CHOICE OF A REGION 509 



Most of the soils in America that are rich in lime and 

 phosphorus are productive. Many soils, particularly 

 in the humid regions, lack both of these. The highly 

 prosperous farming regions in the United States are all 

 on soils that are rich in lime and phosphorus, or that have 

 not yet begun to feel a serious shortage of these elements. 

 If the deficiency is not too serious, the land may be prof- 

 itably farmed. But if the deficiency is very serious, the 

 cost of fertilizer may be as much as the rent of rich land. 

 Furthermore, if the deficiency is very serious in the subsoil, 

 it cannot be readily corrected for deep-rooted plants. 

 One may lime the surface, but cannot get lime to the 

 subsoil except by the process of letting it leach down. 

 The writer has never seen any permanently profitable 

 alfalfa on a soil that was seriously short of lime or phos- 

 phorus in the subsoil. Usually on such a soil, a heavy 

 application of lime will start the crop, but it will not do 

 well when its roots get into the subsoil. Of course it 

 can be made to grow, but making it pay is a different 

 matter. 



Table 79 gives the amount of phosphorus, potassium, 

 and calcium in two million pounds of soil for some typical 

 American soils, as reported by the Bureau of Soils of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture. The writer 

 has arranged these in four classes according to the 

 crop yields reported. 



The first two soils in the table are practically worthless, 

 as is indicated by the low yields and abandoned land. 

 Of course, one can raise " bumper crops " on these soils 

 if he uses enough fertilizer, but this is no credit to the soils. 

 They merely furnish the place for crops to grow. They 

 do not deserve the name of soil. The farmers have learned 

 that it does not pay to farm such land. The few who 



