THE CLYDE LOAM. 5 



from 300 to 600 feet above sea level, while in the vicinity of Sagi- 

 naw Bay, in the southern peninsula of Michigan, the altitude of 

 the type ranges from approximately 600 feet to about 750 feet above 

 tide. Other separate areas in southern Michigan and northern Indi- 

 ana have about the same altitude, while the areas in North Dakota 

 are located at altitudes of approximately 1,500 feet above sea level. 



In all cases the Clyde loam is either poorly drained at the present 

 time or was poorly drained prior to its occupation for agricultural 

 purposes. In practically all areas where it occurs the Clyde loam 

 constituted wooded swamps or grass-grown marshes in the days of 

 pioneer occupation, and in the majority of instances other, upland, 

 soils were first cleared and occupied. Later the obstructed natural 

 drainage was improved by the straightening of streams and the open- 

 ing of drainage ditches, and gradually increasing areas of this black 

 mucky soil have been brought under cultivation. The Clyde loam 

 in its undrained condition, wherever it is encountered, either consti- 

 tutes swamp not occupied for any agricultural purpose or else forms 

 pasture lands upon which cattle are grazed during the later months 

 of the summer, or where, in the treeless areas, swamp grass is cut for 

 hay. It has only been through the establishment of artificial drain- 

 age that this soil has been made available for agricultural use. 



LIMITATIONS IN USE. 



Owing to the swampy or semiswampy condition of the Clyde loam 

 prior to drainage, the surface soil is frequently found to be in a pud- 

 dled, compact state, sticky and impervious when wet and drying out 

 to a clodded or cementlike surface when dry. These effects of poor 

 drainage are emphasized where the finer-grained material is found 

 in lower lying areas that have been under cultivation for only a short 

 time. In such cases the soil proper is frequently stiff and sticky and 

 clods badly when plowed. The continued cultivation of the type, 

 however, and the long-continued operation of frost upon well-drained 

 areas tends to correct this condition and to make the Clyde loam an 

 extremely valuable soil for the production of the majority of the gen- 

 eral farm crops suited to the temperate climate within which the type 

 is most extensively developed. Because of the characteristics of tex- 

 ture, structure, and drainage already described, the Clyde loam is 

 better suited to the production of the small grains and of grass than 

 to the growing of corn or potatoes. These same characteristics of the 

 soil, together with its high moisture-holding capacity, constitute it 

 one of the best sugar-beet soils found within the eastern, humid 

 States. The appreciation of this crop adaptation of the Clyde loam 

 has led to its extensive utilization for sugar-beet growing in the 

 southern peninsula of Michigan, and many thousands of acres of 

 sugar beets are annually planted upon the type. 



