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



Potatoes are nowhere grown to any extent as a commercial crop 

 on the Miami silt loam. Nearly every farm annually produces a 

 small acreage for home use. The yields range from 75 to 150 bushels 

 per acre, and it is probable that improved methods of fertilization 

 and cultivation would make the crop a commercial possibility. 



Beans are grown to a limited extent in some localities in southeast- 

 ern Wisconsin, giving an average yield of about 20 bushels per acre. 

 Sugar beets also are grown in this section and the yields range from 

 10 to 15 tons per acre. The production of tobacco is chiefly confined 

 to the deep phase of the type. A field is shown in Plate XI, figure 2. 



Many of the farms on the Miami silt loam include small orchards 

 for the home supply of fruit. Where orchard locations are well 

 selected upon rolling or hilly ground, giving good air and water 

 drainage, the winter varieties of apples are successfully grown. 

 Cherries and plums do well in the home orchards. It is hardly ad- 

 visable to attempt commercial orcharding on any large scale on this 

 soil. , 



The usual crop rotation on the Miami silt loam in Indiana consists 

 of corn grown for one or more years, followed by oats for one year; 

 then winter wheat is grown for one year, and a seeding to mixed 

 timothy and red clover or to clover alone is made on the wheat, and 

 the land is devoted to hay for one year. The field may be pastured 

 for one year or the sod turned under to return to corn. There is a 

 constant tendency to grow as large an acreage of corn as possible and 

 to reduce the acreage in wheat. It is claimed that the }delds of winter 

 wheat are not as large as in former years and the production is such 

 that other crops prove more profitable upon this high-priced land. In 

 southeastern Wisconsin, barley has almost completely displaced wheat 

 and wheat growing has been practically discontinued. The usual 

 crop rotation in this section consists of corn for one year, followed 

 by oats one year and then barley, or the barley may be omitted. In 

 either case a seeding to mixed timothy and clover is made with the 

 small-grain crop and the land is usually kept in hay for two or more 

 years. The sod is then plowed for corn. 



In the dairy regions stable manure is the chief fertilizer used 

 on the Miami silt loam. It is usually applied to the corn ground 

 either on the sod before turning under or on the plowed land to be 

 harrowed in before the planting of the crop. In some cases a com- 

 mercial fertilizer is used with the small grain crop. In Indiana 

 the use of commercial fertilizer is more general. It is applied at 

 the rate of 150 to 250 pounds per acre on the corn, and a like amount 

 is frequently applied with the wheat. One of th'e chief needs of 

 this soil is the restoration of organic matter, and the more general 

 use of stable manure is to be recommended. Where possible it is 



