In these sixty years the wheat
fields have moved from the East to the West. From 1820 to 1840 the
valleys of the Mohawk and the Genesee furnished the finer flour for the
cities of New York and New England. Pennsylvania, Maryland and
Virginia supplied Baltimore and Philadelphia. Then Ohio became the
chief source of supply. More recently the wheat region is the upper
valley of the Mississippi, and the State of California. The time is
not far distant when a return movement will begin. Domestic markets in
the vicinity of the great wheat fields will create a demand for other
products. With the exhaustion of the soil will come the necessity for
the use of artificial manures. Thus will be established a permanent
condition of comparative equality between the East and the West.
Already the process has commenced in the culture of Indian corn. For a
time the farmers of New England were unable to raise corn, even for
farm use, in competition with the West. The fodder of the corn has now
become valuable to farmers who produce milk for market, and already
they are finding it profitable to raise corn, even when the price at
the door does not exceed fifty cents per bushel. Coincident with these
changes the States of the East have increased in population, and the
proportion who live in cities is increasing at a greater ratio even.
Pages:
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66