34 BULLETIN 142, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The timber growth furnished materials for the construction of farm 

 buildings. The associated prairie lands were usually either poorly 

 drained or covered with a tough sod which was difficult to break and 

 convert into tilled fields. Wheat and corn were the crops first pro- 

 duced, and these are still important crops upon this soil. At one time 

 it was found that the yields of wheat were decreasing, because of the 

 practice of continuous cropping to this grain, and, probably, because 

 of the exhaustion of a part of the original supply of organic matter 

 in the surface soil. Definite crop rotations were introduced, and corn 

 assumed considerable importance. At present a decidedly diversified 

 type of general farming is commonly practiced on the Miami silt 

 loam, while in southeastern Wisconsin the dairy industry occupies a 

 prominent place upon it. In Indiana dairying is usually subordinate 

 to the growing of grain crops, and to the fattening of beef cattle and 

 the production of pork. A good herd of beef cattle is shown in 

 Plate X, figure 1. 



Corn is produced on practically all areas of the type. The yellow 

 dent varieties are generally grown, although the white dent corn is 

 also popular. Little flint corn is grown, as the growing season is 

 sufficiently long to permit the production of the heavier yielding dent 

 varieties. A representative field of corn on the Miami silt loam is 

 shown in Plate X, figure 2. 



The greater part of the corn harvested from this type is husked 

 and shelled for the grain. Yields vary in different seasons and with 

 different methods of cultivation, but a production of 40 to 60 bushels 

 of corn per acre is not unusual, while yields of as much as 75 bushels 

 per acre are obtained under favorable circumstances. The general 

 average production is probably about 40 bushels per acre. A large 

 part of the corn crop is annually cut into the silo, especially in the 

 dairy district of southeastern Wisconsin, and upon those farms in 

 Indiana where the fattening of beef cattle forms a part of the farm 

 system. This is shown in plate XI, figure 1. The practice is increas- 

 ing in popularity. Yields of silage range from 10 to 15 tons per acre, 

 with an average of about 12 tons. All the better drained areas of the 

 type which are fairly well supplied with organic matter produce 

 good average yields of corn, although the yields obtained are usually 

 below those secured upon the " black land " of the Clyde series asso- 

 ciated with the Miami silt loam in many localities. In general, the 

 largest yields of corn are secured where a regular rotation of crops 

 is observed and where the corn is planted upon a clover sod or upon 

 a timothy and clover sod. On the dairy and stock farms, where such 

 rotations are practiced, and where a considerable amount of stable 

 manure is also used upon the corn land, the yields of corn are 

 above the general average for the locality. The tile underdrainage 

 of this type in the more nearly level areas increases the certainty of 



