The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-02-09
SOIL SURVEY OF
MADISON COUNTY
Will Soon Be Issued by the
Bureau of Soils
GOES INTO DETAILS
Soil Map Accompanying Report viii
Also Show Location of All Farm
Houses, Schools, Streams
and Public Roads

Washington. February So (SpeciaL)---.
The report on the soil survey of Mad
ison county, Alabama, made by experts
from the bureau of soils, United states
department of agriculture in co-opera-
lion with the Alabama department OF
agriculture and industries, will soon be
issued by the United States department
Of agriculture.
This report will describe in detail each
of the IS different types of soil found in
the county, their value and future pros
poets for agricultural purposes, what
crops are best suited to each type OF
soil, and will contain recommendations
for their improvement.
The soil map, which win accompany the
report, will show the location and extent
Of each type of soil in colors and also
the location of all farmhouses, churches,
schools, streams, public roads, and rail-
roads in the COUNTY
According to the report Madison county
las an area of 500 square miles, or $1,000
acres. The topography varies greatly, in
cuding knobs and spurs Of the Cum
berland mountains and broad rolling val
leys of the Tennessee river and tribu-
taries. There is network OF good
highways reaching all parts Of the county
and transportation facilities by rail are
good. The climate is characterized by
short winters and long, generally pleas
ant summers. The rainfall is ample for
crop growth and is well distributed
throughout the year.
Large Area Is Farmed
M. g.. 80 tba
county is devoted to farming, about u
percent of which is operated by tenants.
Corn and cotton are the most important
crops, supplemented by wheat, hay, mil
let oats, vegetables, sorghum, sweet po-
tatoes. fruit. nursery stock, red clover.
peanuts, rye. and alfalfa, named in the
order of their importance, corn being
the most important crop occupying about
I6 per cent of the cultivated lands,
and cotton about 81 per cent
No general system Of crop rotation is
practced cotton or corn being grown for
years on the same field. Sometimes cot
ton and corn are alternated every three
Years. A less common practice Is to fol-
low the corn with oats or wheat and
Wheh the grain has been removed the
following summer to SOW peas, which are
cut for hay or grazed down by livestock
the land being put IN cotton the fol-
loving spring. ~ better system would
be to plant cowpeas or peanuts between
the rows of corn just before the last
cultivation states the report, and SOW
yetch and rye, oats and rye. or crimson
clover III the fall between the rows
of cotton. A cover crop of oats wheat
rye, or barley, to be used as pasturage,
should follow the removal Of cowpeas as
the third step in the rotation"
.srhe essentials foi@the Development and
maintenance Of 11roductiveress in local
fields continues the report, consist of
Il more thorough preparation OF the seed
bed, the Incorporation of a good supply
of organic matter, the growing of win
ter cover crops, and systematic crop
rotation, including particularly the le-
gunes.
Deeper Flowing Needed
Most of the blowing done in Mad
ison county ranges in depth from 3 to 10
inches, the average being about i've
inches. The depth should not be less than
eight inches nor more than 10 inches for
cultivated crops. and it should be at
tanned gradually, as the turning up of
large quantities of unweathered subsoli
Is detrimental 10 crops for a tine.'
IN regard to two of the more important
soil types found in the county, the
report says in part as follows: A
sihai pdtches OF forest consisting OF
red, black, and white oak hickory, black
walnut, and poplar, remnants of the ori-
ginai timber growth, are still encoun-
tered on the Decatur silty clay loan, but |
nearly all Of the type is under culti- |
walton as 1t is a valuable agricultural
soil. The crops are cotton, corn, oats,
wheat nlilet, sorghum ana cowpeas.
Cotton Yields from one-half to one bale
per acre corn So to SO bushels, oats 40
to 60 bushels, wheat, 90 to so bushels cow
peas hay one to two and one-half tons,
lnillet hay one to two tons, and sorg-
hum for SYRUP from 100 to $50 gallons per
acre. All grasses do well, but trouble
is experienced in getting a good stand
of red clover. No systematic rotation of