Soil survey of Hunt County, Texas Page: 33 of 60
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SOIL SURVEY OF HUNT COUNTY, TEXAS 31
the total area is cultivated. Cotton occupies about three-fifths of the
cultivated land, and oats and sorgo, most of the rest. The average
yields are about 70 pounds of lint cotton, 15 bushels of oats, and
1 ton of sorgo forage to the acre.
LIGHT-COLORED SANDY SOILS
The group of light-colored sandy soils comprises soils with paleyellow
or light-gray moderately acid sandy surface soils that, for
the most part, are underlain by acid plastic clay subsoils. These are
Kirvin fine sandy loam, Tabor fine sandy loam, Tabor loamy fine
sand, Bowie loamy fine sand, and Lufkin very fine sandy loam, mound
phase. The forest which originally covered this land consisted principally
of rather small post and blackjack oaks, together with some
hickory and very little underbrush. Much of this growth remains
in uncleared areas. Leaching is more thorough and the content of
available plant nutrients and organic matter is smaller in these soils
than in either the heavy-textured or the medium-textured soils of
the prairies.
In virgin areas a 1/2
to 1-inch layer of forest leaves directly overlies
the mineral soil. The material in the upper 2 inches of mineral
soil is stained brown or grayish brown by a slight accumulation
of organic matter, and it is less acid than the rest of the surface
soil. With cultivation the identity of both these layers is quickly
destroyed.
The soils are too acid for the successful growth of such legumes
as alfalfa and sweetclover. Although liming might prove beneficial
to some legumes, it probably would not increase the yields of such
crops as cotton and corn. The acidity, expressed as the pH value,
of the surface soil below the thin brown surface layer ranges from
4.5 to 5.5 and is commonly about 5. The upper part of the subsoil
is slightly more acid than the sandy surface soil, the acidity of the
subsoil gradually decreases with depth, and the reaction becomes
neutral at a depth ranging from 3 to 6 feet. None of the soil layers
is calcareous. The parent materials are noncalcareous marine deposits
of sands and sandy clays.
These soils and many others of similar characteristics occur extensively
in the timbered country of eastern Texas. In general, their
productivity is low, and only a small proportion of the land is cultivated.
These soils support, as a rule, a less intensive and less prosperous
agriculture than do the prairie soils. When first placed in
cultivation they produce fair yields for a few years, but their productivity
drops rapidly unless the plant nutrients are replenished
by fertilizers or manures. They are adapted to a somewhat different
type of agriculture than are the soils of the preceding two
groups. They are better suited to the growing of vegetables and
fruits than are those soils, and they require more careful management
than do those soils, in order to produce good yields. Much
of the land probably could be utilized to better advantage for pasture
than for cultivated crops. The growth of pasture grasses can
be increased greatly through the control of brush and weeds and
by the establishment of better forage plants. Possibly due to climatic-conditions,
trees do not grow large on these soils in this county,
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Templin, E. H. (Edward Henry) & Marshall, R. M. (Richard Moon). Soil survey of Hunt County, Texas, book, February 1939; [Washington D.C.]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth19778/m1/33/?q=tex-land: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.