34 BULLETIN 142, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 
The timber growth furnished materials for the construction of farm 
buildings. The associated prairie lands were usually either poorly 
drained or covered with a tough sod which was difficult to break and 
convert into tilled fields. Wheat and corn were the crops first pro- 
duced, and these are still important crops upon this soil. At one time 
it was found that the yields of wheat were decreasing, because-of the 
practice of continuous cropping to this grain, and. probably, because 
of the exhaustion of a part of the original supply of organic matter 
in the surface soil. Definite crop rotations were introduced, and corn 
assumed considerable importance. At present a decidedly diversified 
type of general farming is commonly practiced on the Miami silt 
loam, while in southeastern Wisconsin the dairy industry occupies a 
prominent place upon it. In Indiana dairying is usually subordinate 
to the growing of grain crops, and to the fattening of beef cattle and 
the production of pork. A good herd of beef cattle is shown in 
Plate X, figure 1. 
Corn is produced on practically all areas of the type. The yellow 
dent varieties are generally grown, although the white dent corn is 
also popular. Little flint corn is grown, as the growing season is 
sufficiently long to permit the production of the heavier yielding dent 
varieties. A representative field of corn on the Miami silt loam is 
shown in Plate X, figure 2. 
The greater part of the corn harvested from this type is husked 
and shelled for the grain. Yields vary in different seasons and with 
different methods of cultivation, but a production of 40 to 60 bushels 
of corn per acre is not unusual, while yields of as much as 75 bushels 
per acre are obtained under favorable circumstances. The general 
average production is probably about 40 bushels per acre. A large 
part of the corn crop is annually cut into the silo, especially in. the 
dairy district of southeastern Wisconsin, and upon those farms in 
Indiana where the fattening of beef cattle forms a part of the farm 
system. This is shown in plate XI, figure 1. The practice is increas- 
ing in popularity. Yields of silage range from 10 to 15 tons per acre, 
with an average of about 12 tons. All the better drained areas of the 
type which are fairly well supplied with organic matter produce 
good average yields of corn, although the yields obtained are usually 
below those secured upon the "black land" of the Clyde series asso- 
ciated with the Miami silt loam in many localities. In general, the 
largest yields of corn are secured where a regular rotation of crops 
is observed and where the corn is planted upon a clover sod or upon 
a timothy and clover sod. On the dairy and stock farms, where such 
rotations are practiced, and where a considerable amount of stable 
manure is also used upon the corn land, the yields of corn are 
above the general average for the locality. The tile underdrainage 
of this type in the more nearly level areas increases the certainty of 
