12 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



Cabbages, onions, celery, and other market garden crops are pro- 

 duced in the vicinity of large cities. All of these crops are well suited 

 to production upon the Wabash silt loam, and as in the case of pota- 

 toes the area devoted to each might be multiplied several fold and 

 the regions within which the crops are grown might be considerably 

 extended for the better utilization of the Wabash silt loam. 



These constitute practically the only crops which are grown to any 

 extent upon the type. It is not probable that with the present de- 

 mand for corn any large area of the type will be devoted at any one 

 time to the production of other crops except in the event of active 

 local demands for vegetables. 



Except for the limited extent of the type in each of the areas where 

 it occurs, and for the considerable cost of properly protecting and 

 draining the soil areas, the Wabash silt loam would rank as one of 

 the best corn soils to be found in the Central States. The limitation 

 in area may not be remedied, but the limitation in occupation might 

 well be overcome through the expenditure of additional sums, either 

 in the nature of a private enterprise or in the form of community 

 drainage and embankment districts, for the reclamation of thousands 

 of acres of this land. 



FARM EQUIPMENT. 



The Wabash silt loam is practically unimproved by farm buildings 

 except in protected districts, because of the liability to overflow, and 

 because of the presence of adjacent swamps and wide strips of 

 swampy forest. The farm buildings in all cases except those men- 

 tioned are located upon upland soils, and the farm equipment of the 

 upland farms is principally used for the tillage and cultivation of 

 the Wabash silt loam. There is a wide variation in the character of 

 the equipment used, dependent entirely upon the dominant feature of 

 the upland farming. In general, heavy teams and completely ade- 

 quate farm tools are employed, with a tendency toward the use of 

 disk plows and disk harrows upon the soft, silty, level surface of this 

 soil. 



SUMMARY. 



The Wabash silt loam is one of the most extensive alluvial bottom- 

 land soils occurring through the central prairie States and a few 

 adjacent States to the south and west. It is of unexcelled fertility 

 when properly protected and drained. 



The surface soil is a dark-brown to black mealy silty loam, formed 

 from finely divided mineral matter derived from the upland prairie, 

 mingled with a large amount of decayed or decaying organic matter 

 of local growth. The subsoil, which may be found at a depth rang- 

 ing from 10 inches to 3 feet, is usually a gray, drab, or mottled heavy- 



