14 BULLETIN 140, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



feature not infrequently is serious enough to lessen greatly the crop 

 of fruit the following season. This is especially true on medium to 

 coarse sands and sandy loams of loose structure. O'f these some 

 areas are made even more porous by the presence of fine gravel, 

 which is likewise found to some extent with the finer grades of sand 

 and sandy loam. Stony areas occur, but they are generally small in 

 extent. 



Hay for home use is cut principally from the marshes, of which 

 some are salt and others fresh. From the latter the best hay is se- 

 cured, while salt marsh overflowed intermittently yields a medium 

 crop, and land daily overflowed the poorest crop. 



West of Barnstable there are appreciable areas of soils somewhat 

 heavier than those previously described. Light sandy loams, light 

 loams, and even light silty loams are sometimes found. The subsoil 

 of the uplands is principally stony fine sand, stony sand, or stony 

 fine sandy loam. There are many areas, too, of light sandy surface 

 soils compared to those nearer the point. Gravelly sandy soils also 

 occur, but at the present time these are little used for farming. 



Thus it is seen that few of the soils of the Cape are drought re- 

 sistant and crops frequently suffer for lack of moisture. So char- 

 acteristic is this tendency that every possible means should be 

 used to conserve moisture. This necessitates not only a large sup- 

 ply of humus, but also very frequent cultivation. The last is now 

 given by the best farmers, some of whom plan to give surface tillage 

 at least weekly. Humus burns out of these soils rapidly, but not- 

 withstanding this characteristic, a good supply must be maintained 

 if good yields of the various crops are to be secured. Since little 

 stock is kept the small quantities of stable manure available must be 

 supplemented by the use of cover crops — that is, the greater part of 

 the necessary humus must be grown. Red clover succeeds, likewise 

 Canada field peas. Other legumes have not been tried to any ex- 

 tent, and it is not strange that the few spasmodic attempts with 

 alfalfa in most cases have failed. Rarely has the land been brought 

 to a condition of sufficient productiveness before sowing the seed to 

 attain success with this crop. The vetches are promising and should 

 be thoroughly tried. It is also worth while to test the early matur- 

 ing varieties of cowpeas, such as the Whippoorwill and New Era, 

 though these are doubtless less dependable in this climate than 

 Canada field peas. 



Scattered about the Cape are many low-lying areas upon which 

 the great cranberry industry has been developed. No attempt was 

 made to examine in a comprehensive way the soils of these bogs, 

 but they are evidently miscellaneous in character, though probably 

 more uniform in the large bogs than in the small ones. While this 

 variation may have been brought about in part, or at least have been 



