2 FARM CROPS 



Towns and cities sprang into existence. They 

 called for food and for raw materials and in ex- 

 change gave finished products for the home, tools 

 and machines for the farm, and luxuries for the 

 family. From growing every sort of crop, making 

 his own clothing and supplying his own needs, the 

 farmer altered the program, giving way to special- 

 ization. He cultivated his fields and raised his 

 animals, and from the surplus, after meeting his 

 own needs, he secured his additional supplies from 

 the manufacturing centers of the cities and towns. 

 In time sections became marked as being peculiarly 

 adapted for certain lines of crop production, and 

 these became centers of supply, giving rise to ex- 

 change, not only between town and city, but be- 

 tween agricultural localities also. For instance, 

 sugar became a fixture in one section, cotton in an- 

 other, tobacco in another, corn shifted to the South 

 and Middle West, wheat to the uttermost limits 

 both north and west, while live stock settled itself 

 where opportunity offered it the best prospects. 



Thus sheep departed from New England into 

 Ohio, then into the far West and Southwest. Beef 

 cattle sought the rich pasture lands in the Middle 

 and Western states. The hog followed after com 

 and established himself where corn, clover and 

 alfalfa were most at home. Dairy cattle, mindful 

 of the worth and possibilities of settled commu- 

 nities, congregated around cities and towns, and, 

 undaunted by heat, snow or cold, or regardless of 

 scant and rocky pasture or diminishing returns in 

 hay and forage, became fixed in New England and 

 the older sections of the country. At the same 

 time, farm poultry, wedded to woman and the 

 home, so fixed themselves through sentiment and 



