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24 FIELD OPERATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF SOILS, 1917.
nearly flat. Where the loam occurs in association with the clay loam
it generally occupies slightly higher land. It is developed in the
broad, shallow depressions of the plain and in small, roughly circular
areas around the dry lakes.
Probably 10 per cent of the type is under cultivation. All the
staple crops are grown and the yields obtained are about the average
for the county. The virgin soil supports a thick growth of the common
pasture grasses and has a high grazing value.
This type is intermediate in tillage requirements between the Richfield
clay loam and fine sandy loam. It can be maintained in good
tilth with a little less labor than the clay loam and is not as likely
to drift as the fine sandy loam. Blue weed is probably a little more
abundant at present than on the lighter-textured soil.
RICHFIELD CLAY LOAM.
The Richfield clay loam consists of a dark to very dark brown
sandy clay loam or loam to fine sandy loam, underlain at 2 to 5
inches by brown or dark-brown clay loam, and at 7 or 8 inches by
chocolate-brown to dark-brown clay, which in turn passes at 24 to
30 inches into light-brown or yellowish-brown, calcareous clay. This
in the lower part of the 3-foot section often contains whitish, chalky
material. In places chocolate-brown spots are closely associated with
the dark-brown soil, giving some fields a spotted appearance.
Whitish, soft, impure lime rock or soft, grayish clay is encountered
at depths of 3 to 4 feet. There is generally an absence of reddish
color in the 3-foot section, but on much of the flat, higher-lying land
a chocolate color or very dark reddish brown shade appears in the
subsoil.
Part of the type as mapped consists of 3 to 5 inches of brown,
heavy fine sandy loam, underlain by brown, heavy clay loam or clay.
The soil here works up into a fine sandy clay loam. In some of these
areas the lower subsoil is yellowish brown, lacking the typical lightbrown
or grayish color.
The largest uniform areas of this type lie in the northeastern part
of the county. They are very irregular in outline, owing to their
intimate association with other types of the Richfield and Amarillo
series, and there is probably not a single section of land composed
entirely of this type. Small bodies, usually roughly circular or oval
tracts surrounding lakes or areas of Randall clay, are widely distributed
over the county.
The surface on the whole is more nearly level than that of other
types of the Richfield or Amarillo series. The Richfield clay loam
has been found in two slightly different topographic positions, viz..
on the flatter land on the higher parts of the plain, in which situation
there is very little difference in topography from the Amarillo