32 BULLETIN 159, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUKE. 



Superior, while the Klondyke is grown as a midseason berry. The 

 later varieties are not grown with as great success upon the Sassafras 

 sandy loam as upon the more mucky and darker colored soils of the 

 Portsmouth series. 



Dewberries and blackberries occupy a minor acreage upon the 

 Sassafras sandy loam. 



SASSAFRAS FINE SANDY LOAM. 



The Sasasfras fine sandy loam has been mapped to a total extent 

 of 101,676 acres in the different soil surreys which have been made in 

 the northern portion of the Coastal Plain. The largest areas of the 

 type are found in the Maryland counties which border the western 

 shore of Chesapeake Bay. Small areas are also found along the 

 lower courses of the Delaware Eiver and on the eastern shore of 

 Maryland. 



The surface soil of the Sassafras fine sandy loam, to an average 

 depth ranging from 9 inches to 1 foot, is a brown to yellowish- 

 brown fine sandy loam. In some areas a small amount of quartz 

 gravel is found in the surface soil, particularly upon sloping areas. 

 There is also an appreciable amount of silt in the lower portions of 

 the surface soil in such positions. In general the soil is soft and 

 friable, but somewhat coherent when moist. 



The subsoil in all cases is a heavier and more compact yellow or 

 reddish-yellow sandy loam, which normally extends to a depth ex- 

 ceeding 3 feet. In many areas the subsoil grades downward into 

 a more sandy layer which underlies it at depths varying from 3 to 5 

 feet. In some cases, especially where the surface is flat and the 

 total depth of subsoil is considerable, the deeper subsoil may be 

 compact and rather poorly drained. In such cases it is sometimes 

 mottled yellow and gray. 



The surface configuration of the Sassafras fine sandy loam varies 

 considerably in the different areas of its occurrence. Along the Del- 

 aware Eiver and at the lower elevations on the Eastern Shore of 

 Maryland and bordering Chesapeake Bay the type occupies low- 

 lying, nearly level topped terraces, which extend from the vicinity 

 of tidewater to elevations of 25 or 30 feet. These terraces are gen- 

 erally fairly well drained, although small depressions or level areas 

 somewhat remote from local drainage ways may be semiswampy in 

 their natural condition. In Anne Arundel County, Md. 3 where the 

 greatest area of this type has been encountered, the surface is rolling 

 to sloping in character and lies at altitudes of 40 to 150 feet above 

 tide level, and drainage has become well established over practically 

 all of the type. Probably three-fourths of the entire extent of the 

 Sassafras fine sandy loam is well drained. 



