34 The State and the Farmer 



changing values or whatever may be the popu- 

 lar fancy to the contrary. 



A further evidence of the great diversifica- 

 tion of agricultural enterprises in New York, 

 as a representative of eastern conditions, is 

 shown by the fact that in a list now before 

 me of twenty-two leading products of this 

 latitude. New York stands first in the pro- 

 duction of eleven of them, whereas no other 

 state ranks first in more than two or three of 

 them. While the agriculture of the state in 

 general shows a decline as measured by the 

 census figures, the main lines of special 

 development are in a condition of increased 

 vigor and effectiveness ; and this remark may 

 be extended to other eastern states. The 

 wonder is not that certain lands are returning 

 to forest, but that, in all this shift and the 

 rapid development of the West, the state 

 has been able to hold the position that it still 

 maintains. 



This rapidly moving readjustment and diver- 

 sification will produce fundamental changes in 

 the mode of farming and in the economic, 



