SECONDARY COMMUNITIES 19 
6. DISTRIBUTION OF SECONDARY COMMUNITIES ABOUT CITIES 
AND VILLAGES 
The secondary communities of the regions about Chicago are those 
typical of the forest-border area; some of them are found throughout 
the temperate world. The communities in and about cities are not 
particularly different from those discussed in general terms in the pre- 
ceding pages. This is a topic for special study and we can give but the 
briefest outline here. J 
When a city is in the village stage the communities of barns and 
dwellings are crowded together and the area of cultivated land and park 
is proportionally larger than in the country. Asa village grows into a 
city, usually a central area of business houses, factories, and cheap tene- 
ments, dominated by the communities of dwellings, succeeds, practically 
all others being excluded. This type usually radiates from this center 
for a short distance along the principal lines of railroad and river trans- 
portation. Except for these narrow radiations, the central business 
section is surrounded by a belt of residences, which are of the park-lawn 
type, usually with the garden or cultivated type very much reduced 
or entirely eliminated. This type extends outward along all lines of 
passenger transportation. Toward the outskirts of this, and often 
quite irregularly arranged, are vacant lots and squares allowed to grow 
up to weeds and shrubs, and which are usually occupied by forest- 
margin animals. Outside of and adjoining these is the area of market 
gardening on the lower and better soils. Other types of agricultural 
land are usually poorly cultivated in the vicinity of cities. 
A succession of conditions dominated by one or another of the second- 
ary communities may be seen as the pioneer farm passes into the city 
stage. The pioneer-farm type is succeeded by the village type, with its 
park-lawn and dwelling combination. The village gives way to the 
business center, dominated by the “dwelling” animals. As these pro- 
cesses take place, a succession of the various grades of human society is 
noticeable. In dwellings probably the first resident pest is the clothes 
moth. This is probably succeeded by the silver fish and an occasional 
cockroach before the succession of the various grades of society has 
begun. Cracks appear in the woodwork as the building becomes 
“run down,” and the introduction of a lower grade of society begins. 
The bedbug next makes its appearance and marks the beginning of a 
rapid lowering of standards on the part of occupants. The house mouse 
makes its appearance and is followed later by rats and vermin which 
mark the final stages in the degeneration into a cheap tenement. 
