72 An Account of the Soil [pt. i 



agricultural development of virgin countries in temper- 

 ate regions. At first the country is pastoral. Then with 

 the opening of railways comes wheat or maize produc- 

 tion. Later on when the country is more closely settled 

 other crops are raised and wheat loses its premier 

 position: oats are wanted in enormous quantities for 

 the horses used in railway and other construction work, 

 green crops are needed for the cattle and sheep, and 

 other crops are wanted to satisfy the more exacting 

 needs of the population that follows the simple-living 

 pioneer. Then as transport becomes still easier fruit and 

 vegetables are raised in suitable districts for shipment 

 to the cities or abroad (Fig. 20). Canada, South Africa, 

 Australia and the United States show all these stages of 

 development. Finally, when wealth has accumulated 

 and brought leisure and freedom from the struggle, 

 there arises a fastidious people that picks and chooses 

 and puts a price on subtle differences in qualit}' in- 

 appreciable to the unsophisticated. Fashion, prejudice 

 and sheer boredom now become factors and lead to 

 demands for particular varieties of particular crops 

 grown in some special manner: so high a price is offered 

 to anyone who will provide these things that the supply 

 is soon forthcoming. 



The position to which all these observations lead is 

 this: climatic considerations dictate what crops can and 

 what cannot be grown in a given region; they further 

 modify the soil and thus affect the ease of raising the 

 crop. Economic considerations such as transport and 

 market price determine which of all possible crops shall 

 actually be grown. All this leads to much specialisation 

 in crop production as is demonstrated by the crop map 

 of Great Britain (Fig. 21). The warm districts of Corn- 



