It was a happy combination of mountains, sea, and sun which made farming become the leading industry of the Southern Colonies (殖民地). The ocean made plentiful clouds, the clouds hitting the mountains made plentiful rain, the rain washing down the mountains for thousands of years had built a wide plain of fertile (肥沃的) soil. The rivers which had brought down the soil were steep near the mountains, but near the coast they were wide and rolling, deep enough for the small boats of the time to sail for miles. It was far enough south for the summers to be hot, so that the growing season lasted from six months in Maryland to about nine in South Carolina. If you add these ideal farming conditions to the early discovery of a New World crop which was always in demand in the Old World, you will readily understand why the Southern Colonies became a farming group.
Tobacco! This was the breath of life in Virginia, the oldest of the Southern Colonies. Men talked, thought, and bought in tobacco. It was a farming country, and other crops were also grown, but while the Southerner might have competition in the production of fruits and grains (wheat and rice and barley大麦), in tobacco he was a . Tobacco! It was a magic word. Everything revolved around its production and it had a tremendous effect upon life in the South. Tobacco was said to be "a magic word" because _____.