8 BULLETIN 941, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



is generally practiced by those farmers who have been most successful 

 in building general farms in the rough sections of the area studied. 



FERTILITY OF THE SOILS. 



The soils of the region, with the exception of the bottom soils, are 

 principally stony and gravelly silts and stony and gravelly silt and 

 clay loams. They are usually porous, owing to the large content of 

 stone and gravel. As a result, air and water circulate through them 

 freely, and when they are put under cultivation the humus content 

 is quickly lost, unless a system of farming is adopted in which pro- 

 vision is made for the systematic replenishment of the supply. If 

 the humus content is lost the water-holding capacity of these soils 

 is greatly reduced, and as a result crops suffer severely during the 

 summer droughts, to which this section seems peculiarly liable, and 

 profitable crop production is then almost an impossibility. 



There is a wide variation in the natural fertility and productivity 

 of the soils throughout the area. 



TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES. 



The rough, hilly, broken character of the region makes railroad 

 construction expensive and difficult; hence, as may be expected, 

 large areas are sometimes 20 to 30 miles from the nearest railroad 

 point. The same natural features which render railroad construction 

 difficult are equally a hindrance to the construction of public roads. 

 (See fig. 7.) A few main automobile highways traverse the region, 

 but even these roads are very bad in places. Bridges have not been 

 built at all needed places, and, as a consequence, travel in a season of 

 high water is difficult and uncertain. The grades, moreover, are 

 often very steep, and these, as well as the gravelly creek bottoms, 

 make it impossible to haul very heavy loads. For farmers who are 

 situated off these main highways and at a distance from a railroad 

 point, the transportation question is rather difficult, for hauling must 

 be done over stony and badly washed roads, often steep and rough. 



Increasing attention is being given the roads in this section, par- 

 ticularly the system of main roads, and it is planned to improve the 

 grading of the roads already established, and to build more through 

 and connecting roads. Some of the towns situated several miles 

 from a railroad point have motor truck freight services in operation. 



CLIMATE. 



This area is just north of the line indicating the northern limit of 

 profitable cotton production, and within the winter wheat territory. 

 The winters are fairly mild, a number of the residents of these 

 counties having come from regions farther north to escape the rigors 

 of the severer winters. The averages of the mean temperatures 



