Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1911 edition. Excerpt:...extensive. The types are found from New York southward to Alabama. Table LXXXIV.--Area and distribution of the shale loams. 1 For kpy to numbers In this column, see p. 253. Dekalb shale loam.--The soil has an average depth of 8 inches and consists of a brown to yellowish loam or clay loam. The subsoil is a yellowish or sometimes slightly reddish clay loam, increasing in clay content with depth and grading into stiff clay resting upon a mass of broken shale fragments at depths rarely exceeding 24 inches. On the surface and throughout the soil and subsoil are scattered varying quantities of weathered shale fragments, the content usually increasing with depth. The surface features consist of smooth rounded knobs and ridges with narrow intervening valleys. The type is derived from sandy to argillaceous and more or less calcareous shales. The soil is heavy and droughty and is best adapted to grain and grass crops. Conasauga shale loam.--The soil to a depth of 6 to 9 inches is a gray to brownish silt loam, or very fine sandy loam, containing numerous shaly sandstone and soft shale fragments. The subsoil varies from a yellowish heavy silt loam to a light-brown silty clay. Its shale content increases with depth and the material gradually passes into solid rock. In numerous small areas both the soil and subsoil are little else than a mass of soft shale varying from green to yellowish brown in color. The type occupies broken, hilly, and mountainous areas. It is derived from calcareous and very fine grained sandy shales, interstratified with thin layers of sandstone. The greater part of the type is forested with pine, chestnut, and oak. Small areas are cultivated in corn which is the principal crop. The soil should be used for fruit growing....