THE DEKALB SILT LOAM. 7 



dense and somewhat retentive of moisture during the early part of 

 the season, with a tendency toward excessive drying out during later 

 periods. As a result the small grains and grass make more satis- 

 factory growth than either corn or the special crops, like orchard 

 fruits, berries, and garden vegetables. The production of these 

 crops is not essentially impossible, however, if proper attention is 

 paid to the subsoil drainage of the type and to the incorporation 

 of organic matter. This has been proved by the success of many 

 farmers in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, who have been lad, 

 by the presence of special markets in the mining and industrial 

 regions, to the local growing of tree fruits, small fruits, and quite 

 a variety of market-garden vegetables. Thus, poor drainage and 

 a lack of organic matter in the surface soil, while limiting the 

 uses of considerable portions of the Dekalb silt loam, may be suf- 

 ficiently remedied to enable the farmer who possesses such special 

 markets to increase the range of crop adaptations far beyond the 

 general possibilities of the type. Under normal conditions, however, 

 the Dekalb silt loam is better suited to produce the staple crops of 

 the region in which it occurs than it is to the growing of special 

 crops. 



IMPROVEMENT IN SOIL EFFICIENCY. 



Since in nearly every area where the Dekalb silt loam has been en- 

 countered to any extent it has been best used for the production of the 

 general farm crops of that region, there can be little to suggest as 

 to the improved selection of crops for the type beyond recording 

 those crops which are most uniformly successful under the various 

 climatic conditions within which the type is found. Thus, in the 

 more northern and also in the more elevated portions of its develop- 

 ment, the Dekalb silt loam is suited to the production of buckwheat, 

 rye, Irish potatoes, oats, and timothy and redtop. It is not usually a 

 successful clover soil and only the alsike may be depended upon 

 unless the soil is rather heavily limed before the clover is seeded in. 

 For pasturage purposes the timothy, redtop, and alsike or white 

 clover must be depended upon. The Canada bluegrass is native 

 to this soil in all of its more northern occurrences, and it makes fair 

 pasturage in the earlier part of the season. 



In southwestern Pennsylvania, and thence southward, corn is suc- 

 cessfully grown upon the Dekalb silt loam and buckwheat disappears 

 as a profitable or certain crop except at the higher elevations. In 

 the territory from the vicinity of Johnstown, Pa., southward to 

 eastern Tennessee, corn, wheat, oats, and hay should constitute the 

 chief reliance of the farmer who is tilling the Dekalb silt loam. 

 Irish potatoes are also grown to advantage upon the best drained 

 portions of the type, especially if the surface soil is well supplied with 



