16 SOILS OP THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



Among fruits the Knox silt loam is best suited to the production 

 of certain varieties of apples, and it is one of the best soils for the 

 planting of commercial apple orchards to be found in the central 

 prairie States, provided the more level areas of the type, having 

 adequate air and water drainage, are selected. Pears, plums, and 

 peaches may be planted in conjunction with the apple orchards or 

 separately. 



Potatoes are only raised to a limited extent and chiefly for home 

 use, but the natural characteristics of the soil and its climatic sur- 

 roundings are such that in the areas of its more northern and eastern 

 development it should constitute an excellent soil for the commercial 

 growing of Irish potatoes. 



Locally tile drainage is requisite over some portions of the Knox 

 silt loam. 



Fully 80 per cent of the more level areas of the Knox silt loam 

 has been occupied for agricultural purposes. The remainder of the 

 level areas and practically all of the steep and hilly areas are occu- 

 pied by forest, woodlot, and pasturage. In limited areas excessive 

 erosion has caused the agricultural abandonment of a small propor- 

 tion of the type. 



The Knox silt loam ranks as a secondary corn soil, a secondary 

 winter wheat soil, a fairly good soil for the production of oats, 

 and in some localities as an excellent grass soil. Its agricultural 

 rank and its efficiency are largely determined by the amount of 

 organic matter maintained in the surface soil, by the depth to which 

 that soil is developed, by the adoption of proper crop rotations, and 

 by the adequate tillage of individual fields. 



Dairying constitutes an important adjunct of the agricultural 

 operations conducted on the Knox silt loam in northern Illinois, 

 southern Wisconsin, and eastern Iowa, and in the dairying sections 

 the crop- producing capacity of this soil has been increased beyond 

 that of its efficiency in many other locations. 



Approved. 



JAMES WILSON, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



WASHINGTON, D. C., May 27, 1911. 



