SOIL SURVEY OF PORTEE COUNTY, INDIANA. 43 



The topography of much of the Muck is flat, but frequently it 

 occupies a rather high position along the sides of depressions and 

 stream channels. Such areas are due to the springs that issue from 

 sandy strata and keep the hillsides in a saturated condition favorable 

 to a luxuriant growth of vegetation. 



In its natural condition the Muck was water-logged most of the 

 time, and many areas are still very wet. However, ditching has 

 reclaimed the greater part of the areas, and more of this land is 

 brought under cultivation each year. 



Corn is practically the only crop grown regularly on the Muck. 

 In the shallower areas oats are sometimes grown. A few small fields 

 are devoted to potatoes and millet. Marsh hay is cut from some 

 Muck land, but a part of it is too hummocky and w^et for any use 

 except pasture. Corn on well-drained Muck yields 30 to 60 bushels 

 per acre, but the quality is not so good as on the upland soils, and 

 the crop is sometimes injured by early frosts. Oats do well, but are 

 Hkely to lodge. 



little use has been made of any kind of fertilizer on this land, as 

 it is new and very productive. Potash has a beneficial effect in 

 increasing yields and improving the quality of the grain. 



Although Muck lands were w^orth very little before drainage opera- 

 tions began, they are now held for SlOO or more an acre. 



Most fields of Muck need thorough drainage. Straw and ashes 

 from wood or corncobs may be used to advantage for the potash 

 they contain. The production of special crops, such as onions, 

 potatoes, peppermint, sunflowers, etc., has been found profitable on 

 such land in other locaUties.^ 



Swamp comprises a continuous belt along the Kankakee River, 

 varying in width from a few rods to about 2 miles along the Lake 

 County hne. The northern boundary follows the edge of the low- 

 land timber and is usually marked by a small but rather sharp rise 

 to areas of Plainfield and other soils, although in some places the 

 adjoining land is low and marshy. 



While this area has the position of a first bottom of the Kankakee 

 River and has always been subject to overflow by that stream, little 

 of the soil material is recent alluvium. A strip averaging only a 

 few rods wide occurs as a slight natural levee along the main river 

 chamiels, and in this strip the soil has the characteristics of the Griffin 

 series. , 



The greater part of this forested area mapped as Swamp has a 

 dark soil 1 to 3 feet deep, underlain by grayish, loose waterworn 

 sand wliich is permanently saturated. Wide textural variations 



ri Farmers' Bui. 761, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



