Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1915-03-31
Soil Survey Of Rowan County
Maps WiIl Show Kind Of Soil, Roads,
Streams, Public Buildings and Houses.

Streams, Public Buildings and Houses.
Washington, March 28,-The
soil survey maps of Rowan Coun.
ty will soon be ready. for distribu.
tion. Senator Overman and Rep
resentative Doughson secured the
survey and w. E. Hearne, a North
Carolina expert In the Department
Of Agriculture, had charge of the
work. Interesting rusults will be
revealed by tie report of this
county.
The Bureau of Soils Of the De.
partment of Agriculture IN co.
operation with the North Carolina
Department of Agriculture work.
ed together on the survey of Row
an County, and the maps and Ie'
ports are now in the process of en-.
craving and printing.
Senator Overman and Congress.
man Doughton will have several
thousand copies of these publica-
tions for free distribution, not
only in the county but through
ont the State and the United
States. Recsntly the people of
the North and Northwest have
been looking to North Carolina as
q field bee ming with opportuni.
ties and wonderful possibilities for
future development.
An accurate map showing all
the roads, both public and pri-
vate, railroads, strea ms. towns,
school houses, churches, houses,
and all promint Mt and we'll known
places III she county, has bten
made on the c>nven.s,t scale OF
one inch to the mile. Upon this
map as a base the various types of
soil and the extent of each will be
shown in different colors, so that
q person can at glance ascertain
what kind of soil there is in any
portion of the &C unity without
travelling over it.
The report will consist Of from
30 to 40 printed pages and will
embrace specific data on the coun-
ty, its location, topographic tea-
tures, drainage conditions, trans
portatlon fscllitles, markets, eli
mate, agriculture, soils, crops to
which the soils are adapted, aud
the prevailing crops NV grown,
and in fact ev,rythlng bearing up.
on the agricultural developments
of the region.
The soils of Rowan County have
been derived through the process
of weathering and decay Of the un-
dsrlying rocks. The different
rock formatians have given rise to
various classes or types of s0i' !;
for example,, the smooth tex' ured
silly or foury like soils III the
eastern and southeastern parts of
the county are derived from the
fine grained slate rocks; the red
clay lands in the central and west
ern portions Of fhe county owe
their origin to tie d1sin' e. ation
and decomposition of the fine tex.
tured GRANTEES; the coarser textur.
ed surface soils of gray color.
underlaln by a red or yellow clay
subsoil are the resultant products
of the coarse grained granted and
gniesses. The strips of alluvial
soils developed in the first bottoms
along the streams represent the
finer materials which have beer
washed from the uplands and de-
posted by the streams during
heavy treshets and overdows
These soils are naturally rich and
when reclaimed, by canals and
literal bitches, and restored to 8
position suitable for agriculture
ultillzation will produce large
yields of corn and grasses.
Most of the upland soils of the
county sre strong and inherently
productive, and represent some o1
the best lanG encountered through
out the Piedmont region of thu
country. Much OF the soil deriv
ed from the GRANTEES is very higt
in potash. Some of these soilt
contain q sufficient amount o1
potash 30 produce large yields fol
100 years or more without the ad
dition of potash. Of course, fol
the production of such crops al
tobacco and potatoes, which re.
quire large amounts of potash, tn,
application of potash to thes'
opopo 10 rr,ftohlo Do,ok;oou,