THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES The Variety of Agricultural Types.—The variety of the farming, industry of the United States and Canada is extraordinary. In some places the one-crop type prevails as among the potato farmers' of Aroostook County in Maine. Elsewhere horticulture of a highly intensive type is found, as in the market gardens near the great cities, and at intervals along the Atlantic coast from Norfolk to Florida. Another type of horticulture prevails in the irrigated orchards and gardens of the West, especially on the farms of California where vege-' tables like asparagus and green peas reach a maximum development. In a small way the millions of people who have home gardens are also horticulturists. Of quite a different type are the animal farms. Some supply milk for the cities while elsewhere the milk is made into cheese and butter, as in Wisconsin. The sheep and cattle ranches of the West represent still other types of animal farms. In addition to all these there are what we have called the all-around farmers. They are most numerous in the fertile prairie states and Ontario, but are found wher• ever the intelligent and careful farmer takes pains to raise a diversity of products.
The Causes of Different Agricultural great diversity of. farming in the United States and Canada is due to many causes, includ ing (1) the racial qualities, training, and energy of the farmers, (2) tht• soil, (3) the relief of the lands, (4) the climate, and its relation to the optima of plants and animals, (5) the distribution of insect pests, rusts, blights, and similar scourges, (6) transportation, and (7) the location and character of markets. When immigrants first come to America or move from one farming region to another, all but the most intelligent usually begin by trying to farm in the same way as at home. Thus the English when they first came to America thought that wheat and root crops were the most important products. The Germans introduced their own special methods of intensive farming svhich have persisted to an uncommon degree in southeastern Pennsylvania. When the Italians reach America they are apt to set out vineyards and to plant a great variety of trees and crops in a single field, a practice which is common where irrigation prevails. People from Scandinavia usually
want to make dairy cattle a main part of their farming while the Mexi can thinks that a cattle ranch is the only real farm. When people move from one part of the country to another the same thing often happens. For example, not a few farmers, in spite of the advice of previous set tlers, have tried to raise grain without irrigation on the apparently fruit ful plains of Arizona. They saw an abundance of wild grass and bushes and did not realize that such plants can thrive with far less rain than ordinary crops.
The Adaptation of Farming to Geographical immigrant farmer who brings to America his old ideas of farming soon finds that he must adapt his methods to the new surroundings. One adaptation depends on the farmer's own health and energy. In a north ern region such as Maine or Minnesota he is stimulated to work. In the South the fair Nordic from northern Europe may find that he cannot work vigorously in the sun. He tends more and more to rely on colored labor, but if he is not sufficiently competent to be an employer, he may sink to the grade of a poor white and suffer from ompetition with the colored man. Another great factor in determining the type of farming is the soil and relief. The abitridonment of New England farms is partly a matter of relief, and to a less degree of soil. The climate of Massachusetts is only a little less favorable for agriculture than that of Illinois, but the levelness of Illinois, and the depth and richness of the soil, give that state an enormous advantage. The climate also makes a great difference in the methods of farming and the type of crop. It would be foolish for a Minnesota farmer to try to raise cotton, and it does not pay for the Georgia farmer to raise much wheat, simply because ,no crop will thrive when the climate departs too far from its optimum. Insects or other pests may greatly modify certain forms of agriculture. For example, the cotton raisers of Texas have been obliged to depend more than formerly upon other crops because the boll weevil has injured the cotton so much. The cotton farmers of Texas have few large truck gardens partly because transportation to the great markets in the North Atlantic states is more expensive than from Florida or Virginia.