84 PRINCIPLES OF RURAL ECONOMICS 



food at a very low cost. Corn, the chief grain crop of the in- 

 terior, was admirably fitted for the fattening of hogs. Therefore 

 it was no accident that the production of pork became one of the 

 early agricultural industries of the Middle West. During the 

 period we are now studying, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and 

 Tennessee were the principal hog-growing states, and Cincin- 

 nati, the center of this region, soon became famous as the cen- 

 ter of a large pork-packing industry, a position which she held 

 until surpassed by Chicago many years later. 



In 1805 fat cattle began to be driven across the Alleghenies 

 to the eastern seaport cities, but a good part of the produce of 

 the Ohio valley found its way southward, first to New Orleans 

 and later to supply the cotton states. In 1825 the Erie Canal, 

 connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic, was opened. This 

 marked the beginning of a new outlet for the products of the great 

 interior, especially the northern belt of that interior. Wheat be- 

 came the leading export from the Northwest, but corn, beef, and 

 pork remained the leading products of the Ohio River region. 



2. The Period of Transformation 1 



Magnitude of the change. Beginning with 1833, there oc- 

 curred on American soil during the next thirty years one of the 

 most remarkable agricultural transformations ever known in 

 the history of the world. In 1833 practically all the work of the 

 farm except plowing and harrowing was done by hand. Though 

 there had been minor improvements in hand tools, and consider- 

 able improvement in live stock and crops, particularly in Europe, 

 yet it is safe to say that so far as the general character of the 

 work actually performed by the farmer was concerned, there 

 had been practically no change for 4000 years. Small grain 

 was still sown broadcast, and reaped either with a cradle or the 



1 See also Bailey's Cyclopedia of American Agriculture (New York, 1909), 

 Vol. IV, pp. 58 ff. The Macmillan Company. 



