THE SOILS. 



19 



have been surveyed and mapped by the Bureau of Soils of this 

 Department. One of these areas includes the principal fruit-growing 

 portions of Albemarle and Nelson counties, and the other an important 

 portion of Bedford County. The types of soil described and mapped 

 in these two areas are fairly typical of much of the territory included 

 in this discussion. 



The description of the soil types which follows is condensed from 

 the reports of Mooney, Martin, Caine, and Bonsteel and represents 

 the soils of these regions which are the most important to the fruit- 

 growing interests concerned. 



CECIL LOAM. 



Cecil loam has a wide range of color, but the greater part of it has a 

 yellowish, light or dark brown, reddish brown, or red shade. The 

 surface soil varies from 6 to 12 inches in depth, averaging probably 

 about 10 inches. It usually contains fine sand, and occasionally in 

 proportions great enough to give the soil a somewhat sandy char- 

 acter. The subsoil also varies in color and texture. The principal 

 type is a yellowish, occasionally slightly reddish, loam, grading into 

 rotten rocks at a depth generally less than 36 inches. In the upper 

 part of this loam subsoil there is a stratum of heavy texture, but 

 beneath this the subsoil becomes lighter as depth increases. The 

 soil and subsoil contain a large quantity of finely divided mica. It 

 is a Piedmont soil, found in Virginia in Nelson and Albemarle coun- 

 ties, and in some other sections it extends well up the slopes of the 

 foothills in many instances. 



CECIL CLAY. 



Cecil clay is the most important soil type in the Piedmont region. 

 It is locally known in Virginia as ''red land," and is the best of the 

 Piedmont soils for general farming purposes. It is found on the roll- 

 ing uplands, in the smaller stream valleys, on the slopes of the small 

 isolated mountains of the plateau, and on the gentle slopes of the 

 large mountains to an elevation of 1,000 feet above sea level. The 

 soil is residual, derived from the weathering of granite, gneiss, schist, 

 diabase, and other metamorphosed rock. It varies from a heavy, 

 reddish brown clay loam to a stiff, tenacious red clay of varying depth, 

 but with an average of 8 inches. The subsoil is a stiff, tenacious red 

 clay to a depth of 36 inches or more. Sharp quartz sand and rock 

 fragments are found in both soil and subsoil. Mica is usually present 

 in the subsoil. 



« Field Operations of the Bureau of Soils, U. S. Department of Agriculture, for 

 1901, pp. 239-257; also Field Operations for 1902, pp. 187-238. 

 135 



