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SOIL SURVEY OF DICKENS COUNTY, TEXAS 495
as soon as on the clay loam, and if continued drought prevails, the
type produces better than the clay loam. The soil is well suited
to the production of vegetables and berries and other small fruits.
Among the tree fruits peaches and plums are most successful.
The land is handled in about the same way as the Vernon clay
loam. Great care should be exercised to prevent erosion. Terracing
and contour plowing should be employed, and organic matter added
by plowing under green crops, such as cowpeas. The present price of
the land is about $30 to $40 an acre.
Vernon very fine sandy loam, broken phase.-Large areas of the
Vernon very fine sandy loam are so eroded and gullied that it is
not suitable for agriculture. There are many small areas, constituting
altogether probably 50 per cent at least of the total area,
that are good smooth land, but the individual bodies are too small
to be utilized for farming. On the other hand, the surface is not
nearly so rough as that of the Rough broken and stony land. About
one-fourth to one-half of these areas, however, do consist of rough
broken land in the form of gullies and canyons. Therefore, the term
broken phase is used to indicate areas where the Vernon very fine
sandy loam and the rough broken and stony land are so intricately
mixed as to prevent separation on the map.
This land occurs in rather large areas in the eastern and southeastern
parts of the county, in the vicinity of the Pitchfork Ranch
and Newmans Ranch.
There are three rough classes of this land: (1) Smoothly rolling
large areas cut by numerous short dry stream beds with many tributaries,
small canyons or gullies making up 25 to 50 per cent of the
surface; (2) the very steep, hilly areas, which, while not rough, are
too steep for cultivation except in mere patches; and (3) the narrow
divides between the canyons occurring through the areas of Rough
broken and stony land. The last has a generally smooth surface, but
is badly eroded, and includes small hillocks and slopes bare of vegetation
except for stunted cedars and small patches of broom grass,
sedge grass, grama grass, a few mesquite trees, and cat's-claw. On
these divides there is considerable outcropping of gypsum beds and
many small plateaus occur, covering in places as much as several
acres, that have a surface consisting mainly of a bed of soft gypsum
1 or 2 feet thick.
Although the broken phase of the Vernon very fine sandy loam is
not suitable for cultivation, it is very good for cattle ranching, and is
utilized for that purpose. The many eroded and gullied areas offer
protection to cattle in winter and the grasses supply good pasturage.
The water, while containing some gypsum, is good for stock and is
obtained in sufficient quantities from wells by pumping with windmills.
VERNON LOAM
The Vernon loam consists of about 8 to 12 inches of purplish-red,
mellow loam, underlain by purplish-red or light purplish red loam,
clay loam, or clay, extending to depths of 36 inches or more and containing
some hard lime accretions. Usually both soil and subsoil
are calcareous. Although baking rather hard when dry, the soil
breaks down into fine granules. In places there is a relatively large
percentage of very fine sand in the soil and subsoil. Locally the