50 BULLETIN 141, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



It is more than a mere coincidence that the counties in Michigan 

 which report over 1,000 acres of sugar beets all contain large areas 

 of the soils of the Clyde series, while all but one of such counties lie 

 in or adjacent to the glacial lake basins where the soils of the series 

 dominate. The six leading Michigan counties m sugar-beet acreage 

 are Bay, Gratiot, Huron, Saginaw, Shiawassee, and Tuscola. Refer- 

 ence to the map, figure 1, will show that all of these counties lie in or 

 adjacent to the area of the old glacial Lake Saginaw. These six 

 counties contain two-thirds of the total acreage of sugar beets grown 

 in the State, and they yield over seven-tenths of the total tonnage 

 produced. A field inspection of the location of the beet acreages in 

 such counties as Shiawassee, where only a portion of the total area 

 lies in the lake basins, only emphasizes the close association of beet 

 production with the glacial lake soils which are classed in the Clyde 

 series. The greatest area devoted to sugar beets is invariably located 

 within the lake basins and upon soils of the Ctyde series. 



The case in Ohio is even more marked than in Michigan. All of 

 the Ohio counties which report more than 200 acres of beets are so 

 located as to be dominated by the soils of the Clyde series. They lie 

 in or adjacent to the area of the ancient glacial Lake Maumee. The 

 soils are chiefly members of the Clyde series, with the Clyde clay, 

 clay loam, and loam most extensively developed. In this region ex- 

 tensive tile tinder drain age has rendered even the more claylike and 

 compact soils suitable for beet growing. 



The association of beet-growing areas and the presence of soils 

 of the Clyde series is not so obvious in Wisconsin as in the other two 

 States. This arises from the fact that the soils of the Clyde series 

 are distributed through a large number of small local lake basins, 

 in the main, and the details of beet production are not sufficiently 

 precise to permit of close correlation with these small and scattered 

 areas. Yet a field examination of the territory shows that the soils 

 of the Clyde series in Calumet, Fond du Lac, Kenosha, Milwaukee, 

 Racine, and Waukesha Counties are utilized for beet growing, while 

 smaller areas in Dane and Rock Counties, together with other closely 

 related soils, are the chosen ones for beet growing in these leading 

 beet-producing counties of the State. 



Among the soils of the Clyde series the Clyde loam is the best for 

 beet production, although well-drained areas of the Clyde clay and 

 portions of the Clyde fine sandy loam, which are particularly well 

 supplied with organic matter in the surface soil, are also excellent 

 beet soils. The yields upon the Clyde fine sandy loam are not usually 

 so heavy as upon the Clyde loam, while the stiff surface soil of the 

 Clyde clay does not favor the intensive tillage required by the grow- 

 ing crop, and it also offers considerable resistance to root penetration. 



