8 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



organic matter and is somewhat more sandy than the average. In 

 this climatic region also the Elberta peach is grown to advantage 

 on the Dekalb silt loam, and such apples as the Ben Davis, Gano, and 

 Arkansas Black-twig may be planted. 



The adoption of such crop adaptations as these for the Dekalb 

 silt loam would render profitable the cultivation of considerably 

 greater areas than are now tilled. 



For the improvement of crop yields upon areas now tilled it is 

 probable that the restoration of organic matter and the application 

 of lime are the chief requisites. There is no better method for 

 increasing the organic matter content of the surface soil than by 

 the application to the tilled fields of all the stable manures made upon 

 the place. This is done where stock raising is at all prevalent, 

 but over the greater part of the Dekalb silt loam no attention 

 is paid either to stock production or to the manuring of the land. 

 As a result, in all of the more southern regions where the type is 

 developed, recourse is had to the use of small amounts of commercial 

 fertilizers each year upon the land in crops and no effort is made to 

 maintain or to restore the organic matter of the surface soil. Conse- 

 quently the fields are frequently of a pale yellow color and the silty 

 surface soil is baked and clodded and in poor physical condition 

 for the retention of soil moisture. With such circumstances the soil 

 has acquired the reputation of being droughty and is so little es- 

 teemed that areas which have once been cleared are not infrequently 

 abandoned to reforestation. 



This treatment is merely a survival of pioneer methods of land 

 exploitation and should give place to the proper selection of crops 

 suited to the soil, to regular crop rotations, and to the careful use 

 of all available supplies of organic manures. 



Where stock raising is not a part of the system of farming and, 

 consequently, stable manures are not available, certain green crops 

 should be grown for the sole purpose of being turned under to restore 

 the organic material to the surface soil. In all of the more southern 

 locations cowpeas, hairy vetch, and bur clover are available, while 

 farther north medium red clover grown in the regular rotation is 

 best suited fcr this purpose. Buckwheat may be so used at the 

 higher altitudes. 



Frequently it is necessary to apply lime to the Dekalb silt loam 

 before any successful stand of red clover may be obtained. For this 

 purpose the burned stone lime is altogether the best and it should 

 be applied, 10 days or 2 weeks before the seeding, at the rate of 

 1,500 to 2,000 pounds per acre and immediately harrowed into the 

 surface soil to a depth of not less than 3 inches. Lime may be 

 applied at any point in the rotation except immediately in advance 

 of the planting of a potato crop. The best place is, usually, just before 



