36 BULLETIN H2, 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 yields 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 the 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 
