12 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



the adoption of a proper crop rotation the yields of flax may be main- 

 tained at a profitable point for a considerable length of time. 



Sugar beets are successfully grown upon the Carrington loam in 

 some of the southern Minnesota locations, with yields of 8 to 10 tons 

 per acre. The beets show a high percentage of sugar and a high 

 index of purity. 



Irish potatoes have been little grown upon the Carrington loam 

 except for home use or in a few scattered locations for sale. The 

 crop is deserving of far greater attention than has usually been given 

 it in connection with the cultivation of this type. Especially in the 

 more northern areas in Minnesota and North Dakota, where rainfall 

 is sufficient, the potato would prove an excellent money crop to be 

 grown in rotation with grain and grass. In these more northern 

 localities the extensive production of corn is hardly desirable, but the 

 adoption of a rational crop rotation will require the growing of an 

 intertilled crop, and for this purpose Irish potatoes could scarcely be 

 excelled. Upon the small areas already devoted to this crop the 

 yields are excellent, ranging from 150 to 200 bushels per acre of 

 smooth marketable tubers of high quality. With proper attention 

 to the selection of varieties suited to more northern locations, potatoes 

 should become a valuable commercial crop upon the Carrington loam, 

 and one well suited to take its place in a standard rotation upon this 

 type for Minnesota and North Dakota localities. 



In the extreme western regions of its development the rainfall con- 

 ditions attendant upon the Carrington loam are such that many of 

 the ordinary farm crops may not be produced with security. In 

 more northern locations recourse must be had to the production of 

 durum wheat and the growing of emmer and millet for forage pur- 

 poses. In more southern localities, as in Nebraska, Kafir corn may 

 also be produced to advantage. 



It is thus seen that the Carrington loam, owing to the wide extent 

 of its distribution and the attendant variations in its climatic sur- 

 roundings, is not only suited to the production of quite a variety of 

 different crops, but also requires the selection of different groups of 

 crops, in order to establish a necessary and rational crop rotation in 

 the different localities where it occurs. For the more southern and 

 eastern sections the growing of corn for one or two years, to be fol- 

 lowed by a crop of oats, and this by the production of grass for two 

 years will constitute an excellent standard crop rotation. In the 

 more northern regions where the rainfall is adequate and the climate 

 is not too severe the growing of corn followed by spring wheat fc 

 one or two years, to be followed by grass, will constitute a gc 

 rotation. In other cases a division of the acreage devoted to tillt 

 crops between corn and potatoes will probably be more satisfactoi 



