Some of the pictures I have seen of the southern area of the US, they do not have black soils.  Having grown up in MN and IA, I am used to relating to fertility of soils to the color of black dirt.

When I joined the Army and went to Fort Leonard Wood, I had never been south of Des Moines, IA.  I was shocked when I got in camp in Fort Leonard Wood,  to see the red soils and trees.  My first thought was, how can they grow any crops here?  Here are some pictures, if I can get them posted, of soils in my back yard.