This picture of the New England farm and its products needs to be supplemented by studies of special sections such as the rich tobacco farms of the Connecticut Valley, the potato farms of Aroostook County, and the truck farms and market gardens that will be considered later. Nevertheless, in a general way it represents the average New England farmer, and shows that he spends most of his time in raising hay and forage and in taking care of his cattle and dairy products.
(2) The Truck Areas.—Truck farms and market gardens are espe cially good examples of the effect of a large market. They cannot thrive unless within quick and easy reach of large cities where people do not raise their own vegetables. Camden County, New Jersey, is a good example because of its nearness to Philadelphia. The table shows that the average Camden truck farm is little more than half as large as the New England farm in Worcester County. But a much larger pro portion, 78 per cent, is improved so that the actual cultivated land is 38 acres in place of 30 for the Worcester County farms. The value of the farm is a little higher than in Massachusetts, while the nearness to the great city makes the value per acre nearly three times as great. Here, even more than in New England, foreign-born farmers are taking up the land, for only 64 per cent are native whites, 2 per cent negroes, and the remaining 34 per cent foreign-born. Many of the foreign-born and some of the whites rent their farms, for 23 per cent are operated by tenants. Col. I suggests that it is more profitable to run a truck farm near a great city than to run a dairy farm a little farther away. When the income is calculated, this suggestion is confirmed. Even thouglnarge deductions must be made for labor, fertilizer, and feed, the net income in 1919 was over $2500, about two-thirds more than that of the New England dairy farmer. The truck farmer pays little attention to grain and hay, for the two together yielded him only about $600 in 1919, while fruit and especially vegetables brought nearly $2800. He is also a great user of I fertilizers. The map of the amount spent for fertilizers, Fig. 80, shows how largely these are required in the truck areas near the cities and in certain special places like the tobacco farms in the Connecticut Valley and the Carolinas, where the crops make great demands on the soil and there are relatively few animals to supply manure.
(3) The Cotton Belt.—The cotton belt includes the southeastern states shown in Table 16 as raising appreciable quantities of cotton, but in Texas only the eastern part of the state should be included.
The farms in a typical county in Mississippi average only 34 acres in size, but have a fairly high value per acre. The percentage of native white farmers is extremely small, the great majority of the farmers being negroes, practically all of whom as well as some of the white farmers are tenants. The total annual value of all crops is about the same as in Massachusetts, but only a trifle is added by animal products. The aver age annual income from all sources aside from cotton amounts to only about $350, so that about three-fourths of the entire income is derived from cotton. Evidently one-crop farming is here carried to great extremes. This fact and the prevalence of tenancy indicate that the social and economic conditions are serious. The ravages of the boll weevil and other cotton pests deplete the cotton farmer's income considerably.
(4) The Eastern Plateau.—North and northwest of the cotton belt, the Eastern or Allegheny Plateau shelters a relatively small and peculiar group of farmers. They are interesting because of their unique char acter, but are of little importance to business in general. Here among the Appalachians in Kentucky, Tennessee, and the neighboring states the percentage of native white farmers is larger than in any other part of the United States. The value of their small farms is so extremely low that it would take 33 farms in Clay County, Kentucky, to be as valuable as one farm in McLean County, Illinois. This fact brings out with great force the effect of relief. Clay County has a climate differ ing only a little from that of central Illinois. There is no reason to think that its white farmers inherit any less ability than those of the neighboring states. Nor does it lie at an excessive distance from great markets such as Cincinnati. The main trouble is that the land is rough. Hence much of it cannot be cultivated, and even if the farmers raise surplus crops, the expense of transportation prohibits taking them to market unless reduced to some form li22rrc?,,,hina..whiskey where the value is high and the bulk small. Being poor, scattered, and isolated the farmers of the Plateau cannot afford to make roads, have good schools, and support good physicians, ministers, and other agencies that help a region to advance. To their other disabilities is added an un usually large amount of hookworm and other diseases that keep many of them weak and anemic. All these causes combine to make the plateau farmers almost the most backward in the United States.