8 BULLETIN 9£L, U. 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 
