74 ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDEN. 



than in the unproductive stony sandy loam type (14) capping 

 Mount Hamilton. There is much oak, and on the lower slopes where 

 the soil is deeper, owing to accumulation of material washed down 

 from above, some tulip poplar and sweet gum are found. Huckle- 

 berries are abundant. The soil is decidedly acid to litmus paper. 

 It is an open leachy soilof low to medium productivity, the lower 

 slopes of deeper soil where the leaf mold has not been burned off so 

 often representing the best grade of this land. This deeper and 

 more loamy soil would make good crops of vegetables and berries. 



The Leonardtown loam (51) occurs in only a few small bodies. 

 The lower-lying areas are imperfectly drained, and sweet gum is the 

 most abundant tree, as, for example, in the area opposite Mount 

 Olivet Cemetery. Wheat and grass are the crops usually grown on 

 land of this kind. 



Brownish soils with yellowish red to red friable clay subsoils, 

 coarser texture in the lower subsoil — Sassafras group. — These soils 

 predominate over the smoother portion of the tract — that between 

 Mount Hamilton and Hickey Hill. They are well drained, hold 

 moisture well, and are easy to work. From an agricultural stand- 

 point they constitute the best soils on the tract. (The sassafras soils 

 are the chief farming soils in southern New Jersey, in Delaware, and 

 in eastern and southern Maryland. They rank as the best agri- 

 cultural lands of the middle xVtlantic coast.) The sandy loam (60) 

 is the principal type on this tract. This soil is extensively and suc- 

 cessfully used in the production of early vegetables, sweet potatoes, 

 cantaloupes, corn, oats, clover and timothy, peaches, pears, straw- 

 berries, briarberries, and apples. Applications of commercial fer- 

 tilizers and lime are generally made. Oak is the principal tree on 

 the Anacostia tract. The deep phase of the sandy loam (3) is not so 

 productive; crops suffer more from the effects of droughts. The 

 loam (9) type is less extensive here. It is a good wheat, corn, grass, 

 and late vegetable soil. 



The sassafras sand (42) and gravelly loamy sand (20) are thor- 

 oughly drained, early soils peculiarly adapted to extra early vege- 

 tables'. They are not extensive on the tract. 



Yi llowish soils with stiff yellow or mottled clay subsoils — Keyport 

 ^■owp.— These soils resemble the Leonardtown soils in the surface 

 and upper sections, but they have stiffer, heavier lower subsoils, such 

 as retard mulerdrainage. they occupy flat, low areas, as a rule, and 

 have only fair drainage. They are rather cold-natured late soils, 

 adapted to grass, wheat, and late vegetables. The total area of all 

 of these is not large. The fine sandy loam (32) and loam (27) are 

 the principal types. Only a small body of the sandy loam (10) was 

 found. 



Mottled grayish and brownish soil with gray clay subsoil — Eikton 

 group. — Only one type of the Eikton soils was mapped — a single area 

 of the loam (54) . This soil occurs in a poorly drained depression. It 

 is best suited to grass and wheat. In eastern Maryland and in Dela- 

 ware land of this kind is styled ,; white oak land." 



STREAM BOTTOM SOILS. 



The principal alluvial soil on the Anacostia tract is the strip of red- 

 dish silty clay (14) occurring along the stream crossing the area 



