CHAPTER XVII 



WHERE TO GO 



INTENSIVE cultivation, raising a big crop on little land, can 

 be carried on most profitably near areas of dense population ; 

 for perishable products, like fruits and vegetables, can be best 

 marketed near the consumer. The limit for delivery by 

 auto is about fifteen to twenty miles, and then only if roads 

 are good; if the land selected lies on the line of a railroad 

 which gives equal terms to way freight and to through freight, 

 you will fare nearly as well. Railroads control agricultural 

 development. Sparsely settled regions always practice ex- 

 tensive cultivation, raising light crops on big farms, because 

 only such crops can be grown as can be raised on large areas 

 by machinery, and are not perishable. Staples like corn, 

 wheat, pork, and beef are transported at low prices for long 

 distances by the railroads. This forces the settlers in newly 

 opened portions of the country to sell in a market created by 

 the railroads, in competition with what is produced within 

 the areas of intensive cultivation, that is, with access to 

 adjacent markets. 



So we find the bonanza wheat farms of California, the 

 Dakotas, and the Canadian Northwest, the pampas of the 

 Argentine, the Steppes of Russia, and the Indian uplands 

 devoted to wheat raising; in the United States corn belt, 

 fields of from five to twenty thousand acres are still not un- 

 common. 



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