THE EFFECT OF RELIEF ON PRODUCTION Connecticut as an Example of the Effect of Relief.—Connecticut offers a good example of the effect of relief on production. In 1850 that state was important as a producer of farm products. About 57 acres out of every hundred were improved; that is, either under culti vation or forming part of a rotation so that they were sometimes cultivated. In 1920 only 23 acres out of every hundred were improved. With this diminution in cultivation has gone a decline in population in about half the townships, or " towns " as they are called in New England. But the decline is limited to the " hill towns " which lie in north and south belts at a distance from the main valleys of the Thames, Connecticut, and Naugatuck Rivers where the railroads are chiefly located. The decline in agriculture does not mean a loss of markets, for the low parts of the state, both in the valleys and along the coast, have increased greatly in population, both because of manufacturing and because there is more farming than ever before.
The reason the hill towns of Connecticut, and of all the eastern states, have declined in agriculture is simply that rugged land, even though not mountainous, cannot compete with the level prairies, for example. The fact that in Indiana in 1920 about 72 per cent of all the land was reckoned as improved while in Connecticut the percentage was only 23 is not because the farmers of Connecticut are less compe tent than those of Indiana. Acre for acre the cultivated parts of the farms in southern New England yield products worth about twice as much as do those of the richest prairie states, as appears in the following table.
Because level land is scarce and a splendid market is available close at hand in the manufacturing towns it pays to cultivate the farms of the northeastern states very carefully, as is the case in Switzerland, Japan, parts of California and many other rugged lands.
How Relief Controls the Nature of the Products.—The relief of a region influences the kind of products as well as their quantity and quality. In the table of the world's chief products in the preceding chap ter, only three out of the seventeen food products are more abundant in mountains than in plains, namely, sheep, coffee and tea. Among the non-metallic raw materials only two, or at most three, out of six, i.e., wood and wool, and perhaps raw silk, come mainly from rugged regions; among the materials for fuel and power only water comes mainly from such regions, although coal is found partly in regions of moderate relief. Among the metals, however, all except iron come
chiefly from regions of high relief, and even iron comes mostly from old worn-down mountains. Hence in the following paragraphs we shall discuss only five of the 24 chief products that are derived directly from plants or animals, namely, sheep, wool, wood, coffee and tea; for these alone, unless we include silk, are produced largely in rugged regions. Water is left for the chapter on power. Among the nine mineral products, on the other hand, at least six and perhaps more are derived mainly from rugged regions.
Sheep, the most Important Animal of Rugged sheep and wool are mentioned separately in the table of the world's chief products, they should be considered together. Wild sheep are found only in mountainous regions, for example, the Rocky Mountains, the Caucasus, and the Himalayas. In this they are quite unlike cattle, horses, donkeys, pigs, and camels, which are animals of the plains. When the sheep was domesticated several thousand years ago it began to lose many of its former qualities and habits. Its power of taking care of itself was impaired; it ceased to run and leap as freely as of old; it learned to obey a shepherd rather than its own leaders; and its size and wool were increased by selecting the best specimens. It also became adapted to new conditions of climate and relief. Nevertheless, sheep still thrive best in fairly cool mountainous regions where there is plenty of short sweet grass and where the air is often moist and the nights fairly cool. Hence, many of the places famous for sheep are rugged regions like the Sierra Nevadas and other western mountains where the sheep are driven far into the forest reserves each summer; Scotland, where the sheep are fed on the dripping moors; Spain, where they migrate in vast flocks up into the cool mountains each summer; and the higher parts of western and central Asia where nomads such as the Afghans, Khirghiz and Mongols pitch their rough tents at the highest elevations in summer in order that their flocks may have the best grass. Even at an altitude of 16,000 or 17,000 feet the Tibetan shep herds are found crouching under little tents close to the perpetual snow.