304 THE SMALL GRAINS 



SOIL TREATMENT 



328. Soils. The best soil for cereals is some kind of 

 loam, silt loam, clay loam, or clay, with considerable 

 humus and a compact subsoil. Sandy loams may give 

 fair results, but are better for corn, sorghums, and legumes. 

 Good examples of cereal soils are the Hagerstown loam 

 and the Clarksville silt loam. Rye and oats require 

 more water than wheat or barley (280, 281), but also will 

 give better returns on a poor soil. Rye will do better 

 on sandy soils and apparently withstand a larger per- 

 centage of acid in soils than the other cereals. 



329. Topography and drainage. For proper drain- 

 age, the land should be slightly rolling. Low, heavy, 

 undrained clay soils are very unfit for small cereals. Win- 

 ter cereals are much more easily winterkilled in low wet 

 lands because of alternate freezing and thawing, resulting 

 in heaving of the soil. In low lands there is greater 

 trouble from lodging, and cereal diseases are more com- 

 mon because of the moisture. Good drainage of low heavy 

 soil is therefore of great importance. The greater the 

 proportion of humus, the better the drainage. In certain 

 silt loam soils having subsoils almost impervious to water, 

 tiling for drainage is advisable. Instances are known 

 where tiling has increased the crop yield nearly 100 per 

 cent. 



330. Soil erosion is sometimes serious in the Eastern 

 area. It is produced by water flowing over the soil 

 surface, and is of two general types : (1) Sheet erosion 

 and (2) gully erosion. The second type develops where, 

 because of depressions, the water runs off in streams, 

 making gulches of great depth and nearly vertical sides. 

 It is extremely difficult to check, and ruins the land 



