94 —- BULLETIN 677, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
In the case of potatoes, 39.7 per cent of the entire Freehold area 
is given to that crop. Potatoes occupy 41.9 per cent of the cropped - 
area of the Sassafras loam. 
Hay is second in area to potatoes, occupying 27 per cent of the 
entire area, but covering only 24.3 per cent of the cropped area of 
the Sassafras loam. 
Wheat is the only small-grain crop grown to any significant ex- 
tent. It covers 5 per cent of the entire area, but occupies 5.2 per 
cent of the cropped area of the Sassafras loam. 
These departures from the normal of all types indicate a tendency 
to use as large an area of the Sassafras loam as is compatible with 
good methods of farming for the growing of potatoes. Corn, wheat, 
and hay are grown in a regular rotation with potatoes, the succession 

Fic. 12.—Winter wheat on Sassafras loam, near Freehold, N. J. Yield 25 bushels to 
35 bushels per acre on land heavily fertilized for potatoes. 
and the duration of the crop occupation with each crop varying 
slightly with individual preferences. The strong tendency to keep 
the land in potatoes or corn is shown by the slight excess of the per- 
centages in these crops on the Sassafras loam and the small deficiency 
of the percentage in hay compared with the standard figures for the 
area. In other words, this dominant and desirable soil type is kept 
in high-paying, cash crops for as much of the time as is possible in 
accordance with experience. 
It should be stated that in central Monmouth County a special 
variety of Irish potato, the American Giant or “long stock,” is 
grown. For this reason there is no opportunity to make any direct 
comparison of the local yields with those obtained in other localities . 

