28 
SOIL SURVEY OF JACKSON COUNTY 
nent pasture or hay land. A large part of this soil is still 
timbered or brush covered. The original timber was largely 
pine with some hemlock, hardwood, and oak. Practically all 
the merchantable timber has been removed. The present timber 
consists of oaks, poplar, ash, and birch fifteen to twenty feet 
high. Grass, willow, and alder cover the lower portions. The 
soil is very acid, and a good deal of moss grows on the cleared 
land. 
The crops best adapted to this soil are hay (alsike and tim¬ 
othy), root crops, rye, and oats. Corn for ensilage can gen¬ 
erally be grown and in dry years ripe corn can sometimes be 
produced. Most of the cultivated crops are grown on the 
knolls. Potatoes are grown to some extent as well as buckwheat. 
Yields of all crops except hay are very variable, and depend 
almost entirely upon the character of the season.' 
This land sells for from ten to forty dollars per acre depending 
upon location and improvement. 
The following table gives the mechanical analyses of samples 
of the soil and subsoil of Vesper silt loam.* 
Mechanical Analysis of Vesper Silt Loam 
Number 
Description 
Fine 
gravel 
Coarse 
sand 
Medium 
sand 
Fine 
sand 
Very fine 
sand 
Silt 
Clay 
$ 
212819. 
312820_ 
Soil_ 
Subsoil- 
Per cent 
1.4 
.6 
Per cent 
4.5 
4.4 
. 
t 
Per cent Per cent 
2.5 15.3 
2.9 17.0 
I 
Per cent Per cent 
16.3 41.9 
24.9 33.9 
Per cent 
14.9 
16.2 
* The numbers used to identify these samples are the numbers of the U. S. Bureau of Soils, 
the analyses having been made by the Bureau. 
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, FERTILITY AND IMPROVE¬ 
MENT OF HEAVY SOILS 
The heavy soils have a fairly good supply of the mineral 
elements of plant food. The Bates soil as its dark color indi¬ 
cates, is especially well supplied with organic matter, nitrogen 
and a good amount of phosphorus. The lighter colored Knox 
and Lintonia soils are considerably lower in nitrogen and also 
phosphorus. The Vesper soil is fairly well supplied with all 
the essential plant food elements but on account of its acidity 
and lack of efficient drainage, measures to make these stores of 
plant food available for crops are necessary. Average analyses 
