GEOUF OF LOAMS AND FINE SANDY LOAMS. 
37 
ihe total amount of the plant food elements, phosphorus and 
potassium, is nearly if not quite as large in the fine sandy loams 
as in the silt loams. However, they have rather less organic 
matter, and this, together with the somewhat coarser texture, 
results in a slower rate of chemical change by which the inert 
plant food of the soil becomes available to crops. For this rea¬ 
son the increase in the supply of active or fresh organic matter 
and the use of available plant food either in the form of stable 
manure or of commercial fertilizers becomes more important and 
especially when crops such as potatoes which are sold from the 
farm, and of which heavy yields must be grown to be profitable, 
are produced. 
The increase in the supply of active organic matter is of the 
utmost importance. A high degree of fertility cannot be main¬ 
tained in these soils unless about twice as large an amount of 
organic matter is developed in them as that which they originally 
have. The plowing under of legumes, such as a second crop of 
clover or a crop of soybeans, is the best method of producing 
this result. The application of phosphorus and potassium fer¬ 
tilizers can best be made for these crops, since it secures a much 
larger growth of these crops themselves and becomes available 
through their decomposition to the following crops of corn or 
potatoes. 
The degree of acidity in the Antigo soils is seldom more than 
‘‘slight’ 7 in the new soil, but increases as the land is cropped 
from year to year. This acidity does not affect the growth of 
all crops directly, but makes it more difficult to maintain a good 
degree of fertility. This is true because it is a condition un¬ 
favorable to the continued growth of the best legumes—clover 
and alfalfa. The slight degree of acidity does not interfere with 
the growth of clover while the soil is comparatively new, but 
does reduce the yields as the fertility is reduced by further crop¬ 
ping and even in the virgin condition acidity interferes with the 
growth of alfalfa. It is also a condition unfavorable to the 
maintenance of a good supply of readily available phosphorus 
in the soil. These objections are probably not sufficient to make 
necessary the use of lime to correct the acidity on all of the 
land under cultivation for a number of years, but does make 
it desirable that farmers wishing to grow alfalfa should lime 
as well as inoculate the soil for this crop, and also to watch the 
growth of clover carefully from year to year, so as to begin the 
