THE MIAMI SERIES OF SOILS. 35 



securing a good stand of corn and improves the yields. In many 

 cases corn is planted for two or three years in succession upon the 

 same field, but it is generally recognized that better results are ob- 

 tained where it is only grown for a single year upon sod ground and 

 followed in regular rotation by small grains and grass. 



Among the small grains oats are most extensively grown, particu- 

 larly in the more northern localities. The crop is sown upon corn- 

 stubble land. Such land is usually plowed for the oat crop, but may 

 be prepared by disk harrowing without plowing. The yields ob- 

 tained range from 35 or 40 bushels to as high as 65 bushels per acre. 

 The general average for the type is probably about 40 bushels per 

 acre. A large part of the grain is fed on the farm, and the straw is 

 used for feed and bedding. In some localities a small part of the 

 grain is marketed. 



Winter wheat also occupies an important acreage upon the Miami 

 silt loam, although the area annually sown to this crop is decreasing. 

 Yields range from 12 to 30 bushels, with a general average of about 

 18 bushels per acre. It is the usual practice to plow the oat-stubble 

 land for wheat and to seed timothy with the wheat in the fall. In 

 the spring an additional seeding of clover is made upon the wheat. 



The growing of hay crops is important on the Miami silt loam. 

 The acreage devoted to mixed timothy and clover probably exceeds 

 that of any other single crop on the type. The yields secured are 

 excellent, ranging from 1^ tons to as high as 2^ tons per acre. A 

 smaller acreage of clover alone is grown, giving about the same 

 yields. Usually the mixed seeding is cut for two or more years, and 

 a crop of timothy seed is sometimes secured from the last cutting or 

 the meadows are grazed before being broken for corn. The second 

 crop of clover is often matured for seed. Timothy yields 7 or 8 

 bushels and clover 1 to 2 bushels of seed per acre. 



In some parts of southeastern Wisconsin alfalfa has been success- 

 fully grown on the better drained areas of this soil. The yields range 

 from 2-| to 5 tons per acre in three cuttings. The acreage of alfalfa 

 upon this and associated soils of the Miami series is steadily increas- 

 ing in this region. It has been found that inoculation of the soil is 

 essential to success with alfalfa, and it is considered advisable to use 

 ground limestone rock at the rate of a ton or more per acre where 

 alfalfa is to be seeded. Even where there is a considerable amount 

 of limestone gravel in the deeper subsoil the use of lime to sweeten 

 the surface soil is generally necessary. " 



Some of the more rolling and rougher areas of the Miami silt loam, 

 where the surface is too uneven for cultivation, afford excellent 

 natural pasturage in which Kentucky bluegrass usually predomi- 

 nates. These pastures are maintained permanently in sod. 



