14 BULLETIN 341, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



price per acre with increase in size of farm, due largely to relatively 

 greater cost of buildings on the smaller farms. There is a slight 

 increase in the last group as compared with the preceding one, due 

 largely to the fact that a considerable number of these large farms 

 are owned by wealthy men who have had the capital to secure choice 

 lano^ and install somewhat elaborate equipment. Since that time 

 there has been a marked increase in the price of land in this section. 



The reason for the general prevalence of farms of small to moderate 

 size in this region is largely historical. These farms were established 

 at a time when improved farm machinery was not available and when 

 in consequence the ordinary farm family could farm only a small 

 area. At that time farmers produced practically all their food and 

 clothing, and they produced very little surplus for the markets. 

 Under such circumstances only a small proportion of the population 

 could live in cities, for the farm population could not feed such mul- 

 titudes as are found in our modern cities. When competition with 

 the West brought on the panic of the forties, it became necessary for 

 the farmers of the North Atlantic States to increase the magnitude 

 of their business in order to meet the competition with these larger 

 farms of the West. There were two methods of doing this. One was 

 to secure more land ; the other was to farm more intensively. Most 

 eastern farmers chose the latter because it represented the line of 

 least resistance. 



In locations favorable to fruit and truck growing these industries 

 developed enormously in this general region. So great became the 

 production, especially of vegetables, that the business was gradually 

 crowded off of all except the most favorably situated areas of very 

 light soil, which could throw their products on the market very early 

 in the season and thus get the advantage of the high prices which 

 prevail before the markets are overstocked. The business, therefore, 

 became practically impossible on the heavier types of soil. The only 

 other methods of developing intensive farming were dairying, poul- 

 try raising, and tobacco growing. Several localities in the North 

 Atlantic States particularly adapted to the production of high-grade 

 tobacco have developed this business extensively. One of the im- 

 portant tobacco-growing areas is in Lancaster County, just west of 

 Chester. Poultry are found on practically all farms in the North 

 Atlantic States, and here and there over this entire territory are 

 many farms devoted mainly to this business. 



But the type of intensive farming available to the largest number 

 of eastern farmers was dairying, and this whole region has become 

 one of the most intensive dairy regions on the continent. This was 

 the course taken by the farmers of Chester County, dairy products 

 constituting by far the most important source of income. 



