Observations Concerning the Agricultural Economy 138 
being subdivided because of the expanding truck acreage. Modest im- 
provements are being established on the subdivisions, which are con- 
tributing to an increase in the density of population of the rural areas. 
The automobile and modern highways have minimized the advantage 
of a truck farm being located in proximity to a city where laborers are 
available. Farmers throughout the American Bottoms are becoming 
truck-minded. 
3. The apparent prosperity of the farmers at the periphery of the 
American Bottoms along the foot of the bluffs is suggestive of the possi- 
bilities of extending the livestock industry, thus far confined to the 
relatively high land adjoining the bluffs, over the flood plain. Condi- 
tions are more favorable than formerly because of the effectiveness of 
drainage Projects. The daily passage of trucks loaded with dairy prod- 
ucts or poultry and eggs across the flood plain to urban markets im- 
Presses farmers with the importance of near-by markets for the sale of 
such products. 
4. Flood control and drainage have contributed toward a more rapid 
depletion of soils, which is being reflected in somewhat reduced yields. 
An occasional pile of crushed limestone and scattered fields with soil- 
building crops suggest that the farmers are beginning to turn their 
attention to the conservation of soils. An increasing alternation of 
rops suggests that the thought trend of the farmers is in the direction 
of a systematic rotation of crops. 
5. The introduction of the tractor has increased the capital expendi- 
tures for equipment. Draft animals still are considered necessary a 
most farms. A few farmers depend exclusively on tractors. The tren 
'S toward the general use of labor-saving equipment with tractors en- 
tirely supplanting draft animals. 
6. A general belief prevails among the farmers that in ee eran 
remote future the agricultural pattern will have disappeared - en ‘al 
American Bottoms. They visualize the flood plain as one large industri : 
area. It is conceived that wage earners will live in modest rae 6 
the flood plain, but the homes of the wealthier people will be plac 
the adjoining bluffs. Such expectations tend to cause the a ten 
value their land out of all proportion to its true worth in the produ 
Ol Crops, 
