SOIL SURVEY OF KIMBALL COUNTY, NEBRASKA. 21 



bushels per acre, or practically crop failures, to as much as 25 or 30 

 bushels under the most favorable conditions. Corn rarely yields more 

 thgfn 20 bushels per acre. In many seasons the grain fails to mature, 

 and during the driest years there is scarcely any fodder. Oats gen- 

 erally attain sufficient growth to be cut for hay, and in favorable 

 years, where care has been exercised in the selection of seed and 

 planting has been done at a favorable time, yields of as much as 40 

 bushels per acre have been obtained. Millet does not often fail to 

 furnish forage. 



The soil supports a thick growth of native short grasses, princi- 

 pally grama and buffalo grass, and furnishes good grazing for cattle 

 and horses. Except where the grass is injured by unusual drought, 

 the land commonly has a carrying capacity of one cow or steer to 

 15 or 25 acres. In the lower lying areas some grasses make sufficient 

 growth to be cut for hay. 



The sod land is generally broken to a depth of about 4 inches, and 

 as soon as possible thereafter it is disked and gone over with some 

 form of harrow or with a roller in order to fill up the spaces between 

 the furrow slices, a practice necessary to prevent excessive loss of 

 moisture. The soil under cultivation is kept in a slightly rough or 

 lumpy condition to prevent blowing. Under favorable moisture con- 

 ditions this type is mellow and loamy and easily worked, but after 

 periods of drought it becomes more compact, so that plowing and 

 the preparation of a good seed bed are difficult or impracticable. 



Improved land of this type has a selling price of $15 to $20 an 

 acre, and unimproved land a value of $10 to $15 an acre. 



SIDNEY SILT LOAM. 



The soil section of the Sidney silt loam is very similar to that of 

 the loam type. The surface soil is a light-brown, mellow silt loam, 

 generally fine in texture. There is no considerable percentage of 

 particles coarser than fine sand and no gravel. At a depth of about 

 10 or 12 inches the material becomes slightly more compact, but it 

 again becomes friable and mealy in structure at about 18 or 20 inches, 

 and grades into the grayish, highly calcareous silty subsoil. Gravel 

 is encountered at 3 or 4 feet, but generally the soil layer is thicker 

 than in case of the loam. 



This type is mapped in the upland part of the county in close 

 association with the loam, occurring both in extensive tracts and as 

 small isolated areas. It occupies the more nearly level, higher land 

 and also the lower lying parts of the shallow drainage depressions 

 that occur throughout the upland plain. The level topography 

 favors the retention of the rainfall, and in this respect the type has a 

 slight advantage over the loam and other types of the Sidney 



