The soil is formed in old alluvium, and the underlying material commonly is residuum weathered from limestone. Annual precipitation is about 50 inches and average annual temperature is about 60 degrees F., for the area. These are the competing Etowah and Pembroke series, and the Crider , Staser , and Talbott series. Crider soils are brown and silty. Staser soils are on flood plains.
Talbott soils are yellowish red and clayey.
The principal crops are corn, tobacco, cotton, small grain, hay, and pasture. About 5 percent is in woodland consisting chiefly of oaks, hickory, elm, maple, and beech. The central basin and northern Highland Rim of Tennessee, Alabama, and the Pennyroyal of Kentucky. The series is of moderate extent. The Cumberland series was classified in the Reddish-Brown Lateritic great soil group.