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causes for the low productivity are steep slopes, poor cultivation, and lack 

 of crop rotation. The shale soil washes less than almost any other soil 

 under like circumstances. The wonder is that the soil produces as much 

 as it does. 



A few years ago Berea College, with the help of the United States 

 government, employed a special investigator and demonstrator to work 

 with the mountain farmers within reach of Berea. The success was such 

 that a number have been appointed in other localities. About Berea, heavy 

 breaking plows are replacing the one-mule plow, and the disk harrow is 

 pushing back into the mountains. More than twice as many shallow eulti- 



5. Stumpage and slash which will invite forest fires in the Southern Appalachian Highlands. 



vators as single shovel and double shovel ploughs were sold in Berea last 

 spring. The practice of sowing cow peas and rye for forage and turning 

 under is spreading, as is the use of commercial fertilizer. Crop rotation is 

 displacing the fallow system. 



Further education in agriculture is being given at the missionary and 

 settlement schools, as at Oneida, Hindman, Buckhorn, and Blackie. But 

 agriculture in the interior of the region is yet primitive, and improvements 

 are slow in penetrating. A common sight is corn growing among girdled 

 trees. 



The few gardens which are being introduced about the settlements and 

 mining and lumbering camps are giving favorable results. 



