rests and slopes of the Blue Ridge
and Short Hill mountains. It also occurs in smaller areas on the crest
and east slope of Catoctin Mountain.

On the Blue Ridge and Short Hills the De Kalb stony loam covers the
whole of the mountains, and here the physiography consists of long,
sharp, rock-crested ridges, with steep, rugged slopes and occasional
cliffs and huge ledges. There are occasional benches on the mountain
sides, and here there is an accumulation of two or three inches of a
black mold, resting on the broken sandstone fragments, and covered
with a growth of locust, oak, and berry vines.

Owing to the steep and rugged surface of this soil, together with its
stony character, superficial drainage is rapid and thorough, the water
rushing in torrents from the mountain slopes, while as a result of
the loose texture and the large number of stone fragments in the soil
the water passes rapidly through it, and there is never an excess of
moisture in the soil or subsoil.

On account of the steep and stony nature of the De Kalb stony loam
little of the type can possibly be cultivated. The soil is naturally a
very thin one, and is not capable of producing fair yields except in
its less stony phases.

The principal growth on the type is chestnut, oak, and some pine.
Probably 95 per cent of the type is uncultivated, and is valuable only
for the timber growth it supports. Where cultivated the average yields
per acre are as follows: Corn, from 10 to 20 bushels; wheat, from 6 to
10 bushels. Apples and especially peaches do fairly well on the
mountain phase where not too stony.

The greater part of the De Kalb stony loam is not adapted to
agricultural purposes at all, and it is not likely that the land will
ever be valuable except for forestry. It is locally termed "mountain
land," and is the poorest agricultural soil of the County.

_Porters Clay._

The Porters clay consists of from 6 to 12 inches of a brown or
reddish-brown loam, underlain by a heavy red loam or clay loam. The
type consists of fairly rough mountain land, and is very stony, having
from 15 to 60 percent of small and large schist fragments on the
surface, some of which are several feet in diameter. The soil is light
and easy to work wherever it is not so stony as to interfere with
cultivation.

This soil is a strictly mountain type and not of great extent. It
follows the crest and part of the east slope of the Blue Ridge
Mountains for several miles, ext