478 GEOLOGY OF NORTHWESTERN TEXAS. 



owing to the undulating and uneven surface of the underlying strata at the time 

 of their deposition. The surface is often so level that the difference in height 

 will not vary over five feet in a mile. It might be supposed from this state- 

 ment that the soils would be unfit for cultivation for want of drainage, but 

 such is not the case. There is so much sand in the soil that the water is soon 

 taken up and none left on the surface, and therefore no surface drainage is 

 necessary. Water is always found in wells at the base of these soils, and by 

 capillary attraction they are always kept moist. 



This class of soil makes the Lipan Flat, in Tom Green County; the broad 

 plateau between Sweetwater and Colorado City; the Big Flat, between Has- 

 kell and the Brazos River; the broad level prairie west of Seymour; the 

 country in the vicinity of Vernon, and all soils of a similar character. In 

 composition they are as near the ideal standard as any in the State. 



" The third class of soils might very well be classed as a variety of the sec- 

 ond class, as the most of their material has been brought from a different lo- 

 cality from that where they are found. They were, however, deposited by 

 different agencies, and are somewhat different in composition. They are found 

 along the present courses of the rivers and creeks, and might with propriety 

 be called bottom lands. 



"There is ordinarily more timber on them than on either of the others. 

 "Where these lands have been put into cultivation their fertility has proven 

 equal to any in the district. They do not usually lie in as large bodies as do 

 the second class of lands mentioned in this Report." 



Where the farmer desires to make a selection of land for the purposes of 

 agriculture, and has not the time to have the soil analyzed and can not iden- 

 tify it with either of the soils mentioned herein, if he will observe the char- 

 acter of growth upon the land it will very readily indicate to him the fertility 

 thereof. On broad plateaus, mentioned as the second class of soils, it will 

 very often be the case that very little is to be seen except grass, and that the 

 short, curly mesquite that would to him probably not indicate a soil of much 

 fertilty. In that case let him look for a place in that region where the turf 

 has been destroyed — the side of a road or a gulley, or some other place — and 

 examine the weeds that have sprung up there, and they will very readily in- 

 dicate the kind of stalks that will be produced in the cultivated plants. A 

 soil that will grow big weeds will make good grain or cotton if the weeds are 

 kept down. 



The amount of ammonia contained in a soil is readily indicated by the 

 growth of a plant. If a plant is inclined to go to stalk there is sure to be 

 enough ammonia in the soil for all practical purposes. Clay and humus are 

 the great absorbants of ammonia, and in none of the soils of the North and 

 West is there any likelihood of there being a deficiency of that material. 



