SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X. 563 



can be carried on only at a disadvantage. An adequate drainage system 

 is rapidly being secured by the energetic farmers of the region, who are 

 putting in thousands of miles of tiles each year. The ponds are being 

 emptied of their water and the areas covered by them brought under the 

 plow. The time will speedily come when this entire area will be as 

 perfectly drained as are the older settled sections of Illinois. 



As fast as these ponds are drained, however, another nuisance of a 

 totally different character frequenth' develops in their place. This is 

 signaled by the appearance of so-called "alkali spot," which appear as a 

 white efflorescence in a band of greater or smaller width around the 

 margin of the former slough. Wherever this is noticeable, corn makes a 

 -stunted growth and frequently yields nothing. The farmer who has gone 

 to the trouble and expense of tiling out a swale is frequently annoyed 

 by the appearance of this new and unexpected trouble. Alkali spots cause 

 very much less trouble than ponds, and their probable appearance should 

 in nowise deter the farmer from draining such places. Another diffi- 

 culty yet to be overcome is met in the small areas of peat which are 

 found in the flatter regions. The man who desires to buy land in this 

 section of the state should give special attention to the alkali, peat and 

 drainage problems. 



The lowan drift area lying east of the Wisconsin and covering all or 

 part of the counties of Worth, Mitchell, Howard, Cerro Gordo, Floyd, 

 Chickasaw, Winneshiek, Franklin, Butler, Bremer, Fayette, Clayton, Har- 

 din, Grundy, Blackhawk, Buchanan, Delaware, Clinton, Cedar, Jones, Linn, 

 Benton, Tama, Johnson, Poweshiek, and Marshall, is older than that of 

 the Wisconsin. A great many of the swales left by the melted ice have 

 been filled up or drained out by natural processes, and natural drainage 

 lines are being developed. The excess rainfall has much greater oppor- 

 tunity of flowing away of its own accord than is the case in the area to 

 the west; this of itself would serve to distinguish the two areas. But 

 the most obvious characteristic of the lowan till is the enormous size of 

 the granite boulders it contains. The boulders of the Wisconsin till are 

 mere pebbles in comparison. These large ones are not sufficiently numer- 

 ous to interfere seriously with tillage. 



The soils of this belt do not differ very much from those of the Wis- 

 consin; peat bogs and alkali are very much rarer. Because of better 

 drainage, there are localities where leaching has been active. Such are 

 usually deficient in lime and much below the normal in productiveness. 

 With the exception of the small pieces just referred to, the soil is fertile 

 and well adapted to all crops grown in the state. 



The Missouri loess is found throughout the area covered in whole or in 

 part by the counties of Lyon, Osceola, O'Brien, Sioux, Plymouth, Chero- 

 kee, Buena Vista, Sac, Ida, Woodbury, Monona, Crawford, Carroll, Guthrie, 

 Audubon, Shelby, Harrison, Pottawattamie, Cass, Adair, Adams, Montgom- 

 ery, Mills, Fremont, Page, and Taylor. The loess is the only surface 

 material throughout this region, except on bottom lands and steep slopes. 

 It has been washed from the latter, exposing the glacial till. 



The loess in. this area is of a less clayey nature than in other parts of 

 the state. The soil of the loess has no true subsoil; the seed-bed of the 

 farmer is merely the upper part of the deposit more or less darkened by 



