232 THE SOILS OF CECIL COUNTY 



These soils are classed as good farm lands, and, while they are not 

 naturally strong soils, they can by careful management be made very 

 productive. Generally, they are deficient in organic matter, but this 

 can be remedied by liberal applications of well-rotted stable manure 

 or by the plowing under of green manure. As now cultivated too 

 much money is expended for commercial fertilizers. By saving and 

 applying stable manures these soils could be brought to a higher 

 state of productiveness than is attained by the use of often inferior 

 brands of commercial fertilizers. Originally these soils were thickly 

 covered with a heavy growth of timber, embracing all the common 

 hard-wood varieties. The greater part of the area is now cleared and 

 under cultivation. 



Tomatoes are grown on this soil in large quantities for canning 

 purposes. Almost every farm, especially in the neighborhood of 

 Rising Sun and Zion, has a field of several acres each year in tomatoes. 

 On account of the loamy condition, these are probably the finest com 

 soils in the county, and it is said that from 40 to 60 or even 80 bushels 

 per acre can be grown. Wheat produces well, from 20 to 25 bushels 

 being a good average crop in favorable seasons. Fifty bushels of oats 

 can be harvested in good years, and clover and timothy make good 

 crops. For many years Cecil county had a reputation in Baltimore 

 markets for the fine quality of hay it produced, and it was on Cecil 

 loam and Cecil clay that it was principally grown. Mixed clover 

 and timothy seed are sown, but the clover rarely lasts longer than 

 one year. The usual rotation practiced on these soils is wheat two 

 years, followed by timothy and clover, which usually lasts two years, 

 then corn, after which again comes wheat. When oats or tomatoes 

 are grown the five-year rotation is varied somewhat, and occasionally 

 the timothy is allowed to stay two years after the clover fails. This 

 depends somewhat on the effect of the winter on the crops. Lime 

 is applied to these soils and the good effects are noticed for several 

 years afterwards. It is often observed that the lime has the effect 

 of sweetening the soils and checking foul or rank groAvth. 



The farms on these soils are usually comparatively small, and are 

 in most cases tilled by the owners; hence they are kept in good shape 



