Maladjvstments in Land Use 



19 



Analysis of Conditions by Regions 



Social and economic land ])rolil(Mns vary greatly from 

 one part of the covmtry to another. Nevertheless, 

 they tend toward general similarity over large areas or 

 regions. A detailed discussion of the human conditions 

 together with a brief description of the physical aspects 

 of submarginal land is herewith presented regionally. 

 The discussion and data apply only to those parts of 

 each region in which the land is definitelj^ submarginal. 

 Within each of the general land-use regions there are 

 excellent agricultural sections, to which the descrip- 

 tions are not applicable. Within each region, however, 

 are numerous so-called submarginal areas to which they 

 definitely do apply. The discussion which follows is 

 based upon the regionalization set forth in section 1 

 of this report. 



Northeastern Highlands 



The Xew England and Middle Atlantic States 

 consist largely of rugged hill country, with inter- 

 spersed fertile valleys and lowlands. In a few loca- 

 lities, as the White Mountains and the Adirondacks, 

 the relief assumes mountainous proportions, while in 

 parts of Pennsylvania the region locally assumes a 

 plateau aspect. Hill country, mountain, plateau, and 

 interspersed valleys, because of general similarity in 

 their land-use problems, may be grouped together as 

 the Northeastern Highland Region. 



Scattered through this region there are districts 

 containing many submarginal farms which in the 

 aggregate contain more than 7,000,000 acres of farm 

 land. The existence of these unprofitable farms is 

 due to poor soil, rough topography, stonmess, and, in 

 a few localities, to isolation. 



Farm Abandoijinent. — AMiOe it is estmiated that more 

 than 50,000 farms in this region should ultimately be 

 retired, and the land on them permanently withdrawn 

 from agriculture, such a figure by no means indicates 

 the full jueasure of the original submargiiud land prob- 

 lem, because farm abandonment has here been going 

 on for more than a centurs*. Consequently, many 

 farms on poor land have already been retired through 

 the spontaneous process of abandonment. This adjust- 

 ment has been facilitated by the development of sources 

 of industrial employment in the region, and by the 

 opening of more productive agricultural lands in the 

 West, both of which offered a better livelihood than 

 agriculture on the steeper and stonier lands. Despite 

 this economic adjustment in the past, there appears to 

 remain in use a considerable body of farm land so poor 

 as to offer little hope of yielding a reasonable return for 

 the farmers' labor even under conditions of national 

 prosperity. 



Owing to population increase iti tJie coastal lowlnuds, 

 nuich of the adjacent highland area was well occupied 



before the Revolutionary War and the remainder was 

 at least thiidy settled soon after. In most of the towns 

 of the region, the amount of laiul in agricultu7-al use 

 reached a maxinuun about 1810 and remained at that 

 level until shortly after 1.S30. The opening of the Erie 

 C^inal and the subsecpienti construction of railroads 

 facilitated the settlement of tiie Middle West and 

 changed the entire agricultural set-ii|) in the Northern 

 States. At the same time, manufactural industries 

 which had been scattered through small villages and 

 rural cojuinunities began to concentrate in large city 

 areas. The hill farmer cultivating poor soil and rough 

 terrain, soon found it ijupossible ti> compete with the 

 midland farmer in the production of wool, meat, and 

 grain. Siiuultaiu^ously both the cheai) western lands 

 and the high wages prevailing in nearby industrial cities 

 offered direct uiducements to farm abandonment. Con- 

 secjuently, many of the rural towns of this region have 

 shown a continuous decline in population since 1830. 



Early Self-suflirhig Econamy.- The hill towns of the 

 Northeast constituted, at the beginning of the nine- 

 teenth century, largely self-sufficing communities. 

 What was true of the town or township was also true 

 of the indivitlual farm. Not only did it tend to meet 

 its own needs in food and clothing, but to supply most 

 of the required nonagricultural products as well. 



With the development of manufacturing and trading 

 in the nearby villages and cities, northeastern farms 

 manifested some tendency to specialize in the produc- 

 tion of sheep, beef cattle, and daiiy products. Western 

 competition first ruined sheep rearing, and later drove 

 out the production of beef. Finally, even the making of 

 cheese and butter became unprofitable in many local- 

 ities. Today, a majority of farms in the Northeastern 

 Highlands are engaged in producing milk for city con- 

 sumption. They are, however, nnich smaller and less 

 specialized than the farms in the adjoining better 

 dallying areas. 



Disifrtctn of Loin Incomes.-- Tin- returns from agi'icul- 

 ture in the poorer parts of this region are and always 

 have been small. Low soil fertility, stoniness, and 

 rugged topography have been reductive factors, but 

 almost equally important is the small size of fields which 

 characterizes the farms of the region and which is the 

 result of physical ruggcdness. Modern machmery ean 

 be used only to a limited extent, and the amount of man 

 labor required to produce the moderate yields which 

 are returned is veiy high. Conscfpiently, supplemen- 

 tary^ sources of incojne have been eagerly sought. In 

 much of this region, lumbering at one time offered 

 auxiliary winter employment. In the early jiart of the 

 nmeteenth century snuill local manufactories offered 

 part-time employment in many localities. This resulted 

 from the fact that much of the land in the region is aiul 

 always has been forest land not in farms. Although 



