12 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



raised only to a limited extent, yields upon the Hagerstown loam are: 

 reported at 12 to 20 bushels per acre and the acreage devoted to this 

 crop in the northern counties where the type occurs is being grad- 

 ually extended. Greater familiarity with the crop, resulting in 

 greater skill in its management, will undoubtedly increase these 

 yields if wheat culture is continued in that locality. 



Upon the Hagerstown loam oats are raised extensively, but in all 

 localities are considered subordinate in importance and are certainly 

 subordinate in acreage to wheat. In fact, in the more northern 

 States the production of oats upon the Hagerstown loam is probably 

 decreasing annually since the yields are not sufficiently high to com-* 

 pensate for the greater value per bushel of the wheat crop and oats 

 are thus at an economic disadvantage upon the Hagerstown loam. 

 The yields in the more northern States range from 25 to 40 bushels 

 per acre and hi the more southern latitudes from 20 to 30 bushels per 

 acre. These yields are no higher than may be secured for oats upon 

 other soil types which are less valuable for corn and wheat produc- 

 tion and the crop is thus being excluded from any extensive pro- 

 duction upon the Hagerstown loam. 



The Hagerstown loam is universally esteemed as a grass soil. 

 It is the soil which underlies the great Bluegrass Region of Kentucky 

 and the similar bluegrass region of the Basin Section of Tennessee. 

 Kentucky bluegrass is also a native upon this soil type in the Great 

 Valley of Virginia and northward into Pennsylvania. The wide- 

 spread distribution of the Kentucky bluegrass upon the Hagerstown 

 loam and its associated soils has given rise to the existence throughout 

 the period of its cultivation of excellent pasturage facilities in many 

 States. For the finishing of beef cattle probably no other natural 

 pasture grass is so valuable. As a result, the utilization of blue- 

 grass pasture upon this type for beef production has been common 

 since the earliest days of its occupation for agricultural purposes. 

 With the introduction of other tame grasses the production of timothy 

 and of red clover soon became general upon the Hagerstown loam. 

 These grasses furnish a larger yield for the cutting of hay, and thus 

 the corn production upon the type and bluegrass pasturage already 

 established were early supplemented by the growing of the mixed 

 tame grasses. 



Hay constitutes one of the crops extensively grown upon the 

 Hagerstown loam and the yields are universally good. In Penn- 

 sylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, the yield of hay ranges from 1 to 2 

 tons with an average of about 1J tons per acre. This is equaled in 

 many places in Tennessee and in Kentucky, while in Alabama, com- 

 monly supposed to be south of the natural grass belt, the yields of 

 hay in those areas where clover and timothy have been generally 

 sown have ranged from 1 to 1J tons per acre, an amount unusually high 





