This publication deals with Region 6 of the Soil Conservation Service. Portions of five States--Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico--are included in this area, which is generally regarded as the southern Great Plains. The text briefly describes the complex pattern of physical conditions as influenced by variations in climate and soil. The text also shows that the variations in physical factors provide complex problems which do not yield to a simple or single treatment. The map attached to the back cover page shows 10 problem-area groups and divisions within some of these groups. These groups are areas in which there is a similarity of physical conditions which in turn affect the adaptation of crops and farming practices. It is neither a soils map, a rainfall map, a topographical map, nor even a land use map. Rather the map represents the first attempt to isolate and label those bodies of land where the soil, climate, and appropriate farming practices are somewhat similar.