subsoil with layers or pockets of sand. This soil has been
cultivated for upward of two hundred years, but it is now little
valued and is covered with oak and pine over much of its area. It is
worth from $1 to $3 per acre. The cultivated areas produce small
crops of corn, wheat, and an inferior grade of tobacco.'"

"The generally low estimation in which this land is held is probably
wholly unjustified," replied the Chief. "There are two or three
farms in the area which, under a high state of cultivation with
intelligent methods, will produce from twenty to thirty bushels of
wheat per acre and corresponding crops of corn. Those farmers are a
credit to the country. They furnish the towns with good milk and
butter and vegetables, and they also help to keep the towns clean
and sanitary by hauling out the animal excrements, and other waste
and garbage that tend to pollute the air and water of the village."

"I can see how that might maintain the fertility of those farms,"
said Percy. "It seems that the general condition of this kind of
land is about the same in Prince George County. On page 45 of the
1901 Report of the Field Operations of the Bureau of Soils, I have
noted the following statement:

"'The Leonardtown loam, covering 45,770 acres of the area, is the
nearest approach among the Maryland Coastal Plain Soils to the heavy
clays of the limestone regions of Western Maryland and Pennsylvania.
The surface is generally level and the drainage fair. The soil is
not adapted to tobacco, and has consequently been allowed to grow up
to scrub forest, so that large portions of it are at present
uncleared. Such unimproved lands can be bought for $1.50 to $5.00 an
acre, even within a few miles of the District line. The soil has