156 FARM MANAGEMENT 



How farmers have boon forced to give up fanning much 

 hill land that it does not pay to farm is shown by the cen- 

 sus figures. In New Hampshire, there were 2,308,112 

 acres of improved land in 1880, and only 929,185 acres in 

 1910, less than half as much. Every New England State 



FIG. 50. Too steep to farm with much profit. 



has shown a great decrease in improved land in farms. At 

 the same time, the best land in these states is being used 

 more intensively than ever before. Men are starved off 

 the poor hillsides, that ought to be in white pine, at the 

 same time that the most intensive systems of farming are 

 yielding excellent profits on the good land. Merely be- 

 cause some one cleared land and built a house on it is not- 

 sufficient reason for farming it. 



The same principle applies in the choice of places to 



