10 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



Upon the majority of farms dominated by the Fargo clay loam the 

 gang plow, drawn by 4 to 6 horses, is in common use, while upon all 

 the larger or " bonanza " farms the steam traction engine is used to 

 haul gang plows for the turning of large areas of land each day. 

 Not infrequently the harrow is hitched behind the gang plow when 

 the traction engine is employed for preparing the soil. The grain is 

 then seeded upon the prepared land, and no further attention is 

 required until harvest time. 



In harvesting the wheat a considerable diversity of practice exists 

 in the general region and over the area of the Fargo clay loam. 

 Upon the larger farms the header is used, and the grain is thrashed 

 as soon as possible by the use of heavy steam engines and large 

 separators with the stacking blower attached. Upon the smaller 

 farms the grain binder is sometimes used, and the grain is cured 

 in the shock. Generally it is thrashed directly from the shock, al- 

 though there is an increasing tendency to stack the grain prior to 

 thrashing. The latter practice is growing in favor, sinee it possesses 

 two principal advantages, in that the cost of thrashing is less and 

 there is less loss of grain. Thrashing is either accomplished by 

 traveling " rigs," or by the use of machinery owned by some local 

 farmer or by a community. 



The average wheat yields upon the Fargo clay loam vary to a con- 

 siderable degree with the amount of rainfall prior to and during the 

 growing season. Whenever the weather conditions -are such that a 

 considerable proportion of the plowing for spring wheat has been 

 accomplished during -the preceding autumn, large acreages of the 

 crop are seeded and good yields are usually secured. On the other 

 hand, if rainy or other unfavorable weather has prevented, to some 

 degree, the plowing of the usual acreage devoted to wheat, the other 

 small-grain crops replace it to a considerable extent, and if the early 

 spring is, in addition, one of abundant or excessive rainfall, the wheat 

 yields are not infrequently decreased with the complete failure of 

 the crop upon areas of defective natural drainage. It is thus difficult 

 to measure the actual wheat-producing capacity of the soil through 

 a consideration of its yields for any short period of years, and it i- 

 impossible to ascertain its efficiency as a spring- wheat soil from the 

 consideration of the yields for a single year. In general it may be 

 said, however, that the average yield of spring wheat upon the Fargo 

 clay loam is about 15 bushels per acre, taking into consideration both 

 wide extent of area and considerable periods of time. The yields 

 range, however, from complete failure, or the production of 5 or <> 

 bushels per acre under adverse climatic conditions, to yields of 18 and 

 20 bushels per acre under more favorable circumstances and under 

 somewhat better methods of soil management. Better drainage and 

 the adoption of a regular crop rotation would undoubtedly increase 



