NEEDS OF NEW ENGLAND AGRICULTURE 205 



dependent upon. physical conditions of soil and 

 climate than upon the immediate market. In 

 New England the reverse is now true, and the 

 type of New England farming must be adapted, 

 absolutely and completely, to the demands of its 

 market. New England farmers have the most 

 superb markets in the country. Of the six 

 million people in New England, approximately 

 75 per cent, live in the cities and villages. There 

 are, in New England, thirty cities having a 

 population of twenty-five thousand or more. 

 The great majority of these cities are manufac- 

 turing cities peopled by the best class of consum- 

 ers in the world — the American skilled artisan. 

 They constitute a nearby market that demands 

 fresh products which cannot be transported 

 across a continent. New England is also espe- 

 cially favored in its nearness to the European 

 market. The New England farmer then must 

 adapt his crops, his methods, and his style of 

 farming to his peculiar market. 



In the second place, this adaptation must be 

 one of soil, just as anywhere else, only the prob- 

 lem here becomes more complicated because of 

 the varied character of the farming lands. How 

 to make the valleys and the hills, the rocky 

 ridges and the sand plains of New England 



