STUDY OP "FARMING TN SUMTER COUNT Y, GEORGIA. 5 



SOILS AND TOPOGRAPHY. 



Sumter County lies wholly within the Coastal Plain, its northern 

 boundary being 28 miles south of the Piedmont line. 1 The soils arc; 

 predominantly sandy, this type occupying about 75 per cent of the 

 total land area of the county. 2 



The topography of the county varies from very rolling in the 

 northern portion to very gently rolling or flat in the southern part. 

 The general slope is from northwest to southeast, and practically all 

 the streams flow in a southeasterly direction. 



CLIMATE. 



The climate of this county is characterized by summers long but 

 not extremely hot, and short, mild winters. 



The average rainfall as recorded by the United States Weather 

 Bureau at Americus, Ga., for the 10 years 1904 to 1913, inclusive, 

 was 47 inches. (See fig. 2.) October and November are the two 

 months with the lowest average rainfall during this period. During 

 the 10 years there was an average of 24 inches of rainfall from April 

 1 to September 30, which is an abundance for crop production in 

 this region when distributed over this period as evenly as is shown by 

 figure 2. 



The rainfall for the year of the study (1913) was 45 inches, or 

 only 2 inches below the 10-year average. During that year the rain- 

 fall was well distributed throughout the growing season. It was a 

 little below normal during the months of April and May, but for 



1 Soil Survey, Sumter County, Ga., U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Field Operations of the 

 Bureau of Soils, 1911. 



2 The most important soil division of the county, one which occupies S8.7 per cent of 

 its total land area, comprises the soils derived from unconsolidated water-deposited ma- 

 terial under good drainage conditions. This soil division contains four distinct series. 

 The first and most important is the Greenville. The soils of this series are of a reddish- 

 brown to dark red color, with a dark red subsoil. This series occupies 63.9 per cent of 

 the total land area of the county. The Norfolk soil series is second in importance and 

 occupies 16.9 per cent of the area of the county. The Norfolk soils are characterized by 

 the gray color of the surface soils and the grayish-yellow to yellow color of the subsoils. 

 This series also has a somewhat lower agricultural producing value than the Greenville 

 series. The Orangeburg soil" series occupies only 2.5 per cent of the land area of the 

 county. The soils of this series are of a gray color, with red subsoils. The Orangeburg 

 soils are closely related to the Greenville, differing mainly in the gray color and loose 

 structure of Its soils, the subsoil being quite like that of the Greenville. The several 

 types of the Orangeburg series are not so productive as the corresponding types of the 

 Greenville series. The fourth series of this division is represented by the Tifton soil and 

 occupies 5.4 per cent of the area of the county. These soils are gray to brown in color, 

 with yellow subsoils. Ironstone pebbles are abundant. 



The second soil division of agricultural importance to this region is known as the Ports- 

 mouth series. This soil comprises 2.9 per cent of the land area of the county. The 

 Portsmouth soils, formed under poor drainage conditions, from probably the same material 

 that gives rise to the Greenville, Orangeburg, Norfolk, and Tifton, are characterized bj 

 the dark-gray to black color of the surface soil and the light-gray or mottled gray, yellow, 

 and red of the subsoil. 



Other soil divisions which are of only minor importance to the agricultural region as 

 a whole are the Sumter stony sandy loam, the low meadow land, the swamp land, and 

 the old alluvial soil. 



