46 BULLETIN 142, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the dense subsoil limit the varieties which may be produced. Pears 
constitute the only orchard fruit other than apples that is well suited 
to a soil of such heavy texture. 
Tobacco is produced on the Miami clay loam in southern and 
southwestern Ohio in areas which are particularly well drained, are 
heavily manured and fertilized, and which have been brought into 
good mechanical condition by careful tillage. These constitute prac- 
tically the only special crops which are suited to production upon 
the Miami clay loam, both because of its textural peculiarities and 
because of the climate. 
The Miami clay loam, locally known as " maple land " or " walnut 
land," from the dominant species of its native hardwood trees, was 
selected for clearing and settlement early in the pioneer days in 
Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. The type supported a heavy growth 
of a great variety of hardwoods. Throughout Ohio it was forested 
with oak, maple, beech, basswood, walnut, poplar, cherry, ash, elm, 
hickory, black gum, buckeye, and ironwood. In localities where the 
maple or walnut prevailed the type soon attained a wide reputation 
for its fertility and sustained crop-producing power. In general 
the lands occupied mainly by a beech forest were not so highly es- 
teemed, while the growth of black gum and elm usually indicated 
low-lying areas within the type in which the natural drainage was 
too poor for their immediate occupation. 
The gently undulating or rolling surface of the Miami clay loam 
was favorable for agriculture, and as the timber was removed a 
steadily increasing acreage was used for farm crops. At present over 
80 per cent of the total area of the type is either arable land or is held 
in more or less permanent pastures, which are occasionally plowed 
for the production of a crop. The remainder of the type consists of 
woodlots, the somewhat hilly and stony areas which are occasionally 
encountered, and those steeper slopes along the margins of the type 
where the upland surface breaks down to the deeply trenched 
streams. 
In general the Miami clay loam is highly prized as an agricul- 
tural soil. Its value varies, depending upon its location with respect 
to markets and to transportation facilities, from $50 or $60 an acre 
to $250 or more where the land is located near the outskirts of the 
larger manufacturing cities. 
There is little possibility that the area of the Miami clay loam 
under cultivation may be greatly extended. Such extension may 
occur only through the draining of areas which still remain some- 
what swampy or through the clearing of forested areas which are 
required for the use of the farms upon which they occur. The 
former improvement might well be undertaken. The clearing of 
woodlots could scarcely be called an improvement. 
^ll 
