6 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



or five years of a standard crop rotation. The Chester loam is well 

 adapted to timothy, clover, and even .bluegrass where it has been 

 properly prepared, and the seeding down of permanent pasture is 

 entirely feasible even upon some of the steeper slopes of the type. 



In areas which have already been seriously eroded one of the 

 first steps for improving the efficiency of this soil should be the 

 incorporation of organic matter into the surface soil. This may best 

 be accomplished by the plowing under of some green manuring crop, 

 such as crimson clover or cowpeas. Before any of these leguminous 

 crops are seeded upon the type it is found to be the best practice to 

 apply either ground limestone at the rate of 3 to 5 tons per acre or 

 slacked stone lime at the rate of approximately 1 ton per acre. The 

 liming of the soil is necessary to secure a stand of clover, crimson 

 clover, or cowpeas. Any of these crops may be turned under and 

 incorporated with the surface soil for the restoration of organic 

 matter. 



Over by far the greater proportion of the Chester loam the organic- 

 matter content of the surface soil is ordinarily satisfactory. This 

 condition has been attained by growing a regular rotation of crops, 

 including seeding down to grasses for a considerable period of 

 time in each rotation. The grasses and other forage crops have also 

 been fed to dairy animals or to beef stock for a long period of time, 

 and it is a common practice to save carefully the stable manuve re- 

 sulting and to apply this to the land. The adoption of this practice 

 is to be highly recommended, although in some areas it has not been 

 done. Even upon fields in good condition it is also frequenlly 

 found advisable to apply 1 ton per acre of the burned stone lime or 

 3 to 5 tons per acre of the ground limestone once in five or six 

 years. The increase in the yields of clover, bluegrass, and even of 

 timothy fully warrant the extension of this practice. 



LIMITATIONS UPON SPECIAL CROPS. 



The Chester loam, by its texture and inherent characteristics, i? 

 primarily a general-purpose farming soil, best suited to the produc- 

 tion of corn, wheat, oats, grass, and potatoes. 



In some localities, however, the type is used also for tomato pro- 

 duction. In north-central Maryland, where many canning factories 

 have been established, the tomato crop constitutes the principal 

 special crop grown upon this soil. The tomatoes are grown under 

 field conditions and yields ranging from 150 to 300 bushels per acre 

 secured. The land, when prepared, is heavily manured, and the 

 crop is grown in regular rotation with the more ordinary farm 

 crops. Sweet corn for canning purposes is also grown to a limited 

 extent in this same general locality. 





