135 The Agricultural Economy of the American Bottoms 
is not rapidly impoverished; (d) the net financial returns are considered 
as promising as for other kinds of field crops; (e) weeds are kept under 
control; (f) the grain has excellent keeping qualities; (g) a ready market 
prevails; and (h) it has been customary to devote a large acreage to 
wheat. Several considerations also favor the production of corn. (a) 
The labor requirements do not conflict seriously with the labor re- 
quirements of wheat; (b) the ears of corn and stover provide excellent 
feed for the limited head of live stock; and (c) the surplus is salable 
readily and provides a supplementary source of income. The extension 
of corn acreage at the expense of wheat acreage is not favored, how- 
ever, because of the heavier labor requirements and the belief that 
wheat promises larger net returns. 
2. In the sections where a wheat-corn economy is modified by sig- 
nificant minor crops, the conditions relative to soils, relief, and drainage 
are similar to those in the wheat-corn sections. Ready accessibility to 
markets, especially St. Louis and East St. Louis markets, and the in- 
fluence of practical leaders have been important factors in the intro- 
duction of crops as ‘side lines.””. The important minor crops are sweet 
corn, potatoes, horseradish, and alfalfa. These minor crops are sore 
chiefly on sandy loams and, therefore, tend to compete for acreage with 
wheat rather than with corn. 
_ 3, The corn-wheat sections are characterized by clays (gumbo) and 
inadequate drainage. Corn is the major crop, not because the physical 
conditions are considered ideal, but because the farmers have not been 
able to discover some other staple crop that can adapt itself as satis 
factorily to unfavorable soil conditions associated with excess waters OF 
a deficiency of precipitation. Wheat grown on the clays produces tall 
weak stalks which rather readily lodge. Some seasons as ‘in 1933 are 
more favorable for wheat than for corn. Such seasons customarily re- 
sult in an increased acreage of wheat the succeeding year. 
4. The isolation of the grain-potato section by swamps and water 
bodies has protected it from incursions of the potato blight which has 
affected the potato crop on most parts of the American Bottoms. Sandy 
loams which favor the production of wheat and corn also are considered 
ideally adapted to the growing of potatoes. Capable leadership among 
the farmers and cooperative endeavors have been helpful in the main- 
tenance of the potato industry as a major farm project. 
5. The grain-horseradish section was chiefly a corn-wheat section 
until about twenty years ago. The introduction of horseradish cul 
ture on a large scale has been favored (a) by the leadership of two 
