USA > Indiana > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton County Indiana, her people, industries and institutions > Part 6
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Oats are not generally considered a paying crop, but this grain fits in well with the customary rotation. The crop is valued chiefly for the straw, and when cut for hay it makes an excellent roughage feed to use in con- junction with ensilage. The ordinary yield of oats ranges from thirty to forty bushels per acre. The growing of cowpeas and soy beans as a substi- tute for oats is being tried by some of the more progressive farmers. Oats are generally sown with an end-gate attachment at the rate of two and one- half to three bushels per acre.
The production of hay as shown by the 1910 census is only about one- fourth that of 1880. The number of acres of clover hay is given as two thousand six hundred and sixty-seven, which means that only one acre in ninety is used for this purpose. It is evident from this that clover is not generally included in the rotation of crops; or if so, it is turned under with- out being cut for hay. The latter practice was not observed during the course of the survey.
The growing of alfalfa has received some attention in the county in recent years, but its value as a feed has evidently never been realized or its culture would be more general. It is especially well adapted to the second- bottom lands or high terraces along West Fork White river. However, with proper attention it can be grown on almost any soil in the county except the muck. Even if it is not grown as a money crop its value as a nitrogen-stor- ing agent should recommend its culture, especially upon the clay lands or lighter colored soils of the county. It is never advisable to sow alfalfa after the 10th of August, for unless it makes considerable growth before frost it
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is likely to winter-kill. It may, however, be sown as early as the latter part of April. Where it is sown on wheat land it is practicable to get the seed in between July 15 and August 10.
Hamilton county is becoming more and more a dairy country. There is no better hay for dairy stock than alfalfa. The crop also has a high value in the permanent upbuilding of the soil, particularly those soils which are lacking in humus, as is the case with all the light-colored soils of the area. Three to four cuttings a year can be made with a yield of three to four tons per acre.
To succeed with alfalfa it is necessary first that the land be well drained; second, that it be limed; third, that it be thoroughly inoculated; and fourth, that it be thoroughly prepared and free from weeds.
With proper attention fruit growing can be made a profitable industry in this county, particularly in the southern part. It has not flourished re- cently. There are many old and neglected orchards in the county, and diseases and insect pests spread from these and affect the more recent plant- ings. Modern methods of control and State inspection are needed to put the industry on a satisfactory basis.
Most of the farmers in Hamilton county follow some form of crop rotation. It should be the purpose of a crop rotation (1) to get larger yields and profits, directly or indirectly, (2) to distribute the work more evenly throughout the year, (3) to give a more certain and regular income than is possible with a one-crop system, (4) to maintain or, better, to increase the fertility of the soil, (5) to reduce to a minimum the injury from weeds, in- sect pests, and diseases that frequently accompany the shiftless methods of farming. The three main classes of crops to be considered in a rotation are, first, small grain; second, hay; and, third, cultivated crops. In planning a rotation it is necessary to consider the income, the needs of the land, the feed required by the stock, and the effect of each crop in the rotation on another. It is thus a question requiring more particular study of individual problems than can be given in the prosecution of the soil survey. Every rotation should, however, include at least one legume as a soil enricher.
The price of land has advanced rapidly in the last few years and but little of it can be bought for less than one hundred and fifty dollars an acre, and where it is well improved from two hundred dollars to two hundred and twenty-five dollars is often asked. The more prosperous farmers are satisfied with their holdings and refuse to put a price upon their land. The demand for suburban property, particularly in the vicinity of the main transportation lines, will undoubtedly cause a steady advance in the price of land. As an
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index of the prosperity of the farmers it may be stated that mortgage in- debtedness secured by farm property in the county decreased nearly forty per cent between 1908 and 1909.
Farm hands are paid from twenty dollars to twenty-five dollars a month, with board, lodging, washing, and feed for a driving horse. Harvest hands and extra helpers receive from one dollar and fifty cents to two dollars and fifty cents per day. The manufacturing plants and public works in Indian- apolis have drawn heavily upon the labor of the county, so that desirable farm labor is scarce. Most of the work is done by the owner and his family.
SOILS.
Hamilton county is covered with a mantle of till varying in thickness from a few feet in the eastern part of the area to as much as three hundred feet in the north and west parts. The mean average thickness is about one hundred feet.
The glacial till is a stiff, compact, clayey matrix, with which is mingled sand, gravel, and bowlders in varying proportions. Some of the rock is of local origin, but other kinds, for instance, granite, gneiss, and trap rocks, also found embedded in the till and strewn over the surface, have been brought from the Lake Superior region, whence they were carried by the ice. In the eastern half of the county the Niagara limestone underlies the glacial deposits, and this rock outcrops in the valley of West Fork White river, above and below Strawtown, and in the valleys of Fall and Stony creeks. It appears near the surface at a few other points in the area. The Devonian rocks underlie the till in the western half of the county, but are not exposed at any point.
It is from the glacial till that the upland soils of the area have been derived. The alluvial soils or bottom lands represent stream-deposited ma- terial composed largely of wash from the upland soils. The underlying rocks have directly contributed little if any of the materials of which the soils of Hamilton county are composed, but they may have contributed to the ice-ground mantle covering the uplands from which the various types are derived.
The drift or till is largely of foreign origin and is more or less general in distribution. It is said to belong geologically to the late Wisconsin stage of glaciation and represents materials which were ground and mixed by the bodies of ice which in glacial time advanced over this region as a great ice sheet or glacier. On melting there was left a mass of finely ground rock
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material. Since this time the mantle of glacial debris has been acted upon by the various agencies of weathering-water, air, vegetation, change in tempera- ture, etc .- and changed to give the present soils. The more uniform silty surface layer is frequently underlain at about two to six feet by sandy or gravelly material. This accounts for the high content of silt in the upland soils. The bottom lands along the larger streams are more sandy, owing to the wash, not only from the silty upland soils, but from exposure of the coarser substratum. Where the drainage has been more sluggish along the smaller streams the bottom lands are also quite silty.
Five series of soils were mapped-the Miami, Clyde, Fox, Waukesha and Genesee. In addition the miscellaneous soils, meadow and muck are encountered.
The Miami series is the most extensive in point of area. This series, including the Miami silt loam and Miami silt loam, flat phase, is characterized by the brownish color of the surface soil and the lighter brown or yellowish- brown color of the subsoil. The soils occupy undulating to gently rolling to nearly level, well-defined areas. The material is derived from glacial till.
The Clyde soils, which also represent an extensive upland series, in- cluding the loam and silty clay loam types, are derived from glacial till, but they differ from the Miami in having black soils rich in organic matter. They occupy poorly drained situations which have favored the accumulation of organic matter. There has been considerable washing in of soil material over the depressions from the adjacent higher land.
The overflowed first-bottom lands were mapped as Genesee loam, Gene- see silty clay loam, Genesee gravelly sandy loam, and as meadow. The Gene- see loam occurs mostly along West Fork White river and the larger streams, while the silty clay loam is found along Stony, Mud and Fall creeks and some of the smaller streams. The gravelly sandy loam occupies small areas along West Fork White river. The Genesee soils are composed of brown-colored alluvial material representing wash from the uplands which was deposited by stream overflow. The classification meadow comprises alluvial material so variable in texture that satisfactory separation into definite types could not be accomplished. The material, in the main, possesses the characteristics of the Genesee.
The Fox and Waukesha soils are confined to the stream terraces, the second bottoms, which were built up by the overflow waters when the streams were flowing at higher levels than at present. just as the present first bottoms are being built up by additional deposits from local successive overflow. The Fox series includes the brown-colored terrace soils, while the Waukesha series
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includes the black soils. The Waukesha soils differ from the Sioux, which are also black terrace soils, in their mineralogical composition, containing less limestone material.
In the subsequent chapters the various types are described in detail. The extent of the various types is shown in the following table and their distribution on the accompanying map:
AREAS OF DIFFERENT SOILS.
Soil.
Acres.
Per cent.
Miami silt loam
33,664)
67.9
Flat phase
140,416J
Clyde silty clay loam
45,248
17.7
Genesee loam
12,160
4.8
Fox loam
10,688
4.2
Genesee silty clay loam
6,208
2.5
Meadow
3,008
I.2
Waukesha silty clay loam
1,536
.6
Muck
1,280
0.5
Clyde loam
384
.2
Genesee gravelly sandy loam
384
.2
Fox gravelly sandy loam
320)
Poorly drained phase
64J
.2
Total
255,360
MIAMI SILT LOAM.
The surface soil of the Miami silt loam, to an average depth of ten or twelve inches, is a brown to yellowish-brown silt loam, grading into a darker silty clay loam. Below eighteen to twenty inches the subsoil is a dark-brown, friable silty clay to sandy clay with an appreciable amount of fine gravel. The content of sand and gravel increases with depth, so that below three or four feet a lighter colored gravelly loam is encountered. Erosion, which tends to remove the finer material from the till, has been the main factor in differentiating this soil from the flat phase.
This type occupies the more rolling uplands in the vicinity of the larger stream courses and the larger morainic ridges throughout the area. It is confined almost entirely to the southern half of the county, where the rivers
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and creeks have cut deeper into the glacial till plane, causing more active erosion in the vicinity of their stream valleys.
This type is rolling to hilly, the greatest relief being found along Hinkle creek in the vicinity of Deming. No definite boundary exists between it and the flat phase, the change from one to the other being very gradual, both as regards texture and topography. The texture does not always follow the rolling topography, for even these rolling areas are sometimes quite silty and could easily be classed with the flat phase in this respect. In the vicinity of West Fork White river a level to undulating plain is sometimes encountered where the soil is darker in color than the flat phase, but otherwise like that soil. This intermediate phase is well drained and quite productive.
The Miami silt loam as a whole is probably better suited to fruit culture than to general farming, as it is often too rolling for the successful use of machinery. Existing orchards are profitable. The dark-colored phase described above is one of the best wheat soils of the county.
In some places this type is sufficiently steep to warrant its being terraced, but no terracing is practiced in the area to prevent washing of the hillsides. The steeper slopes should be kept in sod whenever it is practicable to do so.
Miami silt loam, flat phase .- The surface soil of the Miami silt loam, flat phase, to an average depth of about eight inches, is a compact silt loam of light-brown color when wet, but having a grayish surface when dry. The soil below the surface is also frequently grayish yellow or creamy yellow when partly dry. Below eight inches and to a depth of twelve to fifteen inches the color changes to a mottled gray and brown, with a gradation in texture from the silt loam to a silty clay loam. Below this depth the sub- soil is a yellowish-brown silty clay, grading into a darker brown friable silty clay containing an appreciable amount of sand and fine gravel. The darker brown material, bowlder clay, is encountered at twenty-four to thirty inches, where the surface is level to gently undulating, and at eighteen to twenty inches, where the surface is more broken or hilly. The soil under the latter condition, however, approaches more nearly the typical Miami silt loam. Areas of this kind are found generally in the vicinity of stream courses.
Below three or four feet the substratum gradually becomes lighter, both in color and texture, and at a depth of eight or ten feet a large percentage of the soil mass is made up of sand and gravel. Below this a stratum of drab to bluish clay is frequently encountered, which, in turn, is underlain by strata of sand and gravel. The latter condition is more general along the stream courses. The deposits are less stratified farther back from the stream valleys.
The Miami silt loam, flat phase, being derived from glacial till, is fairly
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uniform throughout the county, but slight local variations in the surface soil exist as the result of inequalities of drainage. Upon the crests of the knolls and ridges the soil is more sandy, with a few chert, granite, and quartz peb- bles strewn upon the surface. Where it occurs as level or slightly undulating areas the surface soil often presents a leached or ashy colored appearance, due to its natural, poorly drained condition. It. is not as productive as the better drained areas, in which the soil is darker colored. Where the drain- age is inadequate the subsoil is mottled, cold, and heavy, while in the case of the better drained areas the subsoil is darker, frequently of a yellowish- brown color, and is more open and porous, allowing a freer circulation of air and water. Such conditions render it more productive.
The Miami silt loam, flat phase, is the most extensive soil in the county and includes a greater part of the better drained uplands. It is distinguished by its light color and is known locally as "clay" land. The term thus ap- plied probably has reference to the tendency of the soil to clod if plowed when wet, as its texture is that of a silt loam and not a clay. The tendency of the soil to run together is due mainly to the insufficiency of organic matter.
The Miami silt loam, flat phase, is not only the most extensive but also the most widely distributed soil in the county, being found in all parts except along the larger streams, where a similar though lighter textured soil of roll- ing surface occurs. Throughout the northern half of the county the flat phase of the Miami silt loam is fairly evenly distributed with the Clyde silty clay loam, but in the southern, particularly the southwestern, portion of the county, the area of this soil far exceeds that of all others. In the more nearly level sections it occurs as low, flat ridges and knolls interspersed with the "black lands," or Clyde soils. The flat phase is best developed in the southwestern portion of the county along the Marion county line.
In the early settlement of the county the pioneers naturally preferred this soil to the "black lands," because of its better drainage. When first cleared it was darker in color than at present, being rich in humus, and was very productive. Continued cropping, frequently without rotation, has largely depleted the humus supply. To this is due its light color or leached appearance, the low yields of certain crops, and the tendency of the soil to run together when wet and to bake or clod upon drying. The latter condi- tion can never be remedied until sufficient organic matter has been incorpo- rated with the soil to keep it loose and mellow. Liberal applications of finely ground limestone will aid in mellowing up this soil as well as help to stimulate the action of bacteria in storing nitrogen in the roots of clover and other leguminous crops. This soil showed a decided acid reaction wherever tests
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were made, indicating the need of lime. Applications of phosphatic fer- tilizers, either as ground phosphate rock or in the more soluble form of acid phosphate, should increase the yields. Subsoiling, supplemented by deeper plowing each year, will aid materially in increasing the water-holding capacity of the land.
The existence of the flat phase of the Miami silt loam in any particular field can usually be told by the early growth of corn, oats, clover, etc. It will be noted that the black-land areas, the Clyde soils, produce a much more vigorous growth of these crops, and this is reflected in the yields, a mean average for several successive years showing that the yields of corn, oats, and hay from the flat phase of the Miami silt loam are but little more than half as great as obtained from the Clyde silty clay loam. This is offset to some extent in the case of the grains by the better quality of the product of the Miami soil. This phase is well adapted to wheat, and the best soil in the county for that crop.
The growing of sorghum for sirup gives promise of being an important industry in the vicinity of Westfield. The lighter phase of this soil is par- ticularly well adapted to this purpose, as it produces a mild-flavored, light- colored sirup.
While larger yields of tomatoes are obtained on the Clyde soils, a finer and more highly flavored tomato is produced on the lighter-colored soils, where the vine growth is less luxuriant. The tomatoes grown on the Miami are less subject to decay than those grown on the darker Clyde soils. Peas as well as tomatoes are grown on this soil for market and canning. Ground limestone or burned lime improve the yields and quality of the products.
A winter cover crop of some kind should always be sown upon this soil. Wheat is generally used for this purpose, but rye to be turned under in the spring where corn is to follow, makes an excellent crop for the pur- pose. If this practice is followed there will be less tendency for the soil to clod.
The Miami silt loam, flat phase, is not generally valued as highly as the black lands, the average price being about one hundred and fifty dollars an acre. Adjacent to the towns and villages it commands a higher price. Some of the best improved farms in the county are located upon it, and where up-to-date methods are being employed the returns from this soil are being increased, the crops being more certain than upon the Clyde soils.
The native forest growth consisted of beech, black walnut, white oak, yellow poplar, (tulip), sugar maple, white ash, chinquapin oak, red oak,
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shellbark hickory, hazel nut, pawpaw, redbud, wild plum, and dogwood. Only small scattered areas of forest remain.
CLYDE LOAM.
The surface soil of the Clyde loam, to an average depth of ten inches, is a black loam to silty clay loam. This grades into a bluish-black silty clay loam. This in turn is underlain at eighteen to twenty inches by a drab or gray silty clay, mottled with yellow or brown. In the lower depths the mottling is darker. Below thirty to thirty-six inches the subsoil becomes lighter in texture, being often a fine sandy clay. The water table is fre- quently encountered at this depth, so that the clay is soft and puttylike.
The dark color of the surface soil is due to the high content of organic matter. The soil when wet has a slightly pasty consistency for the same rea- son. The amount of this organic matter, however, is not sufficient to justify its correlation with the muck, although the two are sometimes confused by the farmers.
The Clyde loam is commonly referred to as prairie land, similar lands being called wet prairies in other parts of the state and in Illinois. The term "prairie" as applied to these areas has reference to their original treeless condition. They represent depressions or swamp lands which in their natural state were covered with water a greater portion of the year. Hay was cut by the early settlers from the better drained areas, which constituted the chief source of this crop at that time. The native vegetation consisted largely of sedges, grasses, cat-tails, flags, "button bush," and willow. The annual decay of this vegetation has supplied the store of organic matter found in the soil.
Where the soil is loose and mucky it is generally "chaffy" or fluffy. Corn grown upon these areas burns or turns yellow before it is fully matured. This condition is more noticeable when the land is first put under cultivation. The free use of barnyard manure, deeper plowing, and thorough cultivation to increase aeration of the soil as much as possible, will tend to correct this chaffy condition. The liberal application of potash fertilizers is also recom- mended as a means of increasing the yields from this type.
The occurrence of this type in Hamilton county is limited to a small body west of Sheridan, which has been reclaimed by artificial drainage. It is used mostly for corn and oats. Being situated near the town of Sheridan. with ample railroad facilities, trucking would be more profitable, as this soil is particularly well adapted to cabbage, beets, turnips, Irish potatoes, cauli-
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flower, celery, etc. The only other area mapped is located in section 8, town- ship 19, range 5.
CLYDE SILTY CLAY LOAM.
The Clyde silty clay loam includes a greater part of what is known locally as the "black lands." It was originally of a semi-swampy nature, but in recent years it has been drained artificially and now constitutes one of the most productive types in the area. It is particularly well adapted to corn. The term "black land," as applied to this type, has reference to the dark color of the surface soil, the result of its high content of organic matter, which accumulated as vegetable remains when these areas were in a semi-swampy condition.
The surface soil of the Clyde silty clay loam, to an average depth of eight inches, is a dark-brown to almost black, heavy silt loam to silty clay loam. As the surface dries it has a grayish-black appearance. The dark color of the soil is proportionate to the percentage of organic matter present. The latter affects also the chemical and physical properties, the soil being enriched by this material, and its power to hold water increased. The sub- soil from eight to twenty or twenty-four inches grades from bluish black to drab or gray, with brown iron stains below twelve to fifteen inches. The texture of the subsoil for the first few inches is a silty clay loam, which in turn is underlain by a stiff, plastic clay to a depth of twenty-four to thirty inches. Below this depth a gradual transition from the stiffer clay to a deeply mottled, lighter textured silty to fine sandy clay is encountered. Where this type follows the natural drainage channels it is generally underlain by sand and gravel at various depths, the average depth being six to eight feet. The gravel and sand is usually highly stained with iron.
Although the Clyde silty clay loam is derived from the same materials as the flat phase of the Miami silt loam-glacial till of the late Wisconsin period-topographic differences are sufficient to form distinct types of soil. The former type occupies the lower lying acreas or depressions in the up- lands, originally deficient in drainage, while the better drained uplands are largely occupied by the flat phase of the Miami silt loam. During the early settlement of Hamilton county the Clyde silty clay loam was covered with water or semi-swampy during certain seasons of the year and little or no agricultural value was attached to these lands, but with the building of good roads and adequate drainage outlets the type has been gradually brought under cultivation and now includes some of the most productive and high- priced lands in the area. Farms often bring as much as two hundred to
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