The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-16
lO|L SURVEY OF
 CULLMAN COUNTY Most of the Soil Is Sandstone and Noncalcerous Shale. TEN TYPES ARE FOUND Upland Soil Is Found Around Dekalb and HanceviIle, the Latter Being
 Superior in Agricultural
 Value to the Former.
FEN TYPES ARE FOUND

Washington. March 15.-(Special. .)-The bureau of soils has issued advance sheets of the soil survey of Cullman county, Ala bama. by w. E. Tharp of the bureau of soils and w. l.. Lett of the Alabama de- pertinent of agriculture and industries copies of which may be obtained on ap- plication. The following is a brief sum- mary of the report:
 "Cullman county is located in the north central part of Alabama. It includes I'll square miles of the Cumberland plateau The general elevation of the northern part is about 800 feet above sea level with gradual decline toward the south. The eastern half is rolling to moderately hiily, with the steepest hills along the larger creeks. In the western part the divides are generally narrower with much hilly and broken ground as they descend to the creeks. The fat-topped spurs or the northwestern portion consist largely or ..mounta,nr lands bordered by deep sorges The south-central townships have a lower average elevation. The topog- raphy consists more generally of ridges with narrow valleys between.
 .All the area was originally forested. About one-fifth Is now under cultivation, The central part Is the most thickly set tied. Some of the outlying townships which contain considerably rough land are rather sparsely settled. Many Germans have located in the middle part. while the remainder is occupied by people from Georgia Most of these settlements have been made in the last s6 years.
 '.The winters are mild and the long summers are agreeably modified by the elevation. The annual ranIaii is apout 60 inches.
 ..rhe farms are generally small and nearly all are operated by the owners. The agricultural class constitutes all but about 5000 of the countys population. There are very few negroes.
 "Cullman. the county seat, is the chief market and distributing point. It is To- cated on the Louisville and Nashville railroad. which crosses the area from north to south.
 .sCotton and corn are the principal crops. The former Is the money crop" with practically all the farms located some miles from the railroad. Near Cull- man strawberries and sweet potatoes are raised in large quantities. In this sec ton the general farming is also more di- versified than in tho eastern and western portions.
 ..The price of improved land ranges from $lo an acre in the extreme southern and western parts of tho county to 50 an acre near Cullman. Uncleared land, suit able for farming. ranges in value from s to S2o an acre.
 Most of the area is in tho earlier stage of agricultural development. Much land is now being cleared and improv- ments of many kinds are in progress. Ex-
 f4lo ,i,k f~.. S1< able production of pork. poultry and dairy products. Very little attention Is given to stock raising.
 'sThe soils are residual, being derived chiefly from sandstones and non-calcar- eous shales. The average depth Is perhaps five feet, rock or shaie usually occur ring at about that depth. Besides some areas of rough. stony land. 10 soil types were encountered. The Dekalb and Hanceville soils are upland types. while the Huntington types are alluvial soils of limited areal extent.
 "The DeKalb stony loam occurs along the streams Very little of 1t is under cultivation,
 sThe DeKalb fine. sandy loam and loam are associated types, having an extensive development in this area. Both are we'll adapted to cotton. potatoes. berries and a great variety of forage crops. The loam is the more desirable for general farming, where corn. oats and grass may be made the principal crops.
 'The DeKalb shale ioam is a heavy type covering much broken land in the south. ern part of the county. In the little val leys some very desirable farm land is found which produces good crops of cot ton and corn.
 'sThe Hanceville loam. a heavy dark. reddish-brown soil is generally superior to the DeKalb soils in agricultural value.
 ''The small areas of bottom and terrace lands in the southern part of the county are essentially local types. The Hunting ton soils are valuable for corn, to which they are generally planted. The fine sandy loam affords some excellent land for trucking but the distance from mar kets prevents it's profitable use for this purpose"