Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/573

NEW YORK. exceeded in three Western States. Each decade since 1870 has witnessed a decrease in the value of farm land and farm improvements, a fact generally explained by the rise of Western competition. The area of improved land reached its maximum in New York in 1880, and declined in each of the subsequent decades. In 1900 74.3 per cent. of the land area of the State was included in farms, and of this amount 68.9 per cent. was improved. The average size of farms decreased from 112.1 acres in 1850 to 99.9 acres in 1900. Tenant farming is growing in favor, and embraced in 1900 23.9 per cent. of all farms. Over one-half of the total crop acreage is devoted to hay and forage, and exceeds the corresponding area in any other State. The importance of the dairy industry gives a special value to hay. While the total product is sometimes exceeded in other States, it generally stands first as to total value. Oats is the most important cereal and is a favorite crop in the Saint Lawrence Valley. Wheat and corn are of about equal prominence. Both regained from 1890 to 1900 a part of the very large loss of area which characterized them in the preceding decade. Only one other State rivals New York in the production of rye and buckwheat.

After hay, the potato is the most valuable farm product. The State is unapproached in the area devoted to this vegetable, and in the value of its production. New York also takes first rank in garden farming. Long Island is almost wholly devoted to this industry, for which it has the special advantage of being near to the New York market. In the production of beans the State holds second rank. In the western counties north of the watershed and in Ulster County are large fruit orchards, the apple trees constituting 70 per cent. of the total number of fruit trees in the State. Grapes are grown abundantly in the southern part of the Hudson Valley and in the lake region. Tobacco is raised in the Chemung Valley and northeastward to the eastern end of Lake Erie. Hops are a prominent crop in some of the central counties, but recently there has been a significant decrease, owing to Western competition. A large income is annually obtained from the products of floriculture. Fertilizers are very commonly used throughout the State, an average of $20 per farm being expended for them. The following table of acreages explains itself:

Stock-raising is characterized by the great prominence of dairy cows. The number of cows has increased steadily, and the dairy industry has likewise grown. In 1900 the value of dairy products constituted 30.5 per cent. of the gross farm income. The receipts from the sales of milk in that year were $36,248,833, and from sales of butter, $9,868,446. From 1890 to 1900 there was a decided increase in the number of cattle and a marked decrease in the number of sheep. Poultry products are a very

prominent item. The following table of this holdings of stock is self-explanatory:

Forests of white pine, spruce, and hemlock originally covered the Adirondacks, and, mingled with hard woods, were common throughout other parts of the State. New York has long played a prominent part in the lumber industry of the country, and in 1850 ranked first among the States in the value of timber products. As a result the merchantable timber has been generally removed except in the Adirondacks, and most of the pine has been cleared from that region. The State possesses here 1,163,414 acres. In 1900 there were in New York 705,914 acres in private reserves, and 1,356,816 acres were owned by individuals or companies for other purposes. Hemlock and spruce are cut in the largest quantities. From the table below it will be seen that while the value of the lumber and timber products, as also the planing mill products, etc., decreased somewhat during the decade, the value of paper and wood pulp increased 88.2 per cent. This gave the State first rank in this industry.

The leading position of New York as a manufacturing State dates from about 1825, when the Erie Canal was finished. The largest absolute gain in the industry was made from 1880 to 1890. The percentage of the population engaged in the industry as wage-earners increased from 6.4 in 1850 to 11.7 in 1900. There was, however, a decrease in the last decade of that period. The total value of manufactures for the year 1900 was $2,175,726,900. This figure was one-seventh greater than that for Pennsylvania—the only other State which approaches New York in this respect. The figure was in fact nearly one-sixth of that for the United States. This position is held by the State despite the comparative lack of iron manufacturing and textile industries. It is due to the great number of factories and shops producing the more highly finished products. The State is not without valuable resources of field, forest, and mine, and counts also among its advantages the sources of an abundant water-power, including the Niagara Falls. But its advanced position is the outgrowth rather of its superior situation with respect to both home and foreign markets. The construction of the Erie Canal westward through the Mohawk Valley—the only natural break in the Appalachian Mountain range—established early communication between the Hudson River and the Great Lakes, and brought to New York much of the commerce of the West. The water routes determined the location of nearly all the large towns, which in turn largely determined the location of railway routes. At the southern extremity of this system of water transportation was New York Harbor, with its superior natural facilities for shipping. New York City thus became the metropolis of the country, and extensive manufacturing industries sprang up in and about it. About three-fifths