THE HAGERSTOWN LOAM. 11 



in all localities where this soil type is found has been brought under 

 cultivation and is maintaining a high-class agriculture. So great 

 has been the demand for lands of this character that in regions reason- 

 ably near market facilities the values frequently run to $250 or $350 

 an acre, solely for the purpose of producing general farm crops like 

 corn, wheat, and grass. In other more remote regions and under 

 somewhat less skillful management the soils range in value from $30 

 or $40 to $100 an acre, but in all cases the Hagerstown loam and its 

 associated limestone soils are the most valuable of any in the communi- 

 ties where it and other soils occur. For these reasons the extension 

 of agriculture upon this type is scarcely possible, although the 

 improvement of agricultural conditions is still attainable in many 

 areas where the type is found. Such improvements will necessarily 

 follow the lines already indicated by the most skillful farmers in the 

 best tilled areas of this soil. 



CROP ADAPTATIONS. 



The Hagerstown loam is almost universally esteemed for the pro- 

 duction of corn. For this crop it possesses even a higher rating than 

 the Hagerstown clay. The acreage yields vary considerably, depend- 

 ing upon the care with which the land is prepared and upon the skill 

 exercised in tending the crop. In southeastern Pennsylvania, hi 

 Maryland, and throughout the Valley of Virginia a yield of 40 bushels 

 of shelled corn per acre upon the Hagerstown loam would be consid- 

 ered a low average yield, while many farmers, by exercising the 

 greatest care under favorable climatic conditions, have been able to 

 maintain average acreage yields of 75 to 80 bushels throughout a 

 considerable period of time. Even in the more southern States, 

 where the climatic surroundings are possibly less favorable, the 

 standard average yields for the Hagerstown loam are about 25 

 bushels per acre, with not infrequent yields under better tillage 

 systems of 50 and 60 bushels per acre. The friable, easily worked 

 surface soil, the heavy, retentive subsoil, the excellent store of 

 organic matter in th surface soil, and the ease of cultivation of the 

 land, all tend to make the Hagerstown loam an ideal corn soil within 

 the Eastern States. 



In all latitudes where the Hagerstown loam is found it is esteemed 

 as a wheat soil, but generally the Hagerstown clay has the reputation 

 of producing slightly larger yields. In Maryland and Pennsylvania 

 the wheat yields upon the Hagerstown loam vary between 20 bushels 

 and 35 bushels per acre, with a general average of about 28 bushels. 

 This is nearly double the average wheat yield for the United States 

 taken as a whole. In Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee the wheat 

 yields range from 15 to 25 bushels with a general average of approxi- 

 mately 20 bushels per acre. Even in Alabama, where wheat is 



