THE VOLUSIA SILT LOAM. 15 



silage it may be grown at higher altitudes. The flint varieties are 

 best suited to production upon this soil, since they mature in a short 

 growing season. 



Potatoes are generally grown in small acreage upon nearly all the 

 farms located upon the Volusia silt loam. In some areas the crop 

 is grown commercially with good yields of smooth tubers of good 

 quality. Potatoes constitute one of the best money crops to be 

 grown upon this soil in conjunction with some form of animal hus- 

 bandry. 



Apples are chiefly grown in small home orchards. There are lim- 

 ited opportunities for commercial apple orcharding at the lower 

 elevations, where the total depth of soil and subsoil is over 4 feet 

 and where drainage and exposure are adequate. 



The farm equipment upon the Volusia silt loam differs materially 

 within single townships and in the different areas where the type has 

 been encountered. In the more remote localities the buildings are 

 old and in poor repair, especially at the higher altitudes, where the 

 decrease in rural population has been most marked within the past 

 20 years. Elsewhere the farm equipment is fair to good. Upon the 

 dairy farms the equipment of buildings, stock, and tools is usually 

 better than upon the majority of farms devoted to a system of grass 

 and grain farming for cash sale. 



For its improvement the Volusia silt loam requires drainage, the 

 liming of the soil, the restoration of organic matter, the adoption of 

 shorter crop rotations, and the general return to a system of farming 

 in which the crops raised are chiefly fed to live stock. 



Approved. 



JAMES WILSON, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



WASHINGTON, D. C., February 12, 1912. 



