496 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA, 
gomery. On this chalk or limestone rests usually 
a black soil, varying in depth from a few inches to 
many feet, termed Houston clay. A sub-variety is 
known as Trinity clay. These are the somewhat 
famous lime lands of the prairie belt of the two 
states. A similar soft limestone is found in Geor- 
gia. Within recent years much has been written of 
these lands for alfalfa growing. Naturally they are 
among the best lands of the world and have marvel- 
ous durability under continuous cropping. They 
vary much in desirability, some being too shallow, 
some fully charged with lime and some lightly so, 
or even deficient in lime. I know of no other soils 
east of the Missouri River so full of lime as are the 
best of these black belt lands. 
Having grown melilotus, they are usually natu- 
rally inoculated for alfalfa. Being rich in phos- 
phorus (or assumed to be rich) none is ever applied; 
in fact, the only thing done is to sow the seed and 
reap the crops. There is but one serious fault in 
these lands: they are underlaid by the watertight 
chalk in a climate of excessive rains. The black 
soils fill with water, and alfalfa suffers, perhaps 
dies. In winter or early spring when it would like 
to grow the land is too waterlogged to permit 
growth. I have gone in April from alfalfa in the 
mountains of north Georgia, leaving the crop 30 
inches high and nearly ready for the mowers, sev- 
eral hundreds of miles south to the lime lands to 
find the alfalfa there less than half as high and 
waiting for the land to dry out before it would 
