Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/22

xvi abundance. No other part of the United States possesses more valuable timbers than the low lands in Southeast Missouri.

This contrast between sections is also to be seen in their climate. Spring visits the lowlands at least two weeks earlier than it does the uplands. The winters, too. are not so cold on the plains, and the rain-fall is considerably greater. In fact the line marking forty inches of annual precipitation coincides quite closely with the escarpment which separates the plateau from the plain. These differences of climate and soil have resulted in certain differences in the crops cultivated in the two sections. The great staple crops, wheat and corn, are extensively grown in both sections, but in addition to these the alluvial soil produces large crops of cotton and melons which cannot be grown successfully in the hills.