202 Proceedings of Indiana Academy of Science. 
GENESEE FINE SANDY LOAM. 
Characteristics.—The Genesee fine sandy loam consists of a variable 
light brown to dark brown medium heavy fine sandy loam ranging from 
ten to twenty inches deep. 
The subsoil has about the same texture, but usually of a lighter 
color. There are in places local variations from the typical Genesee, 
due to the variations of the flow of the depositing water. Sand and 
silt areas are due to erosion and depositing by the overflow waters. 
It is subject to frequent or annual overflow. 
The Genesee forms the flood plains of all the streams. Some of the 
areas mapped as Genesee are the same as those usually called meadow 
land. The two were not separated. The boundary between the Clyde 
series and the Genesee series is not distinct. Since the Genesee fine 
sandy loam is an alluvial soil, it varies in short distances, owing to the 
changes in the current of the streams at various flood stages. Near 
the streams and across the sharper bends, where the currents were 
sharp, the coarser particles were deposited, and in many cases the soil 
has a large proportion of coarse sand. Near the larger bends, or where 
the water found settling basins, where the water was less turbulent, 
the finer material was deposited, giving rise to the heavier and more 
silty type, usually of a darker color. Mixture of the fine clay or silty 
material with the right proportion of sand is the basis of the Genesee 
fine sandy loam. 
Agricultural Conditions—The bottoms are flooded annually, or 
oftener, and in places are cut by smaller streams and branches tributary 
to the main stream. The drainage is usually good and the land dries 
rapidly after a rain. It is a soil that is friable, easy to till, and, where 
protected from overflow, is admirably adapted to corn, oats, clover or 
timothy. A great deal of the rougher land is in pasture. 
The fertility of the Genesee fine sandy loam is renewed each time 
it is flooded by high water, making the growing of leguminous crops of 
less importance. Thorough cultivation is necessary to keep down the 
large number of weeds springing up from the seed brought in by high 
water. 
The flood of 1913 took off all the top layer of soil of a field along 
the Wabash River. It was planted in corn that year and yielded ten 
bushels to the acre. Oats made ten bushels per acre the next year, but 
a good stand of clover was obtained. Two years later the field yielded 
eighty bushels of corn per acre. This goes to show the vital importance 
of clover on river-bottom land. 
