50 BULLETIN 159, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



sandy soils are little used for wheat or other small grains, but are 

 largely planted to corn and to special vegetable and fruit crops. 



Systematic crop rotations are quite generally employed, use is 

 made of leguminous crops for forage and for green manuring, and a 

 large amount of commercial fertilizers is annually used both by the 

 general farmer and the truck and fruit grower. Broad, nearly level 

 stretches of territory make the use of the larger farm implements 

 possible and profitable. The region is fairly well equipped with 

 work stock and machinery and a large percentage of the land area 

 is tilled. 



The agriculture on the soils of the Sassafras series in southern 

 Harford and Baltimore Counties, Md., consists chiefly of the pro- 

 duction of corn, wheat, and forage crops. The growing of sweet 

 corn and tomatoes for canning factories is also an important 

 industry. 



In the southern Maryland counties there is again a considerable 

 difference in the cropping practices of the different sections, varying 

 with the character of the soils and with the distance from market. 

 In the northern part of Anne Arundel County the more sandy mem- 

 bers of the Sassafras series occur extensively and they are used for 

 the production of vegetables and small fruits to a very considerable 

 extent. In this county the area devoted to vegetable growing nearly 

 equals the area in corn and far exceeds the acreage given to any 

 other crop. Proximity to market strongly influences the class of 

 farming since the soils of the Sassafras series in the southern part 

 of the county are chiefly used for the growing of corn, tobacco, 

 wheat, hay, and forage. While the soils of the Sassafras series 

 occur only to a limited extent in other parts of southern Mary- 

 land, they produce fair average yields of corn, wheat, and forage 

 crops, while tobacco is also grown extensively upon the more sandy 

 members of the series. 



South of the Potomac River the soils of this series are chiefly used 

 for the production of corn and wheat. Forage crops are also grown, 

 while areas suitably located are used to some extent for growing 

 tomatoes for market and for canning and for the production of other 

 vegetables. 



SUMMARY. 



The soils of the Sassafras series are distinguished by the yellow 

 or brown color of the surface soils, by the yellow or reddish-yellow 

 color of the subsoils, and by the prevalence of an underlying layer 

 of gravel or of gravelly sand at depths ranging from 2 to 6 feet or 

 more. 



They consist of water-laid materials chiefly formed as marine and 

 estuarine terraces, but including some areas which were formed 

 by the deposition of glacial ontwash materials. 



