10 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



taining the land under cultivation, and, while doing so, for prevent- 

 ing erosion. 



Over a considerable proportion of the type from the Ohio River 

 southward the deeper plowing of the Memphis silt loam is essential 

 for the increase of crop yields. In the general practice of the region 

 plowing to a depth of 3 or 4 inches is considered adequate. In the 

 case of a silty and somewhat clayey soil like the Memphis silt loam, 

 deeper plowing is strongly to be recommended. Upon all of the more 

 level areas the heavy 2-horse or 2-mule hitch and the breaking plow 

 should be used in place of the light 1-horse hitch and the small turn 

 plow. The plowing should also be done " broadcast," as in the case 

 of the central prairie regions, instead of the usual method of plowing 

 out the previous rows and bedding up in the water furrows. The 

 thorough working of the surface soil to increase its depth to 12 or 15 

 inches will result in decidedly increased crop yields, whether of cotton 

 and corn or of the grain and grass crops. 



Throughout a large part of the area where the Memphis silt 

 loam is found, the incorporation of additional organic matter is 

 decidedly essential. This should be accomplished either through the 

 production of a winter cover crop, which may be plowed under in 

 time for the production of a succeeding summer crop, or through the 

 growing of a leguminous crop like cowpeas, lespedeza, or bur clover. 

 These may be partialty grazed off or may even be cut, but they 

 leave all of the roots and a considerable part of the stubble to be 

 turned into the soil. Wherever it is possible it is recommended that 

 the green crop thus produced should be cut and fed to farm animals 

 rather than that it should be turned under in its full growth. A 

 greater value is secured from the crop and the restoration of organic 

 matter is nearly or quite as efficient. 



It would be difficult or impossible to recommend any fertilizers or 

 classes of fertilizing material aside from organic matter which 

 would be efficient for use upon the Memphis silt loam under the 

 widely varying conditions of climate, of crop production, of drain- 

 age, and of erosion, which effect the type in the different areas of its 

 development. The adoption of proper methods of fertilization 

 should follow the lines developed by local experimentation as applied 

 not only to this soil type, but also to the kind of crop to be grown 

 upon it under the attendant climatic circumstances. 



LIMITATIONS UPON SPECIAL CROPS. 



In the more northern regions where the Memphis silt loam is de- 

 veloped it is well suited to the production of quite a number of gen- 

 eral farming crops, and also to orchard fruits. Its use for these pur- 

 poses will be described in the discussion of the crop adaptations of 

 the type. Farther south tobacco is also grown in the proper environ- 



