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   The Sioux series comprises dark brown to black terrace soils occurring in the glaciated region of the central and northwestern states. These soils are characterized and distinguished from the Wabash soils by their occurrence on terraces above overflow and by the presence of a bed of gravel, usually within three feet of the surface. They differ from the Waukesha soils in having-gravelly or sandy and somewhat droughty subsoils.

   The Sioux fine sandy loam consists of a brownish-gray to dark grayish-brown fine sandy loam, with an average depth of eight inches. It is underlain by a fine yellow sand, which, anywhere from eighteen to twenty-four inches, merges into a loose, incoherent, yellowish-gray or light gray fine sand, mottled with yellow. At thirty to thirty-six inches the subsoil is almost white in color. The depth of the soil varies considerably. On the tops of knoblike hills or on the top slopes at the edges of tlie Waukesha silt loam the soil is very shallow and often regular "sand blows" have been formed. Farther down the slope the soil usually becomes deeper and has a large admixture of silty material. Lower exposures of this type along the bluff line show quite a little coarse sand and fine gravel in the basal beds. This type is more or less interspersed with small patches of Waukesha silt loam and in general, through the process of erosion, there has been a mixing and slipping of the silty layers of the sand and vice versa on the lower slopes. In section 29, township 16 north, range 8 east, three small areas are included in this type where the sand has apparently been blown on the lower slopes of the upland adjoining Todd Valley. There is no difference in the soil except that it occupies a higher topographic position.

   This type is of small extent. It occurs as numerous areas closely associated with the Waukesha silt loam.

   The Sioux fine sandy loam covers knoblike elevations in Todd Valley and the slopes between the Waukesha silt loam and the bottomland soils. These slopes vary from a gentle to very steep gradient. The soil is thoroughly drained and on steep slopes is subject to both water and wind erosion.

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   This type is used for pasture and to some extent for corn, oats and wheat. Owing to the closeness of the sand, the soil is very droughty and the pastures dry up as soon as the hot, dry weather comes on in July. Only small yields of oats, corn and wheat are obtained, except on lower slopes, where seepage water often supplies the plants with the necessary moisture.

   The results of mechanical analyses of samples of the soil and subsoil of the Sioux fine sandy loam follows:

   The soils of the Scott series are dark brown to drab. The subsoils are lighter drab or brown. The members of this series consist of lake-laid material eroded from higher lying loessial soils and deposited by sheet surface waters or intermittent streams in the shallow waters of temporary lakes or ponds occupying local, un-drained, sinklike depressions in upland plains. The soils are poorly drained, and in some places are subject to overflow.

   The soil of the Scott silt loam is a dark gray to grayish-black silt loam twelve to fifteen inches deep, underlain by a pulverulent, floury silt containing an appreciable amount of very fine sand and of a light gray to ashen-gray color, mottled with rusty brown. At a depth of twenty-four to thirty inches, and sometimes deeper, the above stratum grades immediately through a brownish-gray silty clay into a dark gray or slate-colored silty clay to clay, mottled slightly with brown. The lower subsoil is highly calcareous and contains some iron concretions. The upper layer of the subsoil is very loose, while the lower layer is very compact and impervious to water. Owing to its marshy condition a large quantity of organic matter has been incorporated with the surface soil.

   This type occurs as numerous small isolated areas in the bodies of Waukesha silt loam in Todd Valley and west of Ashland. The areas range from two to about one hundred acres in extent, the

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average size being about five acres. Numerous areas too small to map were encountered in the Todd Valley.

   The Scott silt loam occupies depressed, swampy areas which are very poorly drained. They have no natural outlet and serve as catch basins for the surrounding land. Owing to the fact that the lower subsoil is very impervious, water stands on this type for a number of days after heavy rains. A few drainage ditches have been dug in Todd Valley, chiefly to supplement the natural drainage of the Waukesha silt loam, though they have also provided drainage for a number of Scott silt loam areas. When distant from the main ditches the drainage of these areas by lateral ditches or tiles is rather expensive. In view of this fact a number of farmers have provided drainage by digging wells to basal lands. This scheme has been very satisfactory, but has not been extended very much on account of the dry seasons during the last few years.

   The upper section of this soil is apparently derived from more recent silt washed from the surrounding higher land on the older soil, now occurring as the lower subsoil. The lower stratum, which is higher in organic matter, is apparently a very old soil formed by the deposition of clay and silt from standing water.

   The native vegetation varies considerably from the center to edge of areas of this type. It is not uncommon to find the middle of the area barren, surrounded by a zone of sedges which along the edges merge into a border of prairie grasses. Where the native sod has been disturbed by plowing white clover and sedges form the chief growth.

   Only a very small percentage of this type has been reclaimed. The greatest problem in handling it is that of drainage. When the soil is properly drained wheat does well, but oats and corn do not yield profitable returns. In dry years crops do well where no artificial drainage has been provided, but even then heavy rains are apt to occur and drown out the plants. Most of this type is utilized for hay land and pasturage. From 1 to l 1/2 tons is the usual yield per acre. Land of this type is valued at about forty dollars an acre.

   The following table gives the results of mechanical analyses of samples of the soil, subsoil, and lower subsoil of the Scott silt loam:

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   The Wabash soils are prevailingly black, ranging to dark brown, and contain a high percentage of organic matter. The subsoils are gray or brownish-gray. These soils are developed in the first bottoms of streams in the Central Prairie States. They extend for long distances along the Mississippi River. The material is derived principally from the loessial and associated soils of the region. The Wabash areas are flat and poorly drained.

   The soil of the Wabash silt loam to an average depth of eighteen inches is a dark grayish-brown or dark brown to black, rather heavy silt loam, with a high content of organic matter. When dry the soil takes on a dark gray to grayish color, especially where the organic matter content is below normal. The subsoil is a dark brownish-gray or very dark gray, heavier and more compact silt loam. It is not uncommon to find no apparent difference in color or texture in the three-foot section.

   There are a few minor variations in this type which are worthy of mention, although they do not differ sufficiently from the typical soil to warrant separating them on the soil map. Locally throughout the type there are areas with a typical soil underlain at eighteen inches by a stiff, compact, black silty clay to clay. The largest area of this kind was recognized along the Wahoo Creek at Weston. A heavier phase, called "gumbo" by farmers, was also encountered. A strip about one-fourth mile wide occurs along the third bottom in the northeast corner of section 8 and in sections 4 and 5, Ashland Precinct, besides numerous small areas which do not justify mentioning. This latter variation is an extremely heavy silt loam to silty clay to a depth of twenty to

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twenty-four inches, where a grayish heavy silt loam mottled with yellow and rusty brown is encountered. Along the major stream courses and their cut-offs a narrow strip of lighter textured material is encountered which usually consists of a dark gray to grayish coarse silt loam to very fine sandy loam with an average depth of ten to fifteen inches, underlain by a light brown stratum of flip same texture. At twenty-four inches the lower stratum merges into a very coarse silt loam of a lighter brown or light gray color mottled with brown. Along the border of the upland a narrow strip of colluvial material is usually encountered and this where wide enough is indicated on the soil map.

   Another variation occurs three miles east of Ceresco. It consists of a black heavy silt loam twenty inches deep, resting on a dark gray silty clay loam containing black and yellow iron oxides. Along the bluff line there are many slight depressions, where the soil is a black silty clay loam to a depth of three feet. In general this phase contains a rather high percentage of sodium chloride, and in spots the salt content is so high that only a scanty growth of salt grasses occurs or the ground is bare. Owing to the marshy condition of the soil, a high percentage of organic matter has been incorporated with it.

   This type is the most important bottom-land soil in the county, and with its colluvial phase covers 104.4 square miles. It occurs as first bottoms along the streams in the upland and to a very limited extent on a slightly higher bench along the Platte River.

   The topography is flat and only slightly relieved in elevation by old cut-offs. Along Salt Creek and Wahoo Creek, below Wahoo, a natural levee has been aggraded by these streams along their courses, while toward the source of the latter stream, above Wahoo, and along the branches of both streams, a narrow first bottom has been formed, leaving the main body of the Wabash silt loam standing as a first terrace. Originally the drainage of this type was poor, but by cleaning and straightening the channels of the streams the natural drainage has been very much improved. The areas along Wahoo Creek below Wahoo and along Salt Creek are rather poorly drained and subject to frequent inundations, while the remainder of the type closer to the head of the streams is better drained and seldom subject to overflow, owing to

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the deep channels. Occasionally, however, these positions are inundated by a branch stream.

   Originally most of this type was covered with a timber growth consisting of cottonwood, willow, elm, ash, black walnut, linden, hackberry, and bitter hickory. Approximately 45 per cent of this type is now devoted to the production of staple crops. On well-drained areas practically all of it is utilized in the production of corn, which returns higher yields on this land than on any other soil type in the county, except Muck. Yields of forty-five to fifty-five bushels per acre are obtained, and with proper cultivation in favorable seasons as high as ninety bushels have been obtained. Reid's Yellow Dent gives the best results on the bottom land, whereas the white dent varieties seem to do better on the upland. Where this soil has been devoted to the production of corn for a number of years and is well drained wheat does well and produces ordinary yields of twenty-seven bushels per acre. Not much wheat is grown. Kherson oats do fairly well, yielding from thirty to forty bushels per acre. The long-strawed oats are apt to lodge. Oats are not grown very extensively. Where the Wabash silt loam lies high above the stream channel and its natural drainage is supplemented by a few ditches alfalfa does better than on the upland soils, yielding three to five tons per acre. Most of this soil is in hay land and pasture. Wild hay yields from one to two tons per acre, and in favorable years as high as three tons is sometimes harvested. Owing to the fact that this type affords good pasturage and a great deal of hay, the beef industry has been more extensively developed than on the upland.

   A one-crop system prevails on this type, though occasionally corn is rotated with oats and wheat. It is not uncommon for a farmer to report that a certain field has been in corn for fifteen years or more. The flat topography silty texture and desirable structure make it a very easy soil to handle. It can be cultivated under a wide range of moisture conditions and seldom bakes or clouds except upon "gumbo" spots, which are rather difficult to handle. Scarcely any barnyard manure and no commercial fertilizers are used.

   The productiveness of the soil where it has been cultivated for a long time has fallen off, owing to the one-crop system. The

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greatest problem that confronts the farmer on this type is that of drainage.

   The price of farms on this type ranges from eighty to one hundred and fifty dollars an acre, depending on drainage conditions and location.

   The soil of the Wabash silt loam, colluvial phase, to an average depth of twenty-four inches is a dark brown to black, very friable and mellow, heavy silt loam, with a rather high content of organic matter. The subsoil is a more compact, dark grayish-brown heavy silt loam. The gradation between the soil and subsoil is very imperceptible, and in many borings no apparent difference in texture and color was noticed in the three-foot section.

   This phase is of very small content, covering 3.4 square miles. The largest area occurs immediately west of Morse Bluff and a number of small areas are scattered throughout the county.

   The colluvial phase of the Wabash silt loam occupies a physiographic position between the upland and the bottomland soils. It has an appreciable slope and is well drained. In a few instances it occurs along intermittent streams where there has been a great deal of side-hill wash.

   Practically all of this phase is devoted to the production of corn, though a few small areas of wheat and oats were seen during the progress of the soil survey. Corn does excellently and yields forty-five to sixty bushels, while as high as one hundred bushels an acre have been obtained.

   No crop rotation is practiced on this soil and scarcely any barnyard manure is applied. It is easily cultivated and can be worked under rather a wide range of moisture conditions. There are no farms in the county composed entirely of this phase. Land of the colluvial phase of the Wabash silt loam is valued at one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and sixty dollars an acre.

   The soil of the Wabash loam, colluvial phase, consists of a dark grayish-brown loam, containing a very high percentage of

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very fine and fine sand. There is no apparent difference in color and texture in the three-foot section, except that the third foot is a shade lighter in color and more compact in structure. The soil is rather high in organic matter.

   This phase covers 1.1 square miles. Three areas occur along the bluff line near Morse Bluff, one three miles southeast of Ithaca, and another, which approaches a sandy loam, about one mile south of Ashland.

   The phase occupies a physiographic position between the third and first bottom lands of the county. It has an appreciable slope and is well drained.

   Most of this soil is devoted to corn, producing yields of forty to sixty bushels per acre. Only a few small areas of oats and wheat were encountered during the survey. Wheat yield twenty-five to thirty bushels per acre and oats thirty-five to forty-five bushels.

   Very little attention is given to crop rotation, though occasionally corn is followed by one year of oats and one year of wheat. Very little barnyard manure and no commercial fertilizers are used. The rather high sand content of the soil gives it a mellow and loamy structure. It can be cultivated under a wide range of moisture conditions without baking or clodding in the least. There are no farms in the county composed entirely of this phase.

   The Wabash loam, colluvial phase, ranges in value from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and seventy-five dollars an acre, depending on its location.

   The soil of the Wabash clay consists of a black clay underlain at an average depth of twelve to fifteen inches by a stiff, waxy clay of the same color as the soil. At thirty inches the color of the subsoil merges into dark gray, though often the black color persists to a depth of thirty inches. The lower portion of the subsoil is highly calcareous, the lime existing in the form of organic shells and concretions. Black iron oxides in the form of small concretions are very abundant, and where the lower subsoil is slightly oxidized the black oxide has partly changed to a rusty brown or yellowish color. As the color indicates, the soil is high

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in organic matter, and it is not uncommon to find remains of plants throughout the soil section.

   As mapped the Wabash clay includes a lighter phase, consisting of a black silty clay loam to an average depth of twenty inches underlain by a silty clay loam or even a heavy silt loam. As a rule the subsoil changes to a drabbish or light gray color mottled with rusty brown or yellowish iron blotches at twenty-four to thirty inches. The high percentage of black iron oxides in the lower portion of the subsoil gives it a very gritty feel. Areas in sections 11, 12, 13,14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 22, 23, the western part of 26, and in sections 27 and 28, township 13 north, range 9 east, and the area in sections 19 and 29, township 17 north, range 5 east, conform to the above description. A few small spots throughout the type have a grayish incrustation of salts.

   The Wabash clay is not very extensively developed and occurs almost entirely in the southeastern part of the county. There is one area in the northwestern part. The type is confined to the lower end of the Wahoo Creek first bottoms and the Platte River first bottoms.

   The topography is flat and the soil is poorly drained, owing to its low position and the impervious subsoil. Only a small percentage of this type has been reclaimed for cultivation, though enough drainage has been provided by ditching to make it good pasturage and hay land. A deep ditch with a few laterals traverses the main body of this type west of Wann. With the levee along the Platte River to keep out the overflow waters and the large drainage ditches already installed it should not be very expensive to further reclaim this land.

   This type undoubtedly marks an abandoned channel of the Platte River which has been silted in by slowly moving waters , and back waters during overflows.

   The greater part of the Wabash clay is utilized for hay land, though a small portion is devoted to pasturage and the production of corn. The main body of this type is owned in small lots by farmers living on the Waukesha silt loam and is used for hay lands. Most of the hay is stacked in the fields and hauled as it is needed or in winter when work is not very pressing. Some is pressed into bales and sold. Owing to the coarse quality of the hay it only brings about six to nine dollars per ton. Where prop-

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erly reclaimed this is an excellent corn soil. It is one of the best corn soils of Douglas County.

   Farm land of this type ranges in value from eighty to one hundred and twenty-five dollars an acre, depending on the drainage conditions.

   The surface soils of the Cass series are dark brown to black. The subsoils are lighter in color and in texture. These soils are alluvial and most extensively developed in the bottoms along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries. They occur in association with the Sarpy soils, differing from them in having a darker color. The drainage is good, though they are subject to overflow.

   The Cass very fine sandy loam consists of a gray to dark gray very fine sandy loam with an average depth of fifteen inches. The color of the soil varies from light gray or brownish-gray to dark gray, depending upon the length of deposition, drainage condition, and period of cultivation. The surface soil is very fine in texture, approaching a silt loam, in many places, and is exceedingly mellow and friable. It is underlain by a light gray, very fine sandy loam, mottled slightly with yellow. Sometimes the yellow mottling is entirely absent and again it is very prominent. A layer of black silt loam is occasionally encountered in the lower subsoil. Seams of coarser material, though not common, occur in the lower subsoil. The soil is rather low in organic matter. Along streams and sloughs a narrow strip of coarser material is encountered within this type.

   The Cass very fine sandy loam is different from the Cass silt loam in that it is lighter in texture and better drained. However, in a great many instances it grades imperceptibly into the latter type, and as a result only a very arbitrary boundary line can be drawn. As would be expected the marginal areas of the Cass very fine sandy loam contain a high percentage of silt.

   This type is one of the most extensive soils on the Platte River first bottoms and is best developed in the southeastern part of the

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county. It occupies a position about three to four feet higher than that of the Cass fine sandy loam.

   The Cass very fine sandy loam has a flat topography, the surface being varied only by a number of meandering depressions. Owing to its light texture and fairly high position in the flood plain it is well drained, while the closeness to the surface of the water table makes the moisture conditions comparatively good even during droughts.

   The native vegetation of this type was largely marsh grasses and a few sedges and rushes, though along the creeks a growth of willows and cottonwood, with a scattering of ash, elm, box elder black walnut, and hackberry, was found.

   About 96 per cent of the Cass very fine sandy loam is under cultivation and the remainder is largely in farm lots and roads. Grain farming, involving the keeping of a few dairy cows and other live stock, especially hogs, is the chief type of agriculture followed on this type. Over one-half of the type is devoted to the production of corn, producing yields of thirty-five to forty-five bushels per acre. Oats is second to corn in acreage and yields ordinarily about thirty-five bushels per acre, though as high as sixty-five bushels have been obtained. The farmers are beginning to grow more wheat, because in dry years it is a more certain crop than corn and also permits a better rotation of crops. Ordinary wheat yields are about twenty-two bushels per acre, though as high as forty bushels have been obtained. A few patches of alfalfa were noticed on this type during the progress of the soil survey. Thus far it has done well, and there seems no reason why it can not be grown successfully. Very little of this soil is devoted to the production of hay, as most of the hay is secured from the Wabash clay and Cass fine sandy loam. The tendency of the farmers on this type is to grow less corn and more wheat, oats, alfalfa, clover, and timothy. A very small portion of this type is utilized for growing seed crops, principally pumpkins and sweet corn.

   A few farmers follow a rotation which consists of two to four years of corn, one year of oats, two to three years of wheat, and two to three years of timothy and clover, returning to corn. Sometimes the clover and timothy are omitted. Most of the farmers do not follow any definite rotation and it is not un-

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common for a farmer to report that he has had a certain field in corn for twenty years. This system has materially reduced the productiveness of the soil.

   The Cass very fine sandy loam, owing to its rather light texture, does not require heavy farm equipments. It works up into a fine, mellow seed bed. Only a small quantity of barnyard manure is applied to this soil, as not very much live stock is raised on the type as a whole. Commercial fertilizers have not been used.

   The Cass very fine sandy loam ranges in price from one hundred to one hundred and thirty-five dollars an acre, depending upon the improvements and the location with reference to towns.