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Why did New England colonists turn to mills, shipbuilding and the sea rather than to farming?
ARoyal orders barred them from clearing farmland
BThin stony soil and short summers hampered farms
CThe Dutch held the best farmland to the west
DTheir charters required a share of every catch
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: B. Thin stony soil and short summers hampered farms
1. Settlements fell into sections largely determined by geography.
2. The south had warm climate and fertile soil, so an agrarian society grew there.
3. New England was a glaciated area strewn with boulders and made inferior farm country.
4. Its soil was thin and stony, its level land scarce, its summers short and its winters long.
5. New Englanders therefore harnessed water power and set up gristmills and sawmills.
6. Good stands of timber encouraged shipbuilding and excellent harbors promoted trade.
7. No royal order stopped them farming, since the obstacle was the land itself.
_Source: An Outline of American History (U.S. Information Agency, 1990, public domain), section MANY CULTURES BLEND_
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