TROPICAL SOILS — PENDLETON 453 



States. Not only has it been introduced and distributed in Florida, 

 but recent reports are that in Alabama ^^ it is also well under way. 

 Though it does involve severe forest destruction, kaingining makes 

 it possible for the farmers to obtain something to eat and some fiber 

 for clothing from a relatively poor soil with little else but very simple 

 hand tools and plenty of hard work. If the forest returns to the land 

 within a reasonable time, perhaps after 5, 10, or 15 years, the same plot 

 of land may be kaingined again. The main difficulty with this method 

 of crop production is that it requires live to fifteen times as much land 

 to produce the same amount of crop as can be obtained from a plot 

 of reasonably fertile land j^ear after year. 



In regions such as the western Belgian Congo, where Imperata 

 already dominates the landscape and there is no chance for the forest 

 to come back naturally, the natives employ a laborious system of 

 hoeing the surface soil up into little heaps, perhaps 18 inches high 

 and 3 feet across, and planting cuttings of cassava in the heap. In 

 this way the plant seems to be able to survive and produce food 

 without too much competition by cogon grass, especially if some dry 

 grass or roots are collected and burned on the heaps before planting 

 the crop. 



But even if the forest does come back on the land within a reason- 

 able time, when it can be kaingined again, crops from these kaingins 

 will do little more than maintain the family during the year. It is, 

 definitely, a subsistence agriculture. Little can be produced for sale, 

 even if there are buyers for any considerable quantity. Perhaps a 

 neighboring village will use some of the produce, but only at a low 

 price, and usually only in trade for something else. There is prac- 

 tically no money for fertilizers, and they are rarely used even though 

 they may be bought at a reasonable price. The transport of fer- 

 tilizer to the fields where it is applied is, in itself, a difficult problem, 

 for roads are few. Good roads in tropical regions are usually costly. 

 In humid tropical lowlands, profoundly weathered rocks, deep plastic 

 clay subsoils, and the often torrential rainfall are serious and ex- 

 pensive obstacles to contend with and overcome in highway construc- 

 tion and maintenance. 



PLANTATION CROPS 



In humid tropical regions, both at low altitudes and at higher ones, 

 there can be grown certain agricultural crops that the world wants 

 and will pay for. Moreover, there are practicable ways of handling 

 or processing the materials so that the products can be shipped over- 

 seas. These plantation crops may require a considerable amount of 

 capital for developing the land, for building, operating, and maintain- 



" Reported by Dr. Mark Baldwin in a personal communication. 



