Some Physical Properties of Soils in Their Relation to Moisture and Crop Distribution (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1892 Excerpt: ...for a good cotton soil. The land is gently undulating, with good surface drainage, and, although a compact red clay from 40 to 80 feet thick, it has good underdrainage. It is considered a very safe soil, as cotton rarely suffers from excessive wet or dry weather and the plants are usually very vigorous and are not subject to rust, shedding, or lice, as on the adjacent lands. With good treatment it may be relied on to produce 1,000 to 1,400 pounds of seed cotton. If anything, the soil is considered rather too close and too retentive of moisture, and this, together with rather high nitrogenous manuring, has inclined the plant on this particular soil to make rather an excessive growth for the amount of fruit which it produces. On the whole, the soil of this formation is considered the finest type of upland cotton soil in the state. The wells are usually about 40 feet deep, but are often 80 feet and even 120 to 160 feet deep. About If miles from the station at Wedgefield, there is a range of sand hills bordering the red hill formation and extending for miles up and down the river. The soil and subsoil are coarse, yellow sand, with red clay fully 15 to 20 feet below the surface, on the plateau where these samples were taken just before entering the sand hills proper. Cotton cannot be economically produced on this land, for the soil is so light in texture that the crop suffers in excessive wet or dry. weather. With the same treatment it is thought that it will not make one-fifth as much cotton per acre as the "red land." The sandy land makes fairly good crops of corn and is excellent for sweet potatoes, melons, and early truck. It is never planted in cotton by the large planters. There is a narrow belt, about mile wide at this place, lying between the r...