THE CLYDE SERIES OF SOILS. 45 



are greatly broadened by drainage and that the yields obtained are 

 greatly increased. The certainty of obtaining a crop under all con- 

 ditions of precipitation is another advantage to be derived from 

 underdrainage. 



Wherever the Clyde clay has been drained sufficiently to render 

 it suitable for corn cultivation that crop exceeds all others in acre- 

 age and value. In fact it is one of the best corn soils of the Cen- 

 tral States. This is well shown in Plate IV, figure 1. Good yields 

 are only obtained from drained lands, and where drainage has not 

 been effected there is very little corn grown. In northwestern Ohio 

 the value of the Clyde clay for corn production is so well appre- 

 ciated that more than one-third of the total improved acreage of 

 this soil is planted to corn annually. The yields for counties con- 

 sisting largely of the Clyde clay range from 38 to 41.5 bushels per 

 acre. It may be said that the average yield of the type in this 

 region is probably in excess of 45 bushels per acre, while the crops 

 grown upon the best drained land frequently exceed 60 bushels per 

 acre. The large-growing dent varieties, requiring a long growing 

 season, are commonly planted. The corn is produced chiefly for the 

 grain, although a minor use is made of silage corn for the feeding 

 of beef cattle and, to a more limited extent, in the feeding of dairy 

 cows. Yields of silage range from 12 to 15 tons per acre. 



In other localities it is not so easy to select the figures represent- 

 ing the yields of the Clyde clay, since other soil types dominate it 

 in area and obscure its relative importance. Yet it is producing 

 from 25 to 50 bushels of corn per acre in Niagara County, N. Y., 

 depending upon the local drainage conditions, and even higher 

 yields in Allen County, Ind. In the Saginaw area, Michigan, it 

 has not yet become sufficiently well drained to constitute a first- 

 class corn soil under the somewhat cooler climatic conditions existing 

 there. With tile underdrainage it should be well suited to this crop. 



In the more southern areas, where the Clyde clay is an impor- 

 tant soil, oats are the crop of next importance to corn in point 

 of acreage. Oats usually occupy from one-fifth to one- fourth of 

 the total improved area of the type. The yields are not relatively 

 so heavy as in the case of corn, but they range from 30 to 50 bushels 

 per acre, with a general average of 40 bushels. There is a tendency 

 toward the lodging of the straw when oats are grown upon this 

 moist soil, so well filled with organic matter, and the yields of 

 harvested grain are as high upon portions of the type which are 

 marked by the gray surface soils as upon the generally more pro- 

 ductive, darker-colored phase. In fact, oats are said to yield better 

 crops of grain after the land has been cropped for some years to 

 corn. Wherever the Clyde clay is fairly well drained it is uni- 

 formly a good oat-growing soil. 



