142 RURAL NEW YORK 



few districts anywhere in the entire country surpass 

 this south of Lake Ontario for a widtli of forty miles 

 in general intensity of agricultural development. 



Hay and forage crops are widely distributed in the 

 tilled area. Pushed aside to a considerable extent by 

 the development of the other groups of crops, they 

 have still maintained the major development, and in 

 conjunction with the market facilities, support the 

 hirge live-stock and dairy interests of the State. 

 Tlu' cereals, except buckwheat, are most concentrated 

 in the Genesee Valley region. Buckwheat is largely 

 a poor-land crop and has the largest area but not the 

 largest yields in the rougher and more remote regions. 

 Vegetables, including potatoes, have several centers 

 of production that in part coincide with particular 

 crops. Potatoes, however, are most largely grown in 

 three centers: west central New York from Lake 

 Ontario southward into the northern half of the 

 southern tier of counties ; on eastern Long Island, and 

 in northern New York around the north flank of the 

 Adirondack Mountains in Franklin and Clinton 

 counties. The more detailed distribution and rela- 

 tions of individual crops will appear as the discus- 

 sion proceeds. 



In Table IV is a summary of the changes in crop 

 area in acres in New York State since 1844. 



HAY AND FORAGE (See Figs. 18, 20) 



In the production of hay and forage, New York 

 should be compared witli southern Wisconsin, south- 

 ern Minnesota and eastern Iowa. Two factors unite 



