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Making the Corn Belt
A Geographical History of Middle-Western Agriculture
Published by: Indiana University Press
29 b&w photos, 2 illus.
- eBook
- 9780253113108
- Published: August 1994
$9.99
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" . . . this is an excellent book, a rich example of the cross-breeding of history and geography." —Journal of American History
" . . . a compellingly written volume that will become a standard reference on the development of Middle Western agriculture." —Choice
"This is a book of great substance that will likely stand as a classic." —John Jakle
"Students of the American Midwest must add this book to their libraries." —Agricultural History
"Making the Corn Belt is an important book. . . . written tightly and edited well." —Kansas History
John C. Hudson here presents the most complete and up-to-date account of the origin and growth of America's heartland.
Preface
1. Corn Belt Geography
2. Making the Land
3. Finding the Land
4. Zea Mays
5. The Feedlot
6. Razorbacks and Poland-Chinas
7. The First Corn Belt
8. Corn Belt Sectionalism
9. Specialization and Westward Expansion
10. New Crops and Northward Expansion
11. West to the Plains
12. The Corn Business
Notes
Index
JOHN C. HUDSON is Professor of Geography at Northwestern University and the author of numerous books on the geography of the Middle West and Great Plains, including Plains Country Towns and Crossing the Heartland.
The Corn Belt is America's heartland. Its farmers produce a cornucopia of grain and animal products to feed the nation's population with enough surplus for substantial exports to world markets. Hudson (Northwestern Univ.) has traced this region's geographical and agricultural evolution and presents his findings in a compellingly written volume that will become a standard reference on the development of Middle Western agriculture. The practice of producing corn to fatten livestock for sale to meat packers, the predominant mode of farming that came to define the Corn Belt region by the late 1800s, began in five contributing agricultural cradles: the Nashville Basin, Pennyroyal Plateau, Bluegrass region, Miami Valley, and Virginia Military District. Migrants from these areas moved into southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois and by the 1830s and '40s were driving fattened stock to the region's riverside meat packers. Hudson places the development of hybrid corn seed and swine breeds within the context of the physical environment as an appropriate venue for farming. Excellent bibliography and maps. An essential acquisition for all academic libraries and for public libraries serving readers interested in Middle Western life and economy.
~K. B. Raitz, Choice