f- WHi laa BUMifil SOUTH F. S. E AEtLE i I I J 9^^m9SSefW9ff^fr GIFT or V 6a^aii » a^^£!.£i^ 1 SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO Hillside Plow. t A»A%»> A Terraced Field. SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE BY F. S. EARLE 1 J J J ^ \} 3 i t i } * .' > ' ; > 3 > 5 J ) J ' > THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1908 All rights reserved Y: 0^ Copyright, 1908, By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1908. ^ - t » « f ^ * ' ^ J. 8. Gushing Co. — Berwick «fe Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. CONTENTS Part I. General Considerations vi CONTENTS PAGES Nut Crops '270-275 Truck Crops 275-282 Forestry 283-284 Domestic Animals 284-291 Index 293-297 LIST OF HALF-TONE PLATES OPPOSITE PAGE A Moist Tropical Forest 5 A Cotton Field in Fruit 172 Sisal 188 Coffee Tree with Fruit 201 The Mexican Rubber Tree (Castilloa elastica) 206 Oranges 241: A Mango Tree 262 A Pineapple Field 264 Bananas 266 Vll , J > J > SOUTHERlsr AaRIOULTURE PART I GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS Primitive man obtained his food from the fruits and roots of various wild plants and from the flesh of wild animals. • Agriculture began when he first took thought to care for his favorite food plants and to plant them near his usual haunts. The first crops doubtless sprang from the seeds of wild fruits carelessly scattered near the favorite camp or rest- ing place. The fruits of these chance-sown plants were handy and easy to gather, hence the plants were cherished and to some extent protected from injury, while valueless plants would be broken down and destroyed. From such crude beginnings has modern agriculture sprung with its manifold labors and activities that have so wonderfully changed the face of the habitable part of the world, destroying the natural plant covering with its endless variety, and substituting great areas of those few plants that are of greatest utility to mankind. Agriculture is thus the propagation of plants through the inter- vention of man. B 1 2 t^^enerat. considerations Climate as effecting Agriculture The growth of wild plants is determined by two sets of factors, those connected with the soil and those connected with the climate. Cultivated plants are also subject to these same conditions except in so far as these may be modified by human effort. Cultivation is the collective name for all those pro- cesses by which man seeks to alter these environ- mental conditions, tlius making them more favorable for his crops. It is easier to modify soil conditions than climatic conditions, hence the climate of any region must always profoundly influence its agri- culture. Climate depends on the two factors of temperature and humidity. A climate may be hot or cold, wet or dry, and the kinds of crops that can be grown will vary accordingly. These factors depend in turn on three others, — latitude, altitude, and topography. Latitude as effecting Climate. — If we start with the land of perpetual snow in the Arctic regions and travel southward, the climate will become gradually warmer and warmer until we reach the perpetual summer of the tropics. Each change in temperature will be accompanied by corresponding changes in plant and animal life. These changes are so well marked and conspicuous that naturalists are able to mark off a number of well-defined areas called life zones, each of which is characterized by the plants and animals found in it which do not occur either farther north or farther south. Other plants and animals have a wider range of adaptability and may CLIMATE AS EFFECTIXG AGRICULTURE 3 be found in more than one life zone, but even with these there is always a region where they thrive best and seem most at home. A study of these life zones in any country is of considerable practical impor- tance to the farmer, for a knowledge of the life zone in which he is located will show at once what the probabilities of success will be with the different cultivated crops. Thus in the Hudsonian zone he can plant potatoes, turnips, and barley, but not corn. In the Alleghanian he can plant corn, wlieat, and apples, but not cotton. In the Austro-riparian he can plant cotton, corn, and rice, but not apples and wheat. Altitude as effecting Climate. — If we pass from base to summit of a high mountain, we will find that altitude affects temperature in exactly the same way as latitude. Thus on every high mountain in the tropics, in the course of a few miles we may traverse all the life zones from the tropical jungles and per- petual heat of the base to the perpetual snow and ice of the summit. In fact, it is in mountainous countries that these life zones are most clearly marked. This is due to the fact that distances are so much shorter and comparisons so much more easily made. On level lands the boundaries usually overlap and are indistinct, but on steep mountains they are often very clearly marked, one kind of vege- tation beginning and another ending very abruptly. The majority of wild animals and plants do not have a vertical range of more than a thousand feet. Topography as effecting Climate. — A careful study of the life zones in a mountainous country will soon 4 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS show that the same zone is not always to be found at the same altitude. The plants of the cold thickets up near the timber line will be found straggling downward for a considerable distance in shaded ra- vines on the northern slopes, while on the side exposed to the sun the plants of the hot plains at the base may extend upward for many hundred feet. In a level country like the great Mississippi Valley there is nothing to interrupt the free movement of the air, and the cold northwest winds of winter rush unchecked throughout its whole extent. If a great chain of mountains extended from east to west across the middle of it, these northers would to a great extent be deflected and the southern portion would have a much warmer, more equable climate. On the other hand the warm winds from the Gulf of Mexico would be prevented from reaching the upper portion and its climate would be correspondingly colder. Italy owes its warm, genial climate to the protection of the Alps. Small local variations in altitude also have a pronounced effect on climate. The cool air at night settles into the low places, while the warmer air rises about the tops of the hills. In driving through the country at night every one has noticed the chill on descending into some damp ravine and the pleasant warmth encountered on the higher ridges. Fruit growers take advantage of this fact and locate peach orchards and strawberry fields on high ground, where they will be more likely to escape damage from spring frosts. Topography is thus seen to have its effect on temperature, but it has an equally great effect in con- <v c I— I o o 32