The Monsoon Region of America.—Florida and the neighbor ing coastal districts belong to the monsoon type, since the prevailing winds blow from the northwest in winter and the southeast in summer. No part of the Atlantic coast, however, shows a rainfall of the purely monsoon type, for cyclonic storms supplement the monsoon rains. In summer the rainfall of Florida, as appears in Fig. 83, is of the typical monsoon character. By November it has fallen off so that it seems to promise a dry season, but cyclonic storms cause the rain to increase again. Except for the heavy frosts which sometimes follow in their wake, and the consequent damage to the orange groves, these storms give the southeastern United States a great advantage over Southern China and India. Not only does the occurrence of rain at all seasons prevent such complete crop failures as afflict the Asiatic monsoon countries, but the frequent storms bring stimulating changes which help to make the people energetic.
Farther north, as appears in Fig. 83, the rainfall of the Carolinas shows only a little monsoon in fluence, and is almost as abundant in winter as in summer.
Why the American Monsoon Region Has Fewer People than the Asiatic Regions. —Since Florida and the neighboring States combine the advan tages of abundant monsoon rain in sum mer and cyclonic rain the rest of the year, we should expect a dense population. Florida, however, had only 18 inhabitants per square mile, in 1920, and even Georgia only about 50, while the monsoon regions of China and India had about 500. There _ are three main reasons for this, (1) soil, (2) climate, and (3) new ness.
(1) In Florida the relative sparsity of population is due partly to the abundance of swamps like the A more important factor, both in Florida and the neighboring States, is that the coun try consists largely of sandy soil which has recently emerged from the sea and which is in constant need of abundant fertilizers. Moreover,
in all warm, wet regions the soil does not have enough humus because vegetation decays so rapidly. In India and China, however, the monsoon regions with the densest population contain great delta lands and broad flood plains, where the water and silt of great rivers are regularly spread over the fields and renew their fertility.
(2) Although the monsoon climate of the South Atlantic States is highly favorable for agriculture, it has not encouraged immigration. The United States was settled mainly by people from the cool, stimu lating climates of northwestern Europe. Such people can live and prosper in the Southern States, but as they themselves say, they do not have so much energy as in the North. This is especially true if they attempt to work in the fields and endure the sun and heat of summer. For this reason, as well as because of the presence of a colored laboring population in the South and the demand for labor in the North, immigrants from northern Europe have preferred to go to the Northern States, which up to the present time have offered so much unoccupied territory that there was room for every body. This condition is rapidly changing, partly because the North is becoming well populated, and partly because immigrants now come in large numbers from Mediterranean countries, whose people are better adapted to out-of-door work in a southern climate than are the English, Germans, Scandinavians, and other northern immigrants of earlier days.
(3) The chief reason, however, why the population of our Southern States is so scanty compared with that of the monsoon areas of Asia is that America is still new, even though we think the Atlantic States are old.