36 
SOIL SUEVEY OF OUTAGAMIE COUNTY. 
usually fairly good, except when the rivers are high. At these 
times the water table is close to the surface. 
Present agricultural development .—Practically all of this type 
is under cultivation. General farming and dairying are the pre¬ 
vailing forms of agriculture. The soil is well adapted to hay 
and oats, while all of the general farm crops common to the 
region do fairly well. It is not as well adapted to potatoes r 
is the Antigo fine sandy loam. Corn does not do well after 
wet spring as the ground remains cold until late in the season, 
and the high water table retards the development of the root 
system. 
Of the special crops, .cabbage and sugar beets are yielding the 
growers satisfactory returns. Cabbage yields from eight to fif¬ 
teen tons and sugar beets six to twelve tons an acre. 
Where good methods of farming are being followed the pro¬ 
ductivity of the soil is gradually being increased, but where 
careless methods are practiced, the yields are gradually declin¬ 
ing. Spring wheat was formerly grown with good success, but 
the yields became poorer and poorer until the crop was finally 
abandoned over most of the area. Good farmers practice a ro¬ 
tation consisting of corn, followed by a small grain, such as 
oats, or barley, and then seeding with clover and timothy. Hay 
is cut for one or two years, and is usually pastured a year, after 
which it is manured and then plowed for corn. 
The Antigo loam is comparatively easy to cultivate and when 
worked under favorable moisture conditions, no difficulty is ex¬ 
perienced in securing a good seed bed. It is usually best to fall 
plow, for if the spring is wet, some difficulty may be experienced 
in getting the crop sown on time. 
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND FERTILITY OF LOAMS AND FINE SANDY 
LOAMS. 
These soils are only a little more open in texture than the silt 
and clay loam types. They have a good water-holding capacity 
and will support very good pasture, but the somewhat higher 
percentage of fine sand which they contain reduces the water 
content of the surface somewhat so that they warm up more 
readily in the spring and have less tendency to bake and crack 
than the heavier soils. These qualities make them better adapted 
to such crops as corn and potatoes than are the heavier soils. 
