other parts of the country. In 1930, Virginia's belt of fertile land dried up. Ponds, streams, and springs all dried up and the great Mississippi River water level sank lower than ever recorded. Small farmers every-where began to feel the drought. Their small gardens were ruined and their corn crop was cut almost down to nothing. The hay and grass needed to feed their livestock was no longer available. They now faced a major problem -how to feed their livestock. The silos were rapidly emptying and the barns in many cases were empty. The farmers were terrified that the government feed loans wouldn't be available to keep the livestock from dying. In many cases, the Red Cross was making allowances for feed to keep alive livestock (Meltzer 121). The small farmers of fruit trees and vegetable plants depended on others who ran canneries to bottle and can their produce. The people they depended upon were the same people that hired scientists to experiment on the fruits and vegetables to come up with better tasting and yielding produce. Thus the small farmers were dependent on these same rich landowners for almost everything. They couldn't harvest their produce on their own so they sold it to the rich landowners and thus made very little money on their produce (Steinbeck 444-447). The farmers found themselves in debt caused by the purchase of land, tools, animals and other items bought on credit. This credit was due to the bank and when the farmers found them- selves unable to repay the debts the bank took away everything they had - their land, homes, animals and equipment. When the banks took over, they went in with tractors and destroyed everything on the farms which included their homes and barns. This is best por- trayed in Steinbeck's description of how the tractors destroyed everything in its way. "The iron guard bit into the house corner, crumbled the wall, and wrenched the little house from its foundation, crushed like a bug (50). "In ...
