PAPERS OX GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY 3S1 



ing. Here and there are patches of lighter colored soil 

 which represent the earlier stages of weathering in 

 which disintegi'ation has taken place more than decom- 

 position. These soils are mostly of clay with a compact 

 subsoil which does not allow ready absorption of the run- 

 off during rains, and which results in relatively rapid 

 erosion on even the more gentle slopes such as are not 

 seriously affected in Illinois where made of tlie looser 

 textured glacial drift. Many years of leaching by the 

 weather, rapid erosion, and continuons cropping of to- 

 bacco have impoverished the soil to such an extent that 

 a large use of commercial fertilizer is necessary. On 

 farms reported to the census enumerators in 1920, S147,- 

 790 was expended for fertilizer in Prince Edward county 

 as against $33,326 for Champaign county which is nearly 

 three times the size^ The contrast in topography and soil 

 between the two regions is further reflected in the valua- 

 tion of the land, the average land value per acre in 1920 

 being $25.11 and $339.07 respectively, for Prince Edward 

 and Champaign counties. 



In each section agi'iculture is the predominant indus- 

 try, S2 per cent of the population of Prince Edward 

 county being rural in 1920, and 52 per cent of Champaign 

 county. Com is the most important crop in acreage in 

 each case, that cereal occupying 35 and 52 per cent, re- 

 spectively, of the cultivated land. The more favorable 

 geographic conditions for com production in the latter 

 county is indicated not only in the larger acreage, but 

 also in the average yield per acre, which is nearly three 

 times as gieat as in Prince Edward coimty.* The im- 

 portance of oats in the com producing regions where it 

 fits into the labor economy of the farmer is shown in 

 Champaign county, in which it occupies second place in 

 acreage, wheat third, and hay and forage fourth. In the 

 Virginia section hay and forage occupy second place, 

 with tobacco, the great money crop, as third in acreage. 

 Tobacco is also the labor consuming crop, the quality de- 

 pending not alone on soil and weather conditions, but 

 much on the kind of attention given to it during its 

 growth. 



• Tr.i proportion is 42 :15. 



