Maladjustments in Land Use 



11 



region is one of the less important rejjions in point of 

 the magnitude of hind-use problems. In a long-settled 

 region of tins sort, land use has hail time to become 

 fairly well adjusted to land character, and is, therefore, 

 reasonably stable. Parts of the region are urban and 

 industrial, rather than agricultural. Land-use prob- 

 lems of importance are restricted mainly to the southern 

 part, in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and 

 Delaware. 



Central AyiicuHuial Region. — Land-use problems are 

 reported mainly in the southern part of this region. 

 Major adjustments advocated: (1) Institution of meas- 

 ures to control erosion on farms without necessitating 

 increase in size of farms; (2) increasing size of farms in 

 order to permit the use of erosive land for pasture and 

 to reduce the acreage in crops; (3) local withdrawal of 

 crop farming hi widely scattered small areas, devoting 

 land withdrawn to forest or recreation. 



This region is responsible for much of the volume of 

 the agricultural production of the United States. On 

 the whole, agriculture here has been marked by the pro- 

 vision of a relatively good family living and the support 

 of fairly stable public services and histitutions. 



Immediate land-use adjustment in tliis region is 

 mainly concerned with soil conservation. Erosion con- 

 trol is believed to involve the replacement of intertilled 

 crops, notably corn and cotton, by close-growing crops 

 or pasture, by keeping erosive land in grass, legumes, or 

 pasture for a longer part of the rotation, or by keeping 

 the most erosive slopes permanently in soil-protectuig 

 cover. In certain areas, many of the farms may need 

 somewhat larger acreages to provide adequate uicomes 

 after makhig this adjustment. In some of the other 

 areas in the region, larger acreages per farm woidd not 

 be necessary. 



Gulf Coast F/airie. — Major adjustment advocated: 

 Provision of additional drainage. 



The Gulf Coast Prairie of Texas and Louisiana is 

 characterized by naturally poor drainage. Much of 

 tiie land, when artificially drained, is productive; some 

 havuig impervious subsoil is used for rice growing under 

 irrigation. It is believed that additional drainage to 

 Ijenefit some of the land now in farms will promote 

 agricultural stability. 



Mississippi Delta. — Major adjustments advocated: 

 (1) Provision of additional drainage and/oi' flood con- 

 trol for farm land in some locahties, (2) local withdrawal 

 of crop farming on a few widely scattered areas. 



The Mississipjji Delta, the extensive body of alluvium 

 along the lower course of the Mississip])i Kiver, con- 

 tains some inherently productive bodies of land. How- 

 e\er, mucli of it is now pooi'ly drained or subject to 



overflow and agricultural settlement is confined to the 

 better-drained parts, which are densely settled and 

 intensively used. 



Estimates of the productivity after drainage of the 

 parts of the region now poorly drained has been a matter 

 of controversy. Much of the soil is unquestionably 

 fertile, but poor drainage and frequency of overflow 

 have retarded its development. Much of the poorly 

 drained land has fine textured (clay) soil very retentive 

 of moisture, requiring skillfully constructed w'orks to 

 effect satisfactory drainage. 



Some of the soils are reputed to have good structure 

 and when drained, to l)e among the most productive 

 cotton soils of the country. Others are notably less 

 productive. It is evident that proper tliscrimination 

 between productive and less productive land was not 

 exercised in undertakuig drainage enterprises, as there 

 appears to be some poor land in many of them. Tax 

 delmquency on the poorer land has, in some instances, 

 intensified delinquency on the better lauds, suice 

 drainage taxes have been applied to reduce the debt of 

 the entire district, rather than to reduce the propor- 

 tionate debt of individuals. Hence, ui such cases 

 farmers on the better lands have dehberately allowed 

 taxes to bect)me delinquent. 



It is believed that refinancing of some drainage 

 enterprises would contribute to permit local stabiliza- 

 tion of agriculture. 



In some instances inherently productive laud has 

 been provided with inadequate drainage. It is believed 

 that aiklitional drainage would make possible the 

 establishment of economic agriculture in some of these 

 cases. 



Southeastern Middle Coastal Plain. — (Middle coastal 

 plain of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North 

 Carolina, and Virginia.) Major adjustments advo- 

 cated: (1) Instituting constructive management of 

 forest land; (2) local withdrawal of huid from crop 

 farming in a few widely scattered areas. 



The southeastern middle coastal plain embraces the 

 undulating or gently rolling lands of the Coastal Plain 

 extending from Virginia to Alabama just iidaiul fmni 

 the poorly drained coastal fiatwoods of the Atlantic 

 and Gulf coast cut-over region. H\ce|)t for tlii> ell'ect 

 of an undesirable and unstable form of tenure in nuiny 

 sections, agricultural laiul use is probably more stable 

 than in the other regions of the Southeastern States. 

 Because of the generally smooth surface, erosion is only 

 locally a serious problem. So many of the farm families 

 are tenants operating small farms that the average 

 income of families in much of the region is not high. 

 Because of the high labor requirement of the piincipal 



144090 — 36- 



