AE 
causes for the low productivity are steep slopes, poor cultivation, and lack 
of crop rotation. The shale soil washes less than almost any other soil 
under like circumstances. The wonder is that the soil produces as much 
as it does. 
A-few years ago Berea College, with the help of the United States 
government, employed a special investigator and demonstrator to work 
with the mountain farmers within reach of Berea. The success was such 
that a number have been appointed in other localities. About Berea, heavy 
breaking plows are replacing the one-mule plow, and the disk harrow is 
pushing back into the mountains. More than twice as many shallow culti- 
5. Stumpage and slash which will invite forest fires in the Southern Appalachian Highlands. 
vators as single shovel and double shovel ploughs were sold in Berea last 
spring. The practice of sowing cow peas and rye for forage and turning 
under is spreading, as is the use of commercial fertilizer. Crop rotation is 
displacing the fallow system. 
Further education in agriculture is being given at the missionary and 
settlement schools, as at Oneida, Hindman, Buckhorn, and Blackie. But 
agriculture in the interior of the region is yet primitive, and improvements 
are slow in penetrating. A common sight is corn growing among girdled 
trees. 
The few gardens which are being introduced about the settlements and 
mining and lumbering camps are giving favorable results. 
