36 BULLETIN 159, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



and 40 bushels of lime to the broken grass sod preceding corn and about 300 

 pounds of good commercial fertilizer to wheat, average yields of 60 bushels 

 of corn, 20 bushels of wheat after corn, and 28 bushels after grass, and 1£ 

 tons of hay per acre are readily secured. 



While these returns are distinctly above the ordinary yields of 

 the type they represent its capabilities as a grass and grain- 

 producing soil under the unusually good methods of management 

 given. 



A considerable acreage of hay is annually grown upon the Sassa- 

 fras loam. Where a regular crop rotation is used and the wheat 

 crop is adequately fertilized the yields of clover or of mixed clover 

 and timothy range from 1 to 2| tons per acre. 



Oats are grown to a very limited extent upon the Sassafras loam. 

 Rye is an uncommon crop. Cowpeas have been successfully grown 

 in some cases, and the type seems well suited to the production of 

 this crop. Crimson or scarlet clover is coming to be grown upon 

 the Sassafras loam, but the crop is not nearly so common as on the 

 more sandy members of the series. The yields obtained are good^ 

 ranging from \\ to 3 tons per acre. 



It has been found by progressive farmers that the use of lime on 

 the Sassafras loam is a profitable practice. The lime is usually 

 applied in the form of lump, quick lime, which is slaked in the field. 

 Applications vary from 20 to 40 bushels per acre. The chief benefit 

 of liming is held to be in the increased crop of clover secured after 

 its application, which later results in improved grain crops grown 

 upon the clover sod. It is probable that finely ground limestone or 

 oyster shells applied at the rate of about 2 tons per acre would be 

 equally beneficial. 



Tomatoes are grown to quite an extent on the Sassafras loam, and 

 the yields range from 4 tons per acre upward. The crop is chiefly 

 grown for near-by canning factories. 



Market garden and trucking crops are grown upon some areas of 

 the Sassafras loam where markets are available. Beans, peas, cab- 

 bage, and cantaloupes are the principal crops grown. 



The Kieffer pear is most extensively grown among orchard fruits, 

 although TTinesap, York Imperial, and other varieties of apples are 

 reasonably successful upon this soil. Large nurseries are located 

 upon one part of the type and many varieties of fruit trees are 

 grown and distributed. 



Peaches were at one time extensively grown, but yellows and 

 other diseases have led to the practical abandonment of the crop 

 upon nearly all of the Sassafras loam. 



Among the small fruits, strawberries, dewberries, and blackber- 

 ries are grown in some localities to a small extent. 



The Sassafras loam is characteristically a general farming soil, 

 well suited to the growing of corn, wheat, and grass. The knowl- 



