334 MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



truck crops through special crops like alfalfa and sugar beets to the 

 wide variety of general farm crops produced in the Central West. 



Superior Series. Gray and red soils with red subsoils, formed 

 from reworked glacial material deposited in glacial lakes. Not ex- 

 tensively developed, but known to include fine types for clover, tim- 

 othy, and small fruits. 



Vergennes Series. Light-colored soils, with gray or whitish 

 subsoils, derived from Champlain clays or lighter deposits over these 

 clays. This series includes the best hay and apple soils of the Cham- 

 plain Valley. A wide variety of tillage crops is grown, but cultivation 

 of the heavier members of the series is very difficult. 



RESIDUAL SOILS OF THE WESTERN PRAIRIE REGION. 



This region consists of the nonglacial part of the prairie plains 

 bounded on the north by the Missouri River, the southern limit of 

 glaciers, and extending southward through Texas to the Rio Grande. 

 On the west it merges into the Plateau region at very near the 2,000- 

 foot contour, and on the east is limited by the Gulf Coastal Plain 

 and the Ozark Plateau. Its surface is gently rolling, with occasional 

 low hills, and is cut by numerous stream channels. The rocks are 

 of Carboniferous age and consist of sandstones, shales, and limestones 

 more or less interbedded. These rocks give rise to three series of soils, 

 viz., Oswego, Crawford, and Vernon, together with a number of mis- 

 cellaneous soils. In Kansas and Texas these soils are in some in- 

 stances more or less modified by the admixture of gravel and sand 

 from Tertiary deposits brought down from the higher areas farther 

 west occupied by crystalline rocks. 



Crawford Series. Brown soils with reddish subsoils, derived 

 from limestones. The soils of this series range from rough areas 

 suited mainly for pastures to fertile general-farming, fruit-growing, 

 and trucking soils. 



Oswego Series. Gray or brown soils, derived from sandstones 

 and shales. The lighter members of this series are adapted to corn, 

 oats, potatoes, truck, and fruit ; the heavier to these crops and wheat. 



Vernon Series. Brown to red soils typical of the Permian for- 

 mation. Soils of this series show a wide adaptation according to tex- 

 ture. General farm crops, including cotton, corn, wheat, Kafir corn, 

 and sorghum are the leading products. Small fruit, peaches, and 

 truck are grown to some extent and are capable of marked extension. 



GREAT BASIN. 



With the exception of one soil type recognized in the Laramie 

 area, Wyoming, the soils in this group are confined to the Great In- 

 terior Basin region. They are derived from a great variety of rocks, 

 and consist of colluvial soil of the mountain slopes, deep lacustrine 

 and shore deposits of the Bonneville period, and of recent stream- 

 valley sediments and river-delta deposits. 



When not situated above or outside the limits of irrigation, or 

 rendered unfit for cultivation by accumulation of alkali or seepage 

 waters, they are of great agricultural importance, and are devoted 

 mainly to the production of grains, sugar beets, alfalfa, stone or other 

 tree fruits, and vegetables. 



