How good are Delaware soils?
NEWARK, Del - Though
today’s farmers use $50,000
tractors instead of forked
' sticks, they still rely on the
age-old agricultural basics
sun, water and soil.
To average city per
son, soil may be just dirt, but
to Delaware Extension soils
specialist Leo Cotnoir, Jr.
soils are complex bodies
with many interrelated
chemical, physical and
biological properties.
Just how good are
Delaware soils? According
to the specialist, three soil
properties are useful guides
to the overall nature of the
soils in the state :~surface
texture, drainage, and
moisture-holding capacity.
, The soil surface is im
portant because it’s the part
of the soil in which most of
the plant'roots grow, and the
part which farmers work
and treat with lime and
fertilizer. Furthermore, in
Delaware surface texture is"
usually a fairly good in
dicator of the underlying soil
horizons which may be
important to plant growth.
Two-thirds of Delaware
soils are sandy, including
almost all soils in Sussex
County. New Castle County
soils are primarily loam or
silt loams, while Kent
County, m between, is split
almost equally between
sandy and loamy soils.
Almost one-third of
Delaware soils need ar
tificial drainage. Poor
drainage in the state is
largely the result of high
water tables due to low-lying
topography. Most of the
state’s poorly drained soils
can easily be drained by
lowering the water table.
This is largely a matter of
providing outlets for field
drains, which requires
region-wide or watershed
wide programs.
New Castle County soils
are mostly well drained, and
Kent County soils are
divided fairly evenly bet
ween those that are well
drained and those that are
poorly drained. In Sussex
County, about one-third of
the soils need artificial
drainage, while another
third are excessively
drained-
Perhaps the most common
limiting factor to crop
production in Delaware is
water. The water which is
available to plants for crop
growth depends on the
amount of rainfall and the
ability of the soil to retain
water.
Delaware soils are about
equally divided between
those with high, medium and
low moisture-holding
capacity. New Castle and
Kent County soils have
mostly high or medium
water-holding capacity, half
have medium.
Another way of looking at
the state’s soils is with the
Land Use Capability
Classification system, which
had been used extensively m
the United States for over 30
years. In this system, soils
are rated m eight classes
and three subclases on the
basis of potential hazards to
land use and crop produc
tion. Class I land is suitable
to all cultivated crops with
few or no limitations or
restrictions. Soils in Classes
II to VIII have increasingly
serious hazards to crop
production, with Class VIII
soils being unsuited for any
agriculture. The subclasses
indicate the nature of the
hazard, such as erosion
(subclass e), poor drainage
(subclass w), or excessively
sandy, droughty soils
(subclass s).
Only nine percent of the
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 31,1979
state’s soil acreage is con
sidered Class I, of which 11
per cent is found in New
Castle County, 39 per cent in
Kent County and 50 per cent
in Sussex County. But fully
85 per cent of the state’s
acreage is in Classes I to IV
and suitable for cultivation.
Most of 'the land;
falls into Class II (requiring
moderate limitations on use
that reduce choice of plants
or that require moderate
conservation practices) or
Class 111 (severe limitations
on use that - reduce choice of
plants, require Very careful
management or both).
Eighteen per cent of the
state’s sod acreage is in
subclass e, 20 per cent in
subclass s, and almost half
in subclass w.
In general, Cotnoir says,
Delaware soils are easily
worked and can be used for
the production of any crop
for which there is a demand
and an adequate financial
return. From the point of
view of soil fertility, all
Delaware soils need lime
and fertilizer. These,
however, are easily and
economically applied.
Furthermore, the utilization
of applied fertilizers on
Delaware soils is generally
high.
Water is the most im
portant factor in using
Delware soils, either too
much or not enough, often on
the same soils. That is, many
acres of Delaware soils can’t
produce competitive and
profitable yields of crops
such as cora without ad
ditional water applied as
irrigation. By the same
token, many acres of
Delaware soils are too
poorly drained for
satisfactory cropping
without artificial drainage.
Many of the soils which have
excess water in the spring
and which must be ar
tificially drained lack
adequate water in the
Summer and require
irrigation for optimum
yields.
According to Cotnoir, it’s
likely that the agricultural
future of the state rests
largely on our ability to solve
the water management
problem. Water
management isn’t only a
matter of drainage or
irrigation, he says, but a
total program which in
cludes efficiency in the
removal, delivery and use of
water.
. Sheep
meeting set
LANCASTER - Dr. Clair
E. Engle, Penn State Ex
tension sheep specialists will
speak on sheep
management, feeding, lamb
care and other related
subjects on April 2,8 p.m. at
the Farm and Home Center,
Lancaster.
All interested persons are
welcome to attend.
Songwriters say it’s
“raining violets” in the
springtime. According to the
April Reader’s Digest, other
names for rain vary
depending on geography.
Here are a few: dam-buster
(Alabama), leak-finder
(Wisconsin), stump-washer
(South Carolina) and tree
bender (Massachusetts).
UNIFORM
CHOICE
, Solid comfort for men
who work on their feet
all day.
* Sizes 5-18
Widths AAA-EEEE
'Not all sizes in alt widths
RED larfggrl
WING r I
BOOKS
SHOE SERVICE
107 E. STATE ST.
QUARRYVILLE, PA 17566
717-786-2795
17