AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 171 



and teams. The total area of the mine is about 

 twenty acres, of which six to eight are used for the 

 crop. 



The total area in vegetables exclusive of potatoes 

 is about 175,000 acres. The crops listed above oc- 

 cupy about 100,000 acres, leaving 75,000 acres for 

 minor crops and minor areas. 



An important center of green vegetable produc- 

 tion is along the shore of Lake Erie southwest of 

 Buffalo. Owing, doubtless, to the general increase in 

 population in the northeastern part of the United 

 States, and to the markedly perishable character of 

 many of the vegetables, the production of these crops 

 is on the increase in this section of the country — 

 about equal to the increase in population in cities in 

 that region. 



The sugar-beet fiasco of the late nineties and the 

 early years of the present century is an excellent ex- 

 ample of the futility of introducing a new crop with- 

 out full knowledge of soil conditions adapted to its 

 growth. Under the stimulus of state subsidies, fac- 

 tories for making beet-sugar were erected atBing- 

 hamton and at Lyons. The first factory was clearly 

 headed for failure from the very start because the 

 area of soil adapted to the culture of the crop in that 

 region is confined to the river valley and is very 

 limited in extent. At Lyons, similar difficulties ex- 

 isted but not of so serious a nature. Here, too, the 

 soils are better suited to other staple crops than to 

 beets. Had one of these factories been located in 



