32 The State and the Farmer 



ing of society, the old line fence still remained; 

 persons clung to the farm as if it were a 

 divinely ordained and indivisible unit. 



We are now approaching a time when the 

 traditional boundaries must often be disre- 

 garded. The old farms are largely social or 

 traditional rather than economic units. Because 

 a certain eighty acres is enclosed with one kind 

 of fence and assessed to one man does not sig- 

 nify that it has the proper combination of con- 

 ditions to make a good farm. 



We must consider that the agriculture of 

 the eastern states is now changing rapidly. It 

 has passed through several epochs. The pos- 

 sibilities of agriculture in the East lie largely 

 in a new adaptation to conditions, and in its 

 diversification. This diversification is already 

 a feature of the East. It is significant to note 

 that while New York, for example, ranks 

 fourth in value of farm property, it ranks as 

 low as seventeenth in farm acreage, showing 

 that the yield per acre is far greater than in 

 many of the competing states. In the total 

 value of farm products, New York is exceeded 



