The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-08
WORK OF SURVEY PROGRESSING
Geological Makeup of State Land is
 Complex.
ResuIfs ef survey wMl Be of Service ts Farmers of state in Crow ing and Planting of
 Crops.

X Gulf States, including all of the States of the South. was in Montgomery last niwht on q tour of inspection of the soil survey work of Alabama.
 Nr. Bennett Is an authority on soils and is making a special study of the soils of Alabama. MT. Bennett, in speaking of the soils of Alabama, said that in his opinion there were none X better. that they were capable of great or productivity and while good man. arement as rule is practiced by the average Alabama farmer. yet with more scientific and efficient methods of farming the soils of the State could be made to yield 60 per cent more than they now do. Continuing. Mir. Bennett said:
 .aThe survey of the soils of Alabama e progressing very satisfactory under the plan of cooperation agreed upon I between the State Department of Agri- culture and the National Bureau With the completion of the four counties. in which the work Is getting we'll along, fwcnty-three counties will have been covered. In addition to these portions of four other counties have been sur veyed. making the total of over 6o per cent of the State covered by the de- tailed soil survey.
 .The work in Alabama necessarily goes little slower than the average in other States. owing to the extreme complexity of its soils. Few States embrace the variety of soils found In Alabama. where there Is range rom the fiat Gulf coast sandy lands, to the heavy limestone soils of the mountain region, There are but few crops grown an the United States for which suit able soils cannot be found In Alabama, with it's crop adaptation range from the sugar cane and rice of warm to sub-tropical zones, to the buckWheat or northern latitudes.
 sIu addition to the large area or well farmed lands in this State. there Is very considerable total acreage of val uabIe unusued and undeveloped lands which are capable of profitable agricul- turaf usage. There are extensive areas of red and grey lands In Southern Ala bama that are either unused or only fudiferentfy farmed, which can be made to produce a bale Of cotton or more. forty to seventy-ftve bushels or corn. over forty bushels of oats and two tons of excellent hay to the acre. This is actually being done in the Eastern Carolinas. upon the same types of soil. The very high state or asri- cultural development that has been at tained in Scotland County, North Caro- lima, and Marlboro County. South Caro- lima. WAS built up mainly upon the 2 tyne of soil known as Norfoik sandy foam (named for Norfolk, Va., where the soil was first mapped) which occu- pies vast areas in the Gulf plain region of Alabama.
 .In growing cotton, farmers in these Carolina counties, have passed beyond the longtime good yield standard or sa hale to the acre;' they are after two bales per acre and generally get bale E and half or more. In this section ah initial application of something nke ROO pounds of a fertilizer mixture com sisting usually of 300 pounds of acid uhosphate, 300 pounds of kainit and 200 pounds of cotton seed meal, supple menfed by a later application or from 7b to 100 pounds of sodium nitrate, IS made Many farmers here claim that by blowing under a crop of cowpeas the yield of cotton can be increased by 500 pounds seed cotton per acre. From forty to seventy-hye bushels of corr are grown to the acre in this region. according to c modification of the VII Hanson plan of corn culture. and from the same soils enormous yields Of can teioups are made. There is no aues- lion but that these results can be se- cured in Alabama, as the soils of the two regions are identically the same and the climate not greatly different.
 "Ten distinct types of soil have been encountered In Chambers County. Two of these the Cecil stony clay and Ce- cii clay loam locally styles 'mulatto'
 
 region. at least as far north as Cecil County. Maryland, constitute very fine wheat and corn soils. and in the prop ST latitude good cotton and forage soils. With proper rotation and deep fall blowing. these lands can be made to give much heavier yields ana 10 pro auce other crops than now secured.
 "The sandy loam member of the Ce- ell series. which is a grey sandy loam underlain at about six inches by red clay, is capable of producing bale ot cotton, over forty bushels of oats per acre. good crops of corn. and number of yeeetablea Land of this character for best results, requires a high con tent of humus. such as can be readily supplied by turning under an occasion al green or half-matured crop as cow peas or rye This land is also greatly improved by deep fall blowing. grad ually increasing the depth from year to year until a mellow loam seven to fen inches deep. capable of conserving large amounts of moisture, has been worked up. Another type, the Cecil slate loam is valuable peach and grape soil, but at present is given over almost entirely to cotton and corn though not particularly suited to these crops.
 4 10 anything like their maximum pro- ductiyfty it Is necessary to know moi merely that certain approved methods will on certain lands. here and there give good results, but 1t Is absolutely necessary to know the exact crop adap- aations. cultural methods and fertilizer reouirements of all the many grades of soil throughout the State. The Farmers and experiment stations of the country at large are beginning to learn that no two distinct soils are equally adapted to the same crops or nouaIiy affected by the same method of cultivation or fertilization. In the mast the problem of soil adaptations has been sadly overlooked-al grades pf land have been too generally used as if there existed one vast field cap able of growing all kinds of crops with a given fertilizer treatment and meth cd of cultivation.
 sThere Is no one best method oi handling the hundred or more varieties of soil that occur in Alabama. Deer fall blowing is often beneficial on the red clay lands of the Piedmont regior and the heavy limestone soils in tho northern part of the State, but tho coarse Norfolk sand and sandy loan of Southern Alabama. are already SC A loose that competing rather thar M breaking would give the better results M IL would be mere waste to apply lim' M "a the black Houston clay of the prai Yfe regions, but there are several vari eties of soil in this black prairie belt freouently found In the same field witt the Houston clay. that are very muci in need of lime. The heavy silt loam along some of the stream bottoms il