THE VOLTJSIA SILT LOAM. 5 



with respect to transportation and shipping points. Even where 

 the actual distance is not great there is frequently a long, steep 

 grade from the farm down to the main routes of transportation. 

 This limitation has affected the economic conditions and methods of 

 farming in the region occupied by this type. Only such farm prod- 

 ucts prove profitable as may be grown in a cold climate and easily 

 transported to market. 



In former times sheep growing and the production of beef cattle 

 constituted a considerable industry upon this soil, but competition 

 with western ranges reduced the profits and a system of grain and 

 hay growing as cash crops replaced the earlier dependence upon ani- 

 mal products. A decline in the productivity of the soil has frequently 

 accompanied the abandonment of animal feeding since the former 

 supplies of stable manure were no longer available. Even dairying 

 is not at all universal upon the Volusia silt loam, owing to the lack 

 of local facilities for the shipment of milk or for its manufacture 

 into butter or cheese. 



As a result of these limitations the profits derived from farming 

 the type have frequently declined seriously, and there has been a 

 general decrease in the rural population in many of the townships 

 where this soil is the dominant type. Scarcity of labor has resulted 

 in a tendency toward the aggregation of farm lands into large 

 holdings accompanied by the more extensive forms of cultivation 

 and a greater reliance upon farm machinery instead of hand labor. 

 The lands not so well suited to this form of occupation have re- 

 verted to pasture and large areas of the poorer pastures have grown 

 up to brush. 



Thus the topographic and climatic environment of the type has 

 tended to diminish the intensiveness of its cultivation and to restrict 

 the area of its active agricultural occupation. 



IMPROVEMENT IN SOIL EFFICIENCY. 



One of the most necessary steps in the improvement of the crop- 

 producing capacity of the Volusia silt loam is proper attention to 

 the drainage of the type. This soil is fairly well provided with 

 natural surface drainage, except in places where springs break out 

 upon the hillsides and steeper slopes. Over a considerable propor- 

 tion of the type the subsoil drainage is scarcely adequate for the 

 production of large yields of any crops and it is rarely sufficient to 

 insure a growing season long enough to mature corn and other long 

 seasoned crops. Thousands of areas of this soil would be benefited 

 by the installation of frequent tile underdrains, even in fields which 

 possess considerable surface slope and from which storm waters flow 

 away rapidly. The subsoil of the Volusia silt loam is a compact, 

 retentive silt loam, frequently compacted into a " hardpan " layer by 



