Maladjustments in Land Use 



43 



river hill lands were fairly well settled before agricul- 

 tural adjustment began on the i)rairies. 



From 1830 to 1880 settlement of the prairie areas 

 took place, and gradually a liighly commercialized 

 sj'stem of agriculture and rural living was evolved. Bj' 

 1910 the river hill lauds began to evince a handicap in 

 comparison with the prairies. Life in the former local- 

 ities failed to become commercialized at a rate com- 

 mensurate with that on the level uplands. In part this 

 retardation of the hilly areas can be charged to poorer 

 transportation and inferior access; in larger part it has 

 occurred because hill land will not readily support com- 

 mercialized production. Simultaneously, the house- 

 hold arts and domestic industries have declined almost 

 as rapidly on hill farms as on prairie farms. Conse- 

 quently, the former has come to contribute less to family 

 living without yielding a proportionately increased cash 

 income. 



General Economic and Social Conditions. — Improper 

 crop rotation, poor farm practices, severe erosion result- 

 ing from the farming of steep hillsides, and mcreased 

 soil acidity have resulted in generally lowered produc- 

 tivity of the land. At the same time the general deple- 

 tion of local timber resources has caused au.xiliary pro- 

 duction to dwindle. Farm incomes in the river hill 

 areas are generally low, averaging 50 percent or more 

 below the State average. Such incomes, compara- 

 tively low as they are for Iowa, may seem high as 

 compared with those of the self-sufficing agricultural 

 areas in the Appalachians. However, with the gener- 

 ally liigher standard of living with which these people 

 are familiar, the incomes are often not as effective as 

 are much lower incomes in the hill country of the 

 Appalachians or Ozarks, for example. Not only is farm 

 income small but the value of the farm dwelling is low 

 on most problem farms, averaging probably between 

 $500 and $1,000, but less than $500 in many instances. 



From 1920 to 1930 rural population in the problem 

 areas of southern Iowa decreased by 25 percent. In 

 ])art this resulted in desirable farm consolidation and 

 in part in outright abandonment. During the current 

 ik^pression many of the vacant farmsteads have been 

 reoccupied by migrants from the towns and cities. 

 This class of people, usually without resources and 

 frequently without farm experience, have merely added 

 to the already critical public rehef burden. The num- 

 ber of families on pubhc rehef has varied from place 

 to place in accordance with local policies, and occa- 

 sionally in relation to rehef demands. During the 

 first half of 1934 the proportion of families on relief 

 in the problem districts in Iowa has averaged 60 

 percent higher than in the State as a whole. 



Tax dehnquency in southern Iowa is high, and in 

 general runs higher than in other portions of the 



144090— 3C 4 



State. As early as 1928 the area showed a 20-percent 

 delinquency. By 1931 it had risen to 41 percent. By 

 1933 this had been reduced approximately to 33 percent 

 because large amounts of farm land had passed into the 

 hands of business concerns which have been able to 

 pay the taxes. Tliis agglomeration of corporate hold- 

 ings has proceeded until in many localities today 

 one-fifth to one-fourth of all farm land is corporately 

 owned. 



Erosion Control. — The high average of agricultural 

 productivity of some of the States lying largely in this 

 region has given rise to the recognition of problems 

 in the use of poor land, wliich might appear relatively 

 unimportant in States characterized by lower levels of 

 agricultural productivity. In Illinois, for example, the 

 conversion of some farm land, reported at relatively 

 high values, to forest is advocated. In Iowa the 

 acquisition of small scattered tracts of woodland 

 and eroded land to be administered as public forests, is 

 proposed. Inasmuch as the greater part of this region 

 is characterized by relatively high income per farm 

 family, it appears that the urgency of land use adjust- 

 ment must be mamlj- concerned with sod conservation. 



Erosion control is believed to involve a measure of 

 replacement of intertilled crops, notably corn, 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 per- 

 manently in soil-protecting uses. In certain areas 

 many of the farms need somewhat larger acreage to 

 provide adequate incomes after making this adjust- 

 ment. In some of the other areas in the region larger 

 acreages per farm would not be necessary. 



Gulf Coast Prairies 



This region extends from soutliwestern Louisiana 

 westward along the Texas coast as far as Baffin Bay. 

 In general, tnis is a low, level, plains region, trenched 

 by shallow stream valleys. Its black soils are in the 

 main fertile and suited for agricultural use. 



In the east rice is the principal crop. In the center 

 this gives way to cotton, and this in turn is superseded 

 by stock raising toward the west. In the neighborhood 

 of Galveston there is an area of dairying and mixed 

 farming. 



Over much of the region there is widespread necil of 

 drainage, but practically no areas of subraarginal 

 farming. Along the Texas coast and on the long, 

 narrow, barrier islands oflshore the soils are verj' sandy 

 and wholly unsuited for agriculture. At the same 

 time, such areas have an impelling value for pubhc 

 recreation and game refuge uses. Accordingly, the 

 few farms of the islands shoukl be eliminated to make 

 way for more profitable use of the laud. 



