sore. SURVEY OF LOUISA COUNTY, IOWA. 45 



Cottonwood, and basswood. The land in cultivation is dovotful 

 chiefly to the production of corn, which yields 35 to SO bush(>ls jx'r 

 acre. Other important crops are oats, hay, and wheat. Oats yield 

 35 to 80 bushels per acre, hay 1 ton to If tons, and winter wheat 

 12 to 35 bushels. The type is handled under the methods prevailing 

 over the county, except that more than ordinary care is necessary 

 in working the soil, as it bakes and clods badly if stirred when wet. 

 Land of this type ranges in price from $75 to $250 an acre, dej^end- 

 ing on drainage and other imj)rovements and the nearness to towns 

 and lines of transportation. 



MUCK. 



Muck consists of black, well-decomposed organic matter, with a 

 small admixture of mineral matter, chiefl}^ silt and a little clay, 

 washed from adjoining slopes. At a depth of 10 to 18 inches the 

 organic layer is underlain by a black, heavy, plastic silty clay to 

 clay, slightly mottled with dark bluish gray. In some i)arts of the 

 type the surface material is underlain by a coarse sandy loam or 

 coarse sand. 



This type occurs in small areas in the Iowa Iliver valley. These 

 lie just below the escarpment of the main terrace and generally 

 between this and the next lower terrace. The areas are above 

 overflow from the Iowa River at any ordinary flood stage, though 

 one area in sec. 7, T. 74 N., R. 3 W., is said to have been overflowed 

 by water from the Iowa River coming down from the northwest in 

 1851. The soil is generally wet and bogg)^ as a result of seepage 

 from the higher lying terrace. 



This type is of small extent and comparatively unimportant. 

 None of it is in cultivation or even artificially drained. It is prized 

 as pasture, as it is said to afford good grazing when the grass in other 

 pastures is "burned up." 



RIVERWASH. 



Riverwash, as mapped in this county, consists of recent alluvial 

 deposits of varying texture, lying immediately along oi in the !Missis- 

 sippi, Iowa, ^nd Cedar Rivers, and shifting and changing in character 

 at each overflow. Some of the type is inundated much of the time 

 and its texture is ever changing with the river currents. Other 

 parts are only overflowed when the river is at flood stage, at which 

 time a layer of sand is usually deposited. The greater part of the 

 material is sandy. 



This type occurs on all the islands in the Iowa and Cedar Rivers 

 and on most of the islands in the Mississii)pi River. In addition, 

 it is mapped in places adjacent to the river banks. At the present 

 time it has practically no agricultural value. 



