8 SOILS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



and alfalfa, under favorable climatic conditions, have made it highly 

 prized as farming land and led to its almost complete occupation. 

 This does not mean that all of the areas of the Houston black clay 

 are given up equally to the intensive production of the great staple 

 crops, but it does mean that the bulk of this type has passed chiefly 

 into private ownership and must now be purchased from individual 

 owners by those still desiring to develop land of this kind for the pro- 

 duction of either staple or special crops. It is only in those extreme 

 southwestern regions where rainfall is scarcely sufficient under normal 

 conditions to produce the great staple crops that the areas of the 

 Houston black clay are now only partially occupied or used for 

 grazing. 



It is probable that within the humid region where the type occurs 

 fully 90 per cent of the entire area is occupied for the production of 

 some farm commodity. Within the samiarid region probably not 

 over 5 per cent of the type is occupied for crop production, and the 

 remainder used chiefly for grazing purposes. 



The price at which land of this type may be purchased depends 

 largely upon the attendant rainfall conditions, distance from main 

 lines of transportation, and upon the character of the improvements 

 which have been placed upon the land. In those localities most 

 unfavorably located with regard to all of these factors areas of the 

 type may still be bought at $10 to $15 per acre, but within other 

 areas more favorably located the price of this land ranges from $50 to 

 $150 per acre. This variation in price is due largely to attendant 

 circumstances and not to the quality and fertility of the soil itself. 

 It may be considered one of the most valuable, if not the most 

 valuable, of the widely distributed cotton soils of the central and 

 western Gulf States. 



While all of the Houston black clay is probably occupied for some 

 agricultural purposes, not all of the type is occupied for either inten- 

 sive or diversified agriculture. There remains a decided opportunity 

 for a higher degree of development of the lands already held in private 

 ownership, even though no additional acreage of this soil may be 

 brought into cultivation. 



CROP ADAPTATIONS. 



The Houston black clay is the great prairie cotton soil of the 

 western Gulf States. This soil probably produces more bales of 

 Upland cotton than any other single soil type in the United States. 

 Not only is this true, but also larger average yields per acre are pro- 

 duced upon this type through a longer period of tune than upon any 

 other Upland cotton soil. Cotton is almost universally grown upon 

 the Houston black clay wherever the annual precipitation is sufficient 

 to mature the crop. The yields have been given in a large number 



