8 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



wheat which gives high yields upon this soil. Following the wheat, 

 mixed clover and timothy should be grown for a period of two years, 

 when the rotation should return to the intertilled crops. In connec- 

 tion with the growing of any of the leguminous crops, the applica- 

 tion of lime to the surface soil is highly desirable. In some areas the 

 burned stone lime is applied once in the four or five year rotation, at 

 the rate of 1 to 1 tons per acre. Where this practice has been con- 

 tinued through a long period of years the soil fertility of such areas 

 has been well maintained. In place of the use of the burned lime, 

 which is somewhat difficult to distribute, the ground limestone rock 

 has more recently been applied. In such cases the applications 

 amount to as high as 2 or 3 tons per acre, and the same purpose is 

 served. 



LIMITATIONS UPON SPECIAL CROPS. 



The Hagerstown clay is essentially a general farming soil because 

 of the heavy character of the surface clay loam soil and of the stiff, 

 impervious clay subsoil. As a result of these characteristics the 

 grasses and small grains are even better suited to this type than corn, 

 although the latter crop is grown to good advantage where the sur- 

 face soil has been well prepared. The Hagerstown clay is in no 

 sense a special crop soil, and its uses should be limited to the heaviest 

 type of general farming usually associated with dairying or the pro- 

 duction and feeding of live stock of some kind. 



EXTENT OF OCCUPATION. 



The extent to which the Hagerstown clay is occupied varies greatly 

 in the different areas where it occurs. In all of the more level re- 

 gions of the limestone valleys and throughout the bluegrass region 

 of central Kentucky probably 60 to 75 per cent of the total area of 

 the type is occupied for some of the more intensive forms of agri- 

 culture. The remainder of the type is usually occupied for pas- 

 turage or for farm woodlots. There are limited areas of which only 

 a small use is secured through grazing on account of their rougher 

 topography and the presence of too great a quantity of loose stone 

 in the surface soil. In more southern areas the greater surface slope 

 of the type over a considerable proportion of its extent, and particu- 

 larly the torrential winter rains, cause erosion to be so excessive that 

 only 10 to 20 per cent of the total area of the type is occupied at 

 present for agricultural purposes. It is thus evident that any exten- 

 sion in the occupation of the Hagerstown clay is dependent primarily 

 upon methods of farming which shall prevent excessive erosion and 

 which shall cause the surface of the type to be clothed with some 

 form of vegetation through as great a portion of the crop rotation 

 period as is possible. This can be accomplished largely by the grow- 

 ing of pasture grasses, to which the type is well suited. 



