AGRICULTURE. 



135 



TABLE 39. 

 Yield per acre of certain crops in southern Alabama, 1909. 



is likely to have an average yield of any crop much below 

 the State average, for obviously where the crop in question 

 does not do well it is not likely to be raised in measurable 

 quantities, and other crops better adapted to the locality will 

 be raised instead. 



And although the yield may fluctuate from year to year 

 with the weather, prevalence of certain insect pests, etc., 

 there is probably little change from one decade to another, 

 except a gradual upward tendency as the population be- 

 comes denser and farming more intensive. The differences 

 that exist between different regions in this respect can be 

 correlated with density of population about as well as any- 

 thing else. (That in turn indeed depends somewhat on soil 

 fertility, but not as much now as it did before commercial 

 fertilizers came into use.) For example, the natural fer- 

 tility of the soil is unquestionably greater on the average in 

 the red hills than in the lime-sink region, and yet the latter 

 has higher yields of most crops; which harmonizes very 

 well with what was said on page 56 about its densed popu- 

 lation indicating intensive farming. And Mobile County, 

 which has some of the poorest soil in the State, has the 

 highest yield of most crops, even cotton. 



