18 BULLETIN 159, U. S. DEPABTMEjSTT OF AGBICULTUEE. 



terraces which border the Delaware Biver and the banks of many 

 of the estuarine streams of the Maryland-Delaware peninsula. This 

 circumstance frequently modifies the natural moisture-holding ca- 

 pacity of the type and renders it capable of producing a wider range 

 of crops than its rather coarse texture would seem to indicate. 



Generally, the Sassafras sand is well drained, both on account of 

 its sandy texture and because it is found in areas where stream drain- 

 age has been well established. The higher lying part of the type 

 is even somewhat excessively drained and is therefore rather more 

 limited in its crop uses than the lower lying areas of which mention 

 has been made. 



While there is thus some variation in the circumstances of attitude 

 and of natural drainage within the total extent of the type, the Sas- 

 safras sand is generally level to gently undulating in its surface 

 features, well drained to somewhat droughty, and usually rather 

 restricted, because of these facts, in the character of crops which 

 may successfully be grown upon it. 



The extent to which the Sassafras sand has been occupied for 

 agricultural purposes varies considerably with the geographical loca- 

 tion of the different bodies of this soil. In all areas near to the 

 great centers of population, such as the areas in central and western 

 Long Island, those in central and southwestern Xew Jersey, and 

 those in some parts of southern Maryland, the greater proportion 

 of this soil has been cleared and placed under intensive forms of 

 cultivation. In other regions more remote from the great markets 

 for vegetable and fruit crops, and where the means for rapid trans- 

 portation is lacking, considerable areas of the Sassafras sand remain 

 in forest growth of pine and scrubby oak, or the areas are farmed 

 with varying success for the production of the cereal grains, hay, 

 and vegetables for home consumption. It is probable that 75 per 

 cent of the type in the vicinity of the larger cities of the northern 

 Atlantic coast is occupied for intensive forms of crop production, 

 while diminishing percentages are utilized for any agricultural pur- 

 pose in more remote locations. It may be roughly estimated that 

 not more than one-half of the total area of. the type thus far encoun- 

 tered in the soil surveys has been utilized for crop production. The 

 development of the remaining areas will probably not occur until 

 the use of such lands is made desirable by the extension of trans- 

 portation facilities and an increased demand for the growing of 

 special vegetable and fruit crops. 



Because of the generally porous and unretentive character of both 

 the soil and subsoil of the Sassafras sand, it is not found to attain 

 to any high value for the production of the staple crops. In fact, 

 in localities where such crops are the only ones whose production 

 is attempted upon this soil, the yields obtained are usually below 



