6 The State and the Farmer 



great areas of new development and conse- 

 quently of unstable conditions. The geog- 

 raphy of markets has undergone great change. 

 The great shift in the East has come about 

 very largely as a result of free trade with 

 the West. 



The popular mind has pictured a great de- 

 cline in eastern agriculture and a correspond- 

 ing increase in efficiency of western agriculture. 

 This opinion is founded in part on statistics 

 and in part on the larger base on which 

 western agriculture is often conducted. This 

 is often more apparent than real. We may 

 follow some of the statistical comparisons 

 between New York and some of the corn-belt 

 states by way of illustration, and later we shall 

 endeavor to determine the significance of some 

 of the changes. Comparison by states is, of 

 course, always indecisive and often very falla- 

 cious, because the state unit is not uniform in 

 size, population or general condition ; but we 

 have no better way at present of making rapid 

 contrasts. 



In 1850, i860 and 1870 New York held first 



