AGRICULTURAL INDUf^TRIES 157 



and heavy loam soils of calcareous nature and fairly 

 smooth topography that permits the use of modern 

 harvesting machinery. Fertilizer is generally used 

 on wheat and, in fact, in seeding all the small grains, 

 but not often on corn. 



There was a time when New York was the granary 

 of the country, the period immediately following the 

 opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. From the earliest 

 settlement it was the commonest cash crop because of 

 the ease of its storage and transportation. It con- 

 tinued to be the leading grain crop until the substan- 

 tial opening of the Central West when its produc- 

 tion shrank to the present acreage and to the region 

 where it is now most successfully produced. Here it 

 fits into the prevailing system of farming by which 

 wheat is able to hold its own against further western 

 competition. If not in itself profitable, it is worth 

 while because of the aid it gives to the conduct of 

 the prevailing system of farming. 



Both barley and rye are secondary grain crops of 

 limited area and emergency use. Barley is pro- 

 duced in the same region as wheat, south of Lake 

 Ontario. Its growth swings a little further east and 

 north than wheat, being used in the dairy region east 

 of Lake Ontario and in the northeastern part of the 

 State. It is a short-season crop and often finds place 

 on wet, " late " land where oats or other spring grains 

 eould not be planted. It also reaches south well up 

 on the hill land of the Genesee Valley, doubtless be- 

 cause of its ability to grow in a cool climate. It is 

 almost entirely used as feed. The acreage of barley 



