SOIL SURVEY OF PORTER COUNTY, INDIANA. 



41 



land was not marshy like the Clyde soils. Artificial drainage has 

 been provided by ditching and laying tile drains. 



The Newton silt loam is inextensive, but all the type is well suited 

 to crop production. Corn, oats, and hay are the most important 

 crops. Some cattle are pastured. 



Corn is a profitable crop, averaging 35 to 40 bushels per acre, with 

 occasional yields of over 60 bushels. Oats usually give about the 

 same yields, but in some years 50 to 70 bushels per acre is not an 

 uncommon yield. Practically no fertibzers are used in growing these 

 crops. 



Land of this type has an average value of about $150 an acre. 



The principal needs of tliis soil are more thorough drainage and 

 crop rotation to maintain its natural productiveness. 



The results of mechanical analyses of samples of the soil, sub- 

 surface, subsoil, and lower subsoil of the Newton silt loam are given 

 in the following table: 



Mechanical analyses of Newton silt loam. 



GRIFFIN SILT LOAM. 



The Griffin silt loam is a dark-brown or chocolate-brown, friable 

 silt loam from 8 to 12 inches deep, underlain by fighter brown silt 

 loam mottled more or less with rusty brown and drab. In places 

 the mottlings are very pronounced, and textural variations, such as 

 fine, sandy strata, occur in the subsoil. In the narrow bottoms of 

 small branches both the color and texture vary widely. In the 

 Calumet VaUey, where the stream enters Lake County, the soil is 

 much darker and heavier than the typical Griffin silt loam. The type 

 is derived from recent alluvium, washed largely from glacial soils, 

 though partly from lake soils. 



The greater part of the Griffin silt loam occurs in the bottoms of the 

 Calumet River, Salt, and Coffee Creeks, and small streams flowing 

 north from the county divide. The few areas found south of the 

 divide are inextensive and are not typical. 



The surface is flat and level except for the general slope of the 

 stream vaUey and local irregularities representing abandoned stream 

 channels. The drainage is fair near the streams but poor near the 

 uplands. In rainy seasons most of the small streams overflow their 

 bottoms. 



