ABSTRACT
Grain production and livestock raising were the basis of agriculture in the North and the Northwest and of many farms in the South. Wheat was raised in every state; except for the tobacco and cotton areas of the South, no other crop was so useful to the farmer as a source of cash. Wheat fitted admirably into the farmer's economy. Though upstate New York landowners gave vigorous support to the movement for its construction, farmers subsequently watched with dismay the unexpected flood of wheat which the canal brought into eastern markets from the West. By 1860, wheat was being produced in Illinois and Wisconsin, with the best of the farm machines then available and on a commercial scale quite unlike that of the older areas. Corn was the universal grain raised practically wherever there was farming. Oats, the third major grain, were largely raised for horses, and to combine with corn for cattle and sheep.
