e comforts of life. Most of the farmers did not know how to improve
the soil or even to keep it in as good condition as it was when they
first cleared away the forests and began cultivating it; so many left
their farms to seek a living elsewhere. There are now many abandoned
farms that are growing up to forests again.

In spite of this poor land, the New England states form one of the most
wealthy and prosperous parts of our country. There are many great cities
containing hundreds of thousands of people in this territory. The
inhabitants enjoy luxuries of every kind sent from all parts of the
world. The farmers of New England certainly do not produce this wealth
from their rocky soil. Where, then, does it come from?

Industries of almost every sort except farming are carried on in the
cities of New England. All these people have to be fed and the farms of
this region would hardly support them even if the soil were very
productive. So much food is needed every day that if the supply were cut
off for only a short time, there would be great suffering.

Somewhere there must be farmers at work raising food supplies for the
people of the great cities. The many beautiful and wonderful things made
by the workers in the cities must be exchanged with the farmers for the
real necessities of life.

Somewhere there must be vast fertile fields which produce much more than
their owners require. We will journey westward to the prairies of the
Mississippi Valley. Here for hundreds of miles we can see hardly
anything but fields of waving wheat and corn. Here are hundreds of
granaries and flour mills. Upon the rivers and lakes there are many
boats, and upon the land railroads, all carrying flour and other farm
products to feed the people of New England. Here are great stock ranches
with thousands of cattle and hogs, which, when fattened upon the grain,
are also shipped to New England to help feed the people there.

[Illustration: A field of wheat on one of the Western prairies.]

We must conclude, then, that if it were not for the vast fields with
their deep, rich soil, where the farmers are able to grow much more than
they need for themselves, it would not be possible for the people of New
England to become wealthy by working at other things than farming. The
articles which they are making add to their own comfort and pleasure as
well as to that of the farmers, but they have to have the products of
the soil to keep alive.

If th