The agricultural region that developed on the
central plains of the United States as a result of
the spread of farm settlement on to the prairie is
known as the Corn Belt. Here the practice of
feeding maize to hogs and cattle, and marketing
the fattened animals is sustained by the vast areas
of level land, and the remarkably sustained fertility of the soils. Although maize is the principal
crop worldwide, this region is also ideally suited
to other crops, such as wheat, particularly in
Russia. On the other hand, soybeans are intensively cultivated in midwestern United States and
in northern China and Manchuria.
Fig. 6.10 Generalized
mature soil profiles that
develop under mid-latitude
grassland. From Jenny
(1941) in James (1959)
p. 312
Fig. 6.11 Corn planted in prairie soil, Iowa. Photograph
by Robert G. Bailey
6.6 250 Prairie Division
65
central plains of the United States as a result of
the spread of farm settlement on to the prairie is
known as the Corn Belt. Here the practice of
feeding maize to hogs and cattle, and marketing
the fattened animals is sustained by the vast areas
of level land, and the remarkably sustained fertility of the soils. Although maize is the principal
crop worldwide, this region is also ideally suited
to other crops, such as wheat, particularly in
Russia. On the other hand, soybeans are intensively cultivated in midwestern United States and
in northern China and Manchuria.
Fig. 6.10 Generalized
mature soil profiles that
develop under mid-latitude
grassland. From Jenny
(1941) in James (1959)
p. 312
Fig. 6.11 Corn planted in prairie soil, Iowa. Photograph
by Robert G. Bailey
6.6 250 Prairie Division
65