2 £ BULLETIN 142, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



sandy material consists of local limestone or calcareous shale. Usu- 

 ally this lime-bearing material is distributed through the surface 

 soil and upper subsoil in small quantities, becoming predominant 

 only in the deeper subsoil. As a result, the surface soil of the Miami 

 fine sandy loam is frequently slightly acid, while the subsoil com- 

 monly contains sufficient lime carbonate to effervesce when treated 

 with acid. 



The greater part of the Miami fine sandy loam thus far encoun- 

 tered in soil-survey work occurs in areas which have been used for 

 agriculture for a long period of time, and from two-thirds to three- 

 fourths of the area of the type in these localities is cleared and 

 cultivated. It is only in the northern part of Wisconsin that any 

 considerable area of the type remains to be utilized. The more roll- 

 ing and thinner portions of the Miami fine sandy loam have been 

 left in forests or permitted to grow up to scrubby timber. These 

 and small areas which are either too steep for tillage or too poorly 

 drained constitute the only parts of the type which are not used for 

 farm crops. 



The form of agriculture commonly practiced on the Miami fine 

 sandy loam consists of mixed general farming, usually supplemented 

 by dairying, hog raising, and the fattening of a few beef cattle. 



Corn is the chief intertilled crop grown on this soil. It is usually 

 planted upon sod, and applications of stable manure are commonly 

 made. The yields range from 15 to 40 bushels per acre with a gen- 

 eral average of about 30 bushels under ordinary seasonal conditions. 

 The yield of corn on the deep sandy areas of the Miami fine sandy 

 loam is usually less than on the typical areas of this soil. The Miami 

 fine sandy loam is somewhat too porous and sandy to constitute an 

 ideal corn soil, although the free use of stable manure and of other 

 organic fertilizers such as clover sod and green manuring crops 

 enable the farmers upon this type to produce fair average yields. 

 Oats constitute the chief small-grain crop grown upon the Miami 

 fine sandy loam. The corn stubble is usually plowed in the fall or 

 early spring and the seeding to oats is made as early in the season 

 as possible. Under conditions of normal rainfall oats yield from 

 25 to 50 bushels per acre, with an average for a long period of years 

 of about 35 bushels. It is a common practice to seed mixed timothy 

 and red clover or mixed red clover and alsike with the oats. In this 

 case the land remains in hay for one or two years. The oat stubble 

 is sometimes plowed for a succeeding crop of wheat, but this prac- 

 tice is no longer popular, as the yield of wheat on this soil ranges 

 from 10 to 20 bushels per acre, with an average of not more than 14 

 bushels. Wheat production upon the Miami fine sandy loam is 

 decreasing. In some localities the growing of rye has taken the 



