849] Machinery and Labor 51 



tral and Western divisions, the character of the culti- 

 vation affects the size of farms. The North Atlantic 

 states are much devoted to market gardening and the 

 general character of farm work in that division is, 

 therefore, more intensive and a given area gives em- 

 ployment for a greater quantity of both machine and 

 man-labor power. The Western states, in like manner, 

 much more than the North Central states, are devoted 

 to market garden and orchard products. 1 The Noith 

 Central states lead in what may be termed field crops. 2 

 Looking to the total farm acreage, it may seem ques- 

 tionable whether the effect of machinery is to increase 

 or decrease the size of farms. But it is noticeable that 

 the total farm acreage includes land kept for stock- 

 raising, for timber supply, for speculation, etc., and in- 

 cludes altogether too much of that with which ma- 

 chinery has nothing to do, to make it a fit basis for a 

 study of the influence of farm machinery either upon 

 the size of farms or upon the nature and extent of farm 

 work. When we use the word " farm " to denote only 

 that portion of the land with which machinery has to 

 do (/. *?., the area devoted to the production of crops), 

 it becomes apparent that, other things being equal, the 

 use of farm machinery leads to, or is at any rate ac- 

 companied by, an increase in the size of farms. This 

 increase is most marked in the states of the North Cen- 

 tral division. 



SOME CONSEQUENCES RESULTING FROM THE USE OF 

 FARM MACHINERY IN THE REGION MOST DEVOTED TO 



ITS USE 



It has been shown that the cereal and hay crops 

 are those in the production of which machine power 



1 See Twelfth Census, Agriculture II, pp. 324 and 599 et seq. 



2 See pp. 52-53. 



