10 



pork or mutton or hay as could the New England farmer on 

 his little farm. The New England farmer was not in a posi- 

 tion to utilize these improved methods to full advantage. 

 These western farmers made food cheap, and that made it 

 possible for the cities to grow. 



The New England farmer naturally drifted into manufac- 

 turing when agriculture became unprofitable, and this region 

 became the manufacturing center of the country. 



The growth of the cities based on this manufacturing did 

 two things for the farmer, — first, it took his children away to 

 work in the factory; and second, it made a- market for fruit 

 and vegetables, poultry and dairy products and hay; all of 

 which, with the exception of hay, are the products of intensive 

 farming, and are either bulky or perishable, thereby adapted 

 to production on farms near the point of consumption. 



The New Englander had to give up the production of beef, 

 pork, mutton and grain. There was not room for many farmers 

 to go into the production of vegetables and potatoes. Forty 

 acres of potatoes and 30 acres of vegetables are sufficient to 

 feed a thousand people. Neither was there room for all of 

 them to go into the poultry business. But with the rapid 

 growth of the cities it was not long before there was room for 

 all of them to go into the cheese, butter and milk business. 

 So the New England farmer went into dairying, the only in- 

 tensive form of agriculture available to everybody, while as 

 many as could find a market engaged in producing fruit, vege- 

 tables, poultry, etc. In a few localities having special soils 

 such industries as tobacco and onion culture developed; but 

 the rapid development of the west, with its cheap feed, brought 

 competition in the production of butter and cheese. With his 

 bigger farm and cheaper feed the western farmer beat the 

 New Englander at his own game, and along about 1870 to 

 1880 was another period of hard times; but the farmers' pros- 

 perity again returned when the growth of the city was suffi- 

 cient to take the dairy products in the form of market milk. 



In recent years, however, the southern New England farmer 

 has suffered a three-cornered pressure on his major enterprise, 

 — dairying: first, high prices for feedstuffs; second, high prices 

 for labor, in competition with city wages; and third, through 



