THE MIAMI SERIES OF SOILS. 37 



also advisable to use some of the leguminous crops, such as clover, 

 for green manuring. Regularly plowing under a good clover sod 

 in the rotation is a fairly satisfactory means of maintaining the 

 organic-matter supply in the surface soil. 



The Miami silt loam is used for somewhat different t}^pes of farm- 

 ing in the various areas where it has been mapped. Its chief use 

 in southeastern Wisconsin is for mixed general farming, with the 

 dairy industry as an important part of the system. Many excellent 

 herds of registered and grade cows of the leading dairy breeds are 

 maintained. The crops most successfully grown — corn, clover, 

 alfalfa, and oats and barle}^ — are all suitable for dairy feeding. The 

 dairy farms are usually well improved with modern farmhouses, 

 large dairy barns, silos, and necessary outbuildings. The fertility 

 of these farms is well maintained by the use of stable manure, and 

 the crop yields are quite generally satisfactory. In Indiana a much 

 larger proportion of the type is used for grain farming, supple- 

 mented in many instances by the fattening of beef cattle and the 

 growing of hogs. Where beef cattle are fattened the improvements 

 are about the same as upon dairy farms. Both systems of agri- 

 culture are well suited to this soil. Where the production and sale 

 of grain is made the chief object, the buildings are not usually so 

 complete and the crop-producing power of the land is not so high. 

 This probably arises to a considerable degree from the lack of stable 

 manure, the use of which is of great benefit to this soil. 



The majority of the farms on the Miami silt loam are in good 

 condition and show evidences of a prosperous state of agriculture. 



Flat phase. — The flat phase of the Miami silt loam is almost ex- 

 clusively confined to the areas surveyed in central and west-central 

 Indiana. These areas include Boone, Hamilton, and Tipton Coun- 

 ties, where this phase predominates, and portions of Montgomery 

 and Tippecanoe Counties, where it is subordinate in area to the 

 normal or rolling phase of the type. 



In this region the Miami silt loam, flat phase, is a light-colored 

 upland soil, locally known as " clay land " to distinguish it from the 

 black silty clay loam soils with which it is commonly associated. 

 It occupies from 40 to 60 per cent of the total area in this section. 



The surface soil to an average depth of 10 inches is a light-gray 

 silt which varies in color from ashy gray when dry to a pronounced 

 brownish-gray under normal moisture conditions. It is a soft, 

 flourlike material which contains few coarse particles and which is 

 usually rather deficient in organic matter. 



The subsoil to a depth of 25 to 30 inches is a stiff silty clay loam 

 or clay. The upper part of the subsoil is frequently mottled yellow 

 and gray, and may be somewhat friable. With increasing depth it 



