6 BULLETIN 716^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 



of the farms studied, but all income from this source has been 

 ignored in connection with the study herein presented. 



The population of Palmer Township, by 10-year periods, was as 

 follows: In 1860, 618; in 1870, 671; in 1880, 591; in 1890, 541; in 

 1900, 614; and in 1910,621. 



The soils of Palmer Township have been described under the gen- 

 eral classification residual shale and sandstone soils.^ These soils, 

 underlain by shales and sandstone, have given rise to two distinctly 

 different soil series, the Dekalb and the Upshur. 



The Dekalb is represented in this township by a type known as 

 Dekalb silt loam. The soil of the Dekalb silt loam is a grayish 

 yellow or light yellowish brown mealy silt loam, varying in depth 

 from 6 to 12 inches, with an average of about 9 inches. The typical 

 soil has a smooth, velvety feel and is rather mellow and easily tilled, 

 although it has a slight tendency to run together. In cultivated 

 fields the surface soil when dry is usually a very light gray with a 

 pale yellowish tinge, but when moist, as in freshly plowed fields, the 

 color is more nearly a light yellowish brown. As a rule, the Dekalb 

 silt loam has very little, if any, lime carbonate present, and over a 

 large part of the area, particularly in poorly drained places, there is 

 undoubtedly a deficiency of lime. On the' whole, the Dekalb silt 

 loam, is not considered a very productive soil without fertilizers. 

 One of the principal needs of this type is organic matter, which may 

 be supplied by the growing and turning under of clover, rye, or other 

 green manuring crops, or by the addition of stable manure, to which 

 this soil gives a ready response. The texture of the subsoil is such 

 that it is retentive of fertilizers, and a permanent improvement of 

 the land may be brought about by proper cultivation and fertilizers. 



The Upshur series is represented by the Upshur clay, which is 

 known throughout the section where it occurs as " red clay land." 

 The type consists of an Indian-red, purplish-red, or reddish-brown, 

 heavy clay loam to clay, underlain by a red, very heavy, plastic clay, 

 which extends to a depth of 3 feet or more. In its typical develop- 

 ment there is veiy little difference between the soil and the subsoil, 

 but in some areas the red clay is overlain by a thin layer of material 

 which is lighter both in color and in texture. The type is very plastic, 

 and sticky when wet, and it cracks badly upon drying, the cracks 

 varying in width from one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch, and 

 extending in many cases to the depth of a foot. This soil erodes 



1 See Reconnaissance Soil Siirviy of Ohio, Advance Sheets, Field Operations of the 

 Bureau of Soils, 1912, IJ. S. Department of Agriculture, pages 36-45, from which the 

 above soil description and much of the topographical description is abstracted. 



