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Modern Business Geography 
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF FARMING IN THE UNITED STATES 
The position of the United States as a farming country. Although 
in proportion to its population the United States has fewer farmers 
than many other countries, it is the leading farming country of the 
world. No other country grows such large crops of corn, cotton, 
tobacco, and wheat, and none has a greater variety of products. The 
United States excels Russia in the production of oats. It grows about 
four fifths of the world’s corn crop, three fifths of the cotton, one third 
of the tobacco, one fourth of the oats, and one fifth of the wheat. 
Why the United States leads in farming. The leadership of the 
United States in farming is due to many causes: (1) the great size of 
the country; (2) its favorable climate; (3) the energy of the farmers; 
’4) the intelligence and inventiveness of the American people; (5) the 
freshness of the soil; and (6) the transportation facilities for market- 
ing the crops. In addition to these another cause may be mentioned : 
7) the aid. given by the government. 
It must not be inferred that the United States is ahead of all other 
countries in every condition enumerated above. Russia, including 
Siberia, far exceeds it in size; France has a better climate; Holland 
has farmers who are equally energetic and intelligent; England has 
better roads and more convenient railroads; Australia has equally 
good soil ; and Germany has given more governmental assistance to the 
farmers. It is doubtful, however, whether any other one country 
has so happy a combination of these fortunate conditions as the 
United States. 
SIZE OF THE COUNTRY 
The leadership of the United States in farming rests to a large extent 
upon its size (Fig. 16). If it were not for its great size, the United 
States could not count its annual crop of corn, of wheat, and of oats 
in billions of bushels, of hay in scores of millions of tons, of tobacco 
in hundreds of millions of pounds, and of cotton in millions of bales. 
Other equal areas in Europe, India, and China do indeed produce 
much larger crops than the United States, because they have many 
more people ; but no other region gets so much advantage from mere 
size. Europe is divided into many countries, which is a great hin- 
drance to commerce and hence to production; while in India and 
China transportation is not so well developed as in the United 
States. 
Extent of the tillable area. It is true that not all of our country 
can be used for farming. Some large areas. such as most of the Great