SOIL SURVEY OF PERSON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA 29

clover or cowpeas. Wheat receives from 200 to 300 pounds an acre of 2-8-2 or 0-10-6 fertilizer.

Davidson clay loam is well suited to wheat, oats, corn, clover, alfalfa, and grasses and is naturally one of the strongest soils in the county. It is considered a choice alfalfa, clover, and wheat soil in other parts of the State. Deeper plowing and the incorporation of organic matter would improve the land.

MECKLENBURG LOAM

The surface soil of Mecklenburg loam consists of a 6 or 8 inch layer of brown loam which in forested areas is covered by a thin layer of brown leaf mold. The subsoil to a depth ranging from 18 to 80 inches is reddish-brown heavy stiff and slightly plastic clay which is underlain by ocherous-yellow, mottled with reddish brown, heavy plastic clay. Beneath the subsoil is ocherous-yellow, streaked with black, soft decomposed diorite rock. In cultivated fields the surface soil is brown or reddish brown when dry and is darker when wet. Locally small rounded ironstone concretions are present in the soil and fragments of the underlying rock are scattered over the surface.

Mecklenburg loam occurs in a few comparatively small bodies mainly in the western and southwestern parts of the county, the largest areas being north and east of Hurdle Mills, near Whitfields Store, southwest of Salem Church, and west of Concord Church.

This soil is developed on smooth interstream country and on slopes to drainage ways. The areas are undulating, gently rolling, or rolling, and drainage is good.

About 60 per cent of the land is in cultivation, and the remainder is in forest consisting of white, post, and red oaks, shortleaf pine, and a few hickory, dogwood, and cedar. Some abandoned fields sup- port a growth of old-field pine.

Corn and wheat are the principal crops, and the yields and fer- tilizer practices are about the same as for the same crops on Davidson clay loam.

CONGAREE LOAM

The surface soil of Congaree loam is brown loam to a depth of 12 or 15 inches. It passes into slightly lighter-brown silt loam or silty clay loam which extends to a depth of 80 or more inches. In places the lower part of the soil is mottled with gray or yellow. Included with this soil as mapped are narrow bands of Congaree fine sandy loam, most of which occur near the streams or as low ridges away from the streams. Some areas of Congaree silt loam are also in- cluded, the largest being west of Woodsdale on Marlowe Creek. The silt loam soil is brown and is slightly heavier in texture than the loam. Included also are a few narrow strips of soil, lying shghtly higher than the Congaree soil, in which the surface soil is grayish- yellow fine sandy loam and the subsoil is yellow friable fine sandy clay. These strips would have been mapped as Altavista fine sandy loam if they had been more extensive. Congaree loam in most places contains finely divided mica flakes through the soil and subsoil.

This soil is developed in the first bottoms along streams in the northern and northwestern parts of the county. It is an alluvial