492" 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



SOILS ■ 



The soils from this region are mainly those derived from glacial deposits. 

 The reworking by water and wind, weathering and plant growth have changed 

 the soils to a great extent. The surface soils are usually friable and well 

 supplied with organic matter. The sandy areas are probably shore lines of 

 ancient lakes but they have been reworked by both wind and water until 

 all semblance of beach lines is now gone. 



TABLE 1.— EXTENT OF DIFFERENT SOILS. 



Soil. 



Clay loam 



Silt loam 



Brown sand 



Sandy loam 



Fine sandy loam 



Sandy loam on gravelly subsoil 

 River flood plains 



The underlying rock is limestone and varies from 10 to 300 feet from the 

 surface. Where the limestone approaches the surface it is removed and used 

 for agricultural lime, for road building and for other purposes. Between 

 Detroit and Rockwood the rock lies near the surface and here large stone 

 industries are established. 



DEAVY SOILS 



CLAY LOAM 



Extent of Type: 



This soil type is rather limited in extent covering approximately 10 per 

 cent of the area. It includes the "black swamp" region so well known to the 

 Indians and early settlers. It is most extensive in Lenawee county covering 

 parts of Fairfield, Ogden, Riga and Deerfield townships. Whitford, Summer- 

 field, Bedford and Erie townships in Monroe county, and Ecorse and Mon- 

 guagon in Wayne county also have limited areas of this valuable soil. 



Topography and Variations in Type: 



The topography of the clay loam is level to slightly undualting. There 

 probably is no other area of this extent in Michigan which presents such a 

 fiat surface feature. 



The area is quite uniform in type yet the slight changes in topography are 

 invariably followed by a change of type or variations in the same type. The 

 lower lands contain a clay soil high in organic matter which makes them 

 quite friable. The knolls are composed of much Hghter soil than the level 

 land and could correctly be classed as loam, however, the extent of these two 

 variations in type is quite small and therefore they have not been isolated 

 on the accompanying soil map. 



