Farming in Typical Parts of the United States and Canada.— (1) The New England Typc.—A good way to understand the interplay of all the various factors is to con sider the agricul ture of certain typi c a 1 regions. A relief map shows that New England, northern New York, and most of southeastern Cana da form a fairly rugged but n o t highly mountain ous region. A map of the length of the growing season (Fig. 8) shows that in this region the growing season is comparatively short, for the season diminishes in length not only from south to north, but from west to east. Other maps, such as those for wheat (Fig. 77), and corn, oats, barley and others as given in the Geography of the World's Agriculture or the Statistical Atlas of the United States, show that the production of crops in this region is relatively small. Through out most of New England and the Maritime Provinces the farmers rely largely on root crops, especially potatoes, and upon hay and cattle.
Although there are great differences from place to place the general character of New England agriculture may be judged from a typical , area such as Worcester County in Massachusetts. Some statistics for this are given in the table on page 344. If these are studied care fully and compared with similar statistics for other parts of the country and for the reader's own region, they shed much light on how farming varies from region to region in response to the geographical conditions. The table is divided into four parts: (I) the farm, (II) the farmer, (III) the products, (IV) the expenses. As to the farm, Col. B shows that the average size in Worcester County is 84 acres, which is small compared with western farms but fairly large compared with those of the South or near the cities. Because of the ruggedness of the land and the poor rocky quality of the thin soil, only about 35 per cent (Col. C) of the land is improved, which means that only 30 acres are actually cultivated while 54 are in woodland and unimproved pasture. The value of the average farm in Worcester County in 1919 was $7800 or S36 per acre including the unimproved land. If the improved land alone were taken, this value would rise much higher. Since Worcester County is near the large cities of Worcester and Boston its farms are smaller and the values greater than the average for New England.
The second part of the table shows that 70 per cent of those who cultivate the farms of Worcester County are native whites, chiefly the descendants of early immigrants from Great Britain. The number
of colored farmers is negligible (Col. G), but about 30 per cent of the farmers. are foreign born, which means that foreigners are taking up New England farms quite rapidly. New England is often spoken of as a region of abandoned farms. These figures suggest that the abandon ment is only temporary, and that as the original farmers of British descent move away, their place is gradually being taken by newcomers, mostly from other parts of Europe. Practically all the farmers, both native born and foreign, own their farms, for only 6 per cent of the farms are operated by tenants. (Col. II.) This is a good sign, for the man who owns his farm is more likely to be a responsible and desirable citizen than one who rents.
As to products, the average value of all crops per farm in Worcester County in 1919 was $1410 (Col. I) This is small compared with the farms of almost any other type or almost any other part of the country. The value per acre, however (Col. J) is about medium. Cols. K to M show the kind of crops. The New England farms raise very little grain, largely because of the relief, but partly because of the relatively short growing season. On the other hand, more than half the crops con sist of hay and forage which is fed to cattle, while a third consists of fruit and vegetables, especially potatoes. In Col. N it appears that the animals on the farm are almost as valuable as the crops raised in a single year. How much new value is produced by the animals each year in the form of the young that are raised or of old animals that are killed for meat or other purposes cannot be stated definitely but we may roughly call it one-fourth of the total value. Since dairy and poultry products yield almost as much as all crops combined, it is evident that animals in one form or other are the main source of income.
The approximate income of these New England farmers may be estimated thus: in Coll, $1410, a fourth of Col. N, $335, Col. 0, $1225, and perhaps $400 to represent the rental value of the farmer's house, provided he owns it without a mortgage, and the food which he and his family consume without keeping a record of it,—a total of $3370. From this we deduct $430 for labor, S48 for fertilizer, $667 for feed for animals, and perhaps $700 for hay and forage included in Col. I, but consumed on the farm. Thus in 1919, a year of very high prices, the average income, even in a relatively prosperous region like Worcester County, was only about $1500.