Soils.—There are 10 main soil areas, cor responding to the chief geological formations. The most fertile of these, the Trenton, in cludes the best parts of Fayette, Woodford, Jessamine and adjoining counties, 1,200 square miles. This soil is residual, formed by the disintegration of the gray Lexington lime stone, which is rich in phosphorus; conse quently some fields of this region a century old show no sign of exhaustion. Surrounding this area is the Cincinnatian, 7,900 square miles, with somewhat less phosphorus in their blue limestones. Northeastward from Allen County to the Ohio River stretches the Waverly area, 4,400 square miles, whose soils wash badly and lack plant food. The Western coal field 4,500 square miles, is in need of drainage and proper fertilizers to become valuable agriculturally. Surrounding this is a belt of varying width, equal to 8,000 square miles—one-fifth of the State's area. It contains limestone which, if in connection with the phosphate beds of Tennessee, would build up its soil to a high de gree of fertility. One of these counties, War ren, is the centre of the strawberry industry of the State. Eight counties west of the Tennes see, called the Purchase, an area of 2,360 miles, are composed of transported soils. The largest single area is the Eastern coal field, some 10,000 square miles, or one-fourth of the entire State, mountainous and easily eroded. Through out the principal areas described thus far, how ever, are river alluvium sections, highly pro ductive because of overflows. Also, in the best agricultural districts are found belts of poor land, thus presenting problems of scientific soil treatment. (Consult Exper. Station Bull. No. 193).
Agriculture.-- Although Kentucky and Ten nessee are apparently artificial divisions of the same body of land, the slight difference in latitude and soils works a complete change in their characteristic products. Tennessee pro-. duces large quantities of cotton, while ICen tucky produced but 3,469 bales in 1909, nearly all in one county, Fulton. The leading farm products are corn, tobacco, hay and wheat; and the State raises nearly all the hemp in the United States. Truck farms and orchards are frequent along the Ohio, especially near Louisville and Cincinnati. In 1910, 86.3 per cent of the land surface was in farms, and 64.7 per cent of this was improved. From 1900 to 1910 the number of farms increased 24,518 or 10.4 per cent, compared with 6.6 per cent in crease in population. Intensive cultivation de creased the size of the farms to 85.6 acres; over one-fourth ranging from 5() to 99 acres. Those farms over 175 acres are only one-ninth of the total number, which was 259,185. Colored farmers operated only 11,709 farms, or about 2 per cent of the area. The most conspicuous change in the decade was in tenure; the number of cash tenants remained about the same while share tenants doubled. The farms owned by their operators constituted two-thirds of all; the value of all farms was $773 797,000.
The best-known crop is tobacco, of which Kentucky produces far more than any other State, and usually one-third of the total crop of the Union. In 1910 the total crop was 1,
103,000,000 pounds; that of Kentucky, 425,000, 000 pounds; in 1915 Kentucky raised 356,000,000 pounds, or 33 per cent of the total, North Carolina being next with 198,000,000 pounds. In 1918 the yield was 360,000,000 pounds, mar keted at the highest prices ever recorded in the State, about 30 cents a pound, compared with averages as low as six cents in 1907. From the depressed markets of 1907, when good tobacco was sold at three and four cents, or was taken home by angry farmers, the re covery is due first to the unions of growers against the Tobacco Trust, in Burley and Dark districts alike. These unions, attempting to coerce reluctant neighbors to join with them, precipitated the Night Riders' disturbances, which led to the posting of sentries by the militia to prevent the destruction of property. Pools, legalized by the legislature in 1910, took charge of the sales and raised prices by collec tive selling. With the outbreak of war in Eu rope came a large demand from the armies; and finally the rapid spread of prohibition seems to have intensified the civilian demand for tobacco products. Christian and Daviess counties pro duce large quantities of the Dark or Pryor to bacco, much sought by French and Italian buy ers, and popularly called tobacco, while the Blue Grass counties, such as Fayette and Bourbon, raise the light or Burley variety, sought for its absorptive qualities, and mar keted at Lexington first in 1905 in baskets on the floor of warehouses. This practice has made Lexington the largest "loose leaf° market in the world, and has taken the supremacy from Louisville where the marketing is done by hogsheads.
Hemp is almost as famous as tobacco, but its decline is unchecked; in 1859, 78.818,000 pounds; in 1909, only 6,420,000 pounds. The high prices created by the World War revived this industry but little, the acreage for 1917 being 19,200— all in the Blue Grass counties. Other fibres from Mexico and the Philippines have supplanted it in the factories.
The largest crop in value and volume is corn, 124,372,000 bushels in 1917, valued at $160,000, 000. Corn has furnished the material for the great distilling interests as well as food, and provender for animals on the farm.
Wheat from 1907 to 1917 yielded 10,000,000 bushels annually, 'aided by the fine crop of 12,540,000 bushels in 1914, the largest in recent years. The superb pastures yield large quan tities of hay and forage. Blue Grass seed varies widely in output, from 200,000 bushels in 1910 to 1,500,000 in 1912 and back to 200,000 in 1917. Minor products are butter and cheese, 38,680,000 pounds in 1909; potatoes, 6,426,000 bushels in 1915; wool, 3,550,000 pounds in 1915; sorghum cane, 226,000 tons m 1909. Oats yielded 7,000,000 bushels for the first time in 1917. The value of miscellaneous crops in 1909 was placed in the census at $50,000,000.