186 POWER AND THE PLOW, 



Aroostook County in Maine, Grand Isle County in Vermont, 

 the Connecticut Valley, and elsewhere, larger fields, gently 

 sloping or level land, and types of farming producing a larger 

 income to the acre, encourage the use of larger horses and 

 implements. The two-way sulky plow, however, is used in 

 preference to the gang plow, as even on level lands farmers 

 prefer to have their furrows turned in the same direction. 



Extending along the South Atlantic Gulf coasts and back- 

 ward for a varying distance from the tidewater lies the section 

 known as the Coastal Plain. This is an area only recently 

 uplifted from the ocean bed, hence is composed of loose sands 

 and gravel in an unconsolidated state. The natural drainage 

 is poor, and artificial drainage has not been effected. Rice, 

 sea island cotton, and the long-leaf pine are the principal crops. 

 Around centres of population, and where transportation 

 facilities are good, trucking is an important industry. The 

 nature of the soil demands a cast or chilled plow adapted to 

 shallow work. The trucking industry demands a one-horse 

 plow, which, however, may be up to twelve inches in width. 

 Riding plows, chiefly of the reversible disk type, are used by 

 the better class of farmers on the larger farms. 



Here especially, and elsewhere in the South, the lack of 

 power and efficient labor is creating the demand for engine- 

 gang plows and suitable tractors. The Southern planter is 

 rapidly advancing from the "one-mule" subdivision of his farm 

 to the "thirty-horse tractor" stage. The Negro problem in 

 the South, like the "hobo" problem hi the West, strengthens 

 the demand for something that will take production out of the 

 hands of the inefficient mob and concentrate it in those of 

 the intelligent few. 



Back of the Coastal Plain, and extending parallel with it, 

 lies the Piedmont Plateau. This is in reality an ancient moun- 

 tain range worn down to a series of slopes covered with a deep 

 and fertile soil. Conditions encourage the raising of upland 

 cotton, tobacco, and in certain altitudes and climates, wheat, 



