8 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



as they are capable, under proper management, of producing as good 

 crops as at any period in their cultivation. Scarcity of labor, lack 

 of capital, the passing of woolgrowing, and various other causes are 

 adduced to explain this decrease in tilled acreage upon the Volusia 

 loam. It is noticeable, however, that where good markets for dairy 

 products exist or where a system of dairying and potato growing 

 has been adopted, the type has held its own and the acreage culti- 

 vated and the crops secured have at least been maintained. 



There is an excellent opportunity upon the Volusia loam to secure 

 cheap lands, capable of improvement at a reasonable cost and adapted 

 to the best forms of modern dairying and sheep raising. In some 

 localities apples may be planted and small fruits grown. 



CROP ADAPTATIONS. 



The Volusia loam is primarily a small-grain and grass soil. Tim- 

 othy gives excellent yields upon properly treated land, and it is 

 sown alone or with red clover upon large acreages of the type. It 

 is probable that over 40 per cent of the total area of the type is de- 

 voted to hay, while a large part of the rougher land is given to pas- 

 turage. 



The yields of hay secured vary considerably between the best fields 

 and those which have been neglected. Where a reasonably short 

 rotation is practiced and dairying is the main occupation, the mixed 

 grasses give yields ranging from 1 to 2 tons per acre. Even the 

 latter high yield is sometimes exceeded under particularly favorable 

 circumstances. In general, the yields of hay may be stated as 1 to 1| 

 tons under the most widespread conditions of grass growing. 



Some difficulty has been experienced in securing a seeding to clover 

 during the past few years and many farmers are using alsike clover 

 in place of the red. Two primary causes have given rise to the diffi- 

 culty in growing the red clover. The first is the universal need for 

 liming the type before the leguminous crops may be grown to ad- 

 vantage. The other is that the clover is seeded with oats, which 

 make a heavy growth of foliage, and the crop is cut when the clover 

 is tender and watery and during the most heated and droughty period 

 of the summer. Frequently good seedings are practically ruined by 

 a few weeks of late midsummer drought. Upon all dairy farms, 

 where the production of hay and roughage is the primary object, a 

 much better practice is to sow mixed Canada field peas, beardless 

 barley, and oats to be cut as a hay crop at a much earlier date than 

 oats are usually harvested. The part of the mixed-grain crop not 

 fed green to the dairy herd becomes a very valuable hay for winter 

 feeding, and the clover seeded with this crop is given a far better 

 opportunity to make a stand. 



