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510 FIELD OPERATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF SOILS, 1922
The Abilene silty clay loam occurs in a few small areas in Dickens
County. The larger bodies are those about 6 miles east of Dickens.
A few areas lie several miles northeast and east of Spur.
The type is characteristically flat. It occupies shallow basinlike
areas, slightly lower than the surface of the surrounding soils.
Therefore the natural surface drainage is very poor and water runs
off either very slowly or remains until absorbed by the soil. In places
small, shallow lake beds, consisting of Randall clay, lie within this
type. These receive some drainage water from the adjacent slightly
higher land. The subsoil holds considerable water, and the soil is
fairly resistant to dry conditions, though not so resistant as the sandy
soils. Many small draws or gullies, the heads of intermittent
streams, head in areas of this type.
This is a rather productive soil, and is used for the important
crops of the region. It is handled in about the same way as the
Abilene clay loam. Plate XI, figure 2, shows a crop of feterita on
the Abilene silty clay loam.
AMARILLO SILTY CLAY LOAM
The Amarillo silty clay loam is a dark reddish brown heavy silty
clay loam, 4 to 8 inches deep, overlying dark reddish brown or dark
brownish red, heavy clay, which passes at depths of about 20 to 28
inches into salmon-colored, calcareous clay. At depths of 3 feet
or more it rests upon a pink or salmon-colored clay-chalk layer of
caliche, which grades at about 5 feet into cream-colored, white, and
pale salmon colored, soft, limy material. The soil and upper subsoil
are not sufficiently high in lime carbonate to effervesce with
hydrochloric acid.
The Amarillo silty clay loam occupies fairly large areas in the
northwestern part of the county on the high plains. Westward
from here it occurs in very large areas all the way to the New Mexico
line. McAdoo, a village in the northwestern part of the county,
is surrounded by the main areas of the type in Dickens County.
The surface is level to gently undulating. Some areas adjacent to
lake beds are gently sloping to quite sloping for short distances.
The run-off is slow and water stands over much of the land after
rains. The soil is penetrable and the water escapes'by passing into
the subsoil.
The Amarillo silty clay loam is a very desirable soil for agriculture,
and probably 85 per cent of it in the county is in cultivation.
Where not cultivated it has a heavy growth of short grasses, mainly
buffalo grass (Bulbilis dactyloides), some of the grama grasses
(Bouteloua sp.), and others.
The principal crops are cotton, grain sorghums (milo principally),
wheat, and sorgo. The yields in good seasons are approximately as
follows: Cotton one-half to three-fourths bale, milo 25 to 50 bushels,
and wheat 15 to 25 bushels. In dry seasons the yields are lower, and
in seasons of more than normal rainfall much larger returns are
obtained. Garden vegetables and fruit trees do well.
The soil has a light, friable tilth under cultivation. It does not
drift badly in the heavy spring winds, retains moisture well, and
where given reasonably good cultivation is quite resistant to drought.