68 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Natural Ad- 

 vantages of 

 the South 



Lands of the 

 West and 

 North 



Soils offhe Coastal Plains Area 



By C. F. Marbut 



In Charge, Soil Survey, Bureau of Soils, 

 United States Department 

 of Agriculture 



Mr. Chairman : It is one of my social theories that if we could 

 fill every man's belly and cover his back we would solve most of the 

 social problems. I am perfectly willing to say that this is just like 

 most sweeping statements, but it contains, nevertheless, a certain 

 amount of truth. The question of filling bellies and covering backs 

 is partly, at least, a question of soil. The soil is at least one factor, 

 and an important one in doing both. 



The South is very much favored in its wonderful climate, in 

 its abundant rainfall, its warm winters, its long growing seasons, 

 and in the great variety of crops which that climate permits it to 

 grow. In other parts of the United States, as was so clearly 

 brought out by Commissioner Tallman yesterday, the available land 

 is pressing pretty close up to the possibility of crop production on 

 that land. I have had some connection with the classification of 

 lands in the national forests, and many times within the last three 

 years I have recommended to the chief of the Bureau of Soils and 

 the chief of the office of Forest Reserves, the opening up for settle- 

 ment of tracts of land which I knew positively could not ripen a 

 wheat crop. It was perfectly evident that a wheat crop could not 

 be ripened on it because of its Northern location, or its high altitude. 

 Yet, that land is sought by a great number of people, and because of 

 the strong demand for that land, and because of the fact that the 

 soil is good, and because also of the fact that the land will grow 

 grain hay in a region where summer grazing is important, it will 

 probably enable the farmer to make a living, especially if it is 

 carried on in conjunction with grazing in the national forests in the 

 summer time. I make the preceding statement merely as an illus- 

 tration of the kind of land now being taken up by settlers in the far 

 West and North. In the South no such climatic conditions exist. 

 There are tremendous areas of smooth unoccupied land in the South 

 where the growing season is long. 



