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                        CHAPTER I.
     THE TRANSITION FROM SIMPLE TO COMPLEX
                       AGRICULTURE.
  The change from simple to complex agricultural con-
ditions did not happen in a day. It came so gradually that those
who made the changes, and were themselves at the same time un-
dergoing a modification no less pronounced, hardly realized that
anything of far-reaching consequence was happening. These re-
sults were brought about primarily by economic causes already
noted, together with some important social influences, while later,
political movements were of equal significance.
  Among social influences a few stand out with unmistakable
clearness. The Ohio people, in the southern, the northeastern,
and the northwestern, parts of Dane county, all engaged to greater
or less extent in sheep raising. They had all learned something
about the business before coming and were able to bring a few
sheep along with them. The Vermonters were also disposed to
own sheep, and occasionally an Englishman or a Scotchman ven-
tured to invest in a small flock. There were many drawbacks to
the business, yet it persisted in a tentative way from its introduc-
tion in the early '50's until a time when opportunities came to give
it more attention. To the Ohio people is also due the credit of in-
troducing tobacco culture. The explanation of this is analogous
to that of the introduction of sheep-they had learned the busi-
ness at home and brought it with them. Cattle were of course
indispensable, but it was the cheapness of this kind of stock in
the older states of the Northwest which accounted for the fact that
cattle raising came in as fast as it did. Hogs were kept as exten-
.4