THE MIAMI CLAY LOAM. 15 



now kept largely for the production of early spring lambs, although 

 the wool clip constitutes an important item in the farm records of 

 many areas where this type has been encountered. Not as many 

 sheep are kept within this general region as in the older days of wool 

 production, but the number now maintained is steadily increasing 

 with the increased price of spring lambs. 



FARM EQUIPMENT. 



It would be totally impossible properly to till the Miami clay loam 

 with lightweight farm teams or inadequate tools. This is thoroughly 

 recognized throughout practically all areas where the type occurs, 

 and as a result the heavy two-horse teams and the more powerful forms 

 of farm machinery are prevalent. With these teams and implements 

 deep plowing of the surface soil is possible, and thorough harrowing 

 and tillage of the type can be conducted at all of the later stages. 

 A large proportion of the crops planted or sown is placed in the 

 ground by the use of the two-horse corn planter or the large size 

 grain drill with fertilizer and seeder attachments. Disk harrows 

 and the riding cultivators are also used extensively and the farm 

 equipment is usually adequate and substantial. 



Because of the prevalence of some form of stock raising within the 

 territory occupied by the Miami clay loam, the farm buildings are 

 large and substantial and the region is marked by well-painted 

 houses, large and well-constructed hay and dairy barns, and in some 

 portions, also, by the necessary equipment of well-built tobacco 

 barns. Not infrequently the farms upon this type also possess the 

 requisite equipment for the manufacture of maple sugar or sirup 

 from the groves of sugar maples still remaining upon many of them. 

 In fact, the general equipment of teams, tools, and buildings upon 

 the Miami clay loam gives the appearance of well-stocked, adequately 

 equipped, and well-cared-for farming territory. 



SUMMARY. 



The Miami clay loam is the most important of the timbered soils 

 of the eastern portion of the Central States, both with respect to its 

 areal extent and with regard to the variety and quantity of important 

 staple crops produced. 



It occupies the rolling, undulating, and sometimes hilly upland 

 sections of southern Michigan, central and western Ohio, and eastern 

 Indiana, and is also found to a limited extent in southern Wisconsin 

 and some portions of Iowa. It lies at an altitude of 600 to 1,100 

 feet above tide level within the middle temperate zone of the Central 

 States. 



The surface soil is a rather heavy brown, yellow, or gray silty loam. 

 The subsoil is a stiffer silty loam or clay. Both are derived from the 

 surface weathering of deep deposits of ice-laid material. These 



