Observations Concerning the Agricultural Econom y 134 
PART II 
OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THE AGRICULTURAL 
ECONOMY OF THE AMERICAN BOTTOMS 
THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF FARM ACREAGE 
The area of the American Bottoms is slightly in excess of one hun- 
dred thousand acres. The urban and suburban districts include ap- 
proximately twenty-eight per cent of the total acreage. The combined 
acreage of (a) swamps and water bodies not associated with operated 
arms, (b) resort centers and scattered small settlements, (c) rural rail- 
road property and highways, and (d) rural Jevees and drainage ditches, 
constitutes approximately seven per cent of the total acreage. The 
remaining acreage, which constitutes almost two-thirds of the total, is 
composed of operated farms. 
DIFFERENTIATED AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIES 
An agricultural pattern with the differentiated types of economy 
represented (Fig. 17) has been promoted by (a) diversified conditions of 
he physical environment, (b) the presence of urban and suburban 
Centers on the flood plain and also on the uplands on both sides of the 
Mississippi trough, and (c) individual and collective initiative. The 
outstanding characteristics of the sections with each type of agricul- 
tural economy are as follows: 
1. The wheat-corn sections have a predominating acreage of sandy 
loams and a substantial acreage of clay loams. They also are character- 
ized by excellent drainage of most of the field crop acreage. A distinct 
Preference is shown for planting wheat in the sandy loams and corn in 
the clay loams. If a farm has both well-drained and poorly-drained 
land, wheat probably will be planted on the former and corn on the latter. 
Several considerations favor the production of wheat. (a) The labor 
requirements are light; (b) the actual cash outlay is small; (c) the soil 
