SOIL CLASSIFICATION 23 



The question of crop adaptation, therefore, becomes exceedingly 

 important, and success with a crop in which quality plays an important 

 part will be determined to a large extent by whether or not it is produced 

 on the soil to which it is by nature best adapted. 



Variety tests of wheat afford further illustration of crop adaptation. 

 In Illinois the wheat giving the highest yield on the black prairie soil of 

 the central and northern part of the state is Turkey Red, but this variety 

 when grown on the light-colored soil in the southern part of the state 

 yielded five bushels per acre less than the variety Harvest King. It is 

 evident, therefore, that if Turkey Red, which was demonstrated to be 

 the best variety at the experiment station, had been planted over the 

 wheat-growing region of the southern part of the state, farmers of that 

 region would have suffered a considerable loss. In Pennsylvania and 

 North Carolina Turkey Red has been grown in variety tests, and found 

 to be one of the lowest yielding varieties. For example, the yield in North 

 Carolina, as an average of four years, was only 8.4 bushels per acre as 

 compared with 13.5 bushels for Dawson's Golden Chaff. At the Pennsyl- 

 vania Station the yield for two years was 26.5 bushels per acre for Turkey 

 Red and 37.5 bushels for Dawson's Golden Chaff. 



Similar observations have been made relative to varieties of cotton 

 and varieties of apples. There is no doubt but that the question of varie- 

 tal adaptation, with reference to all of the principal crops, is important, 

 and it should be the business of farmers in their community to ascertain 

 the varieties of the crops grown which are best adapted to local conditions. 



Dr. J. A. Bonsteel, born and reared on a New York farm, and for 

 fifteen years a soil expert in the U. S. Bureau of Soils, prepared for the 

 Tribune Farmer in the early part of 1913 a series of articles on "Fitting 

 Crops to Soils." The following is a portion of his summary and is a 

 concise statement of the soil adaptation of the fifteen leading crops in the 

 northeastern part of the United States. 



"Summary of Soil Adaptedness. Summarizing, briefly, the facts 

 stated in the articles and derived from a large number of field observations 

 made in all parts of the northeastern portion of the United States, we see : 



" First. Clay soils are best suited to the production of grass. They 

 are suited to the growing of wheat when well drained and of cabbages 

 under favorable local conditions of drainage and market. Oats may be 

 grown, but thrive better upon more friable soils. 



" Second. Clay loam soils are especially well suited to the growing 

 of grass, wheat, beans and cabbages, the latter two only when well drained. 



"Third. Silt loam soils produce wheat, oats, buckwheat, late 

 potatoes, corn, onions and celery. The last two crops require special 

 attention to drainage and moisture supply to be well suited to silt loam 

 soils. 



"Fourth. Loam soils, which are the most extensively developed of 

 any group in the Northeastern states, are also suited to the widest range of 



