-bodied tobacco is secured from the areas where 

 the clay subsoil comes near the surface. Wheat, corn, and hay under 

 ordinary conditions give low yields, but these can be improved. 

 Clover may be grown on this type. 



Chester series. — The Chester series occurs in the northern part of 

 the Piedmont Plateau, having been mapped only in Pennsylvania, 

 Maryland, and Virginia. The types in this series differ from those 

 of the Cecil series in having j^ellow or only slightly reddish-yellow 

 subsoils and gray or brown surface soils, the latter being, on the 

 whole, lighter and more friable than the Cecil. The members of this 

 series are prevailingly more micaceous than the Cecil soils. Locally 

 they are known as " gray lands " to distinguish them from the " red 

 lands " of the Cecil series. The topography in general is not so rough 

 as over Cecil areas, being rolling to moderately hilly. The soils, 

 which are of residual origin, are derived from igneous and metamor- 

 phic rocks, principally gneiss, schist, and granite. Weathering has 

 not reached to such great depths as in the case of the Cecil series, the 

 underlying rock often being encountered within 2 feet of the surface 

 on eroded slopes. The soils are adapted to general farm crops, es- 

 pecially corn, and also to fruit and canning crops. Of the latter, 

 tomatoes and sugar corn are the most important. 



The loam is well suited to corn, oats, wheat, grass, clover, apples, 

 and pears. It is one of the best corn soils in the Leesburg section. 

 Grass and clover yield well and furnish good grazing during a con- 



