THE MIAMI SEKIES OF SOILS. 33 



localities bowlders were numerous until removed from the fields and 

 used for the construction of foundations of farm buildings. The stony 

 areas are not usually extensive. On steep slopes within the type 

 erosion has sometimes exposed the deeper subsoil, and gravelly and 

 stony patches are found. 



The topography of the greater part of the Miami silt loam is 

 gently rolling to ridged and hilly. The type also occupies smaller 

 tracts which are merely undulating or nearly level. The range in 

 elevation within the limits of the type is greater in the southeastern 

 part of Wisconsin than elsewhere, differences in elevation of 100 to 

 200 feet being encountered in the majority of the areas, with an 

 extreme range of 500 feet or more. The type in this region occupies 

 the tops and slopes of ridges, and the gently rolling or undulating 

 till plains between the more pronounced glacial ridges. The undulat- 

 ing surface of such areas of the type is shown in Plate IX, figure 2. 

 In central Indiana the differences in elevation are not so great. The 

 elevation ranges from 50 to 150 feet, and a larger part of the type 

 is marked by a low, undulating surface whose extreme elevations 

 are not more than 25 to 50 feet above the general level. It is only 

 along the courses of the larger streams, where erosion has modified 

 the original surface, that steep slopes or considerable differences 

 in elevation are found in this section. The greater part of all the 

 areas mapped is best described as gently rolling or undulating, with 

 a smaller part either nearly level or distinctly ridged. 



Because of this moderate relief and of the generally sloping sur- 

 face of the Miami silt loam it is commonly well drained in its natural 

 condition. The presence of the gravelly and stony deeper subsoil 

 also aids in subsurface drainage of the type. It was usually suffi- 

 ciently well drained and elevated to be selected by the early settlers 

 in the different regions. In some localities the low ridges included 

 within areas of this soil were the only available sites for homes in 

 pioneer days. 



The entire type was originally forested, mainly with sugar maple, 

 beech, hickory, oak of several species, some walnut, and a small 

 amount of elm and ash. Nearly all of this original growth has been 

 removed, and only the steeper and more hilly or stony areas remain 

 in forest or farm woodlots. In some sections more than 95 per cent 

 of the type is under cultivation, while it is probable that 80 per cent 

 of the total area of this soil is used for some form of crop production. 

 The remainder consists of pasture land and woodlots. 



In all the regions in which it is developed the Miami silt loam 

 has been esteemed as a productive general farming soil since its first 

 occupation. In its forested condition a fair amount of organic mat- 

 ter accumulated in the surface soil, and it was usually well drained. 



