Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 75.djvu/492

488 leading state in the production of wool. At the present time it still leads among the states outside of the ranching regions. Its rank is ninth in neat cattle, seventh in swine, and sixth in horses. Associated with its standing in live stock is the corollary fact that in Ohio slaughtering and meat packing is still the fourth industry, while in the whole country it ranks ninth in dairy products, and in the gross value of agricultural products it is third in the union.

The trend of scientific agriculture arising from the work of our colleges and from the federal department of agriculture indicates that there will be greater diversity in products as well as more stability in yield. The present marvelous output of the Mississippi basin is bound to be greatly increased. With the prospect of new markets through shorter hauls made possible by the Panama Canal route, and the improvement of waterways, supplementing the inadequate railroad facilities to New Orleans and other gulf ports, the Ohio River states will be stimulated as never before. The probable diversion of trade from the present great shipping ports on the Atlantic does not necessarily imply shrinkage in their business; it means a compliance with physiographic conditions that naturally divides the output of this great agricultural region, between the gulf and the ocean. A large part of the great interior looks to the gulf; geographically, it is a mediterranean country; such was its geologic origin. Its natural affiliations were aborted when the French were supplanted by the British. The history of commerce, the world over, shows how adjustments are inevitable so long as scientific progress is made in farming and manufacturing, and in transportation itself.

From the standpoint of agriculture, however, still another factor will be conspicuously influential before many years. Immigrants to this country in recent times have largely increased our urban population where employment without capital is found, chiefly in the manufacturing centers. A large percentage of these immigrants are farmers in training, and, as they accumulate money, they gravitate to the country. In the east especially these provident foreigners find no trouble in acquiring land because the natives are glad to get out of the country and into villages or cities, preferring to take their chances on earning as good a living there as they were accustomed to on the farm. The deserted farms in the east do not attest a serious impairment of the soil; they indicate an incapacity on the part of the original farmer to adjust himself to changing conditions in agriculture.

In nearly all parts of Ohio one may find holdings which afforded the original farmers a very doubtful living now yielding a constant profit under the tillage of immigrants. European methods of agriculture combined with ability to reef expenses to the vacillations of income make them successful. During the decade 1890-1900 the average