| Abstract: | The concern is to extend certain diffusion concepts to devolution. In this example, tractors replaced horses because tractors had advantages over horses. Logistic curves depict well the temporal rate of tractor acceptance and of horse abandonment. Although differing somewhat in time, the spatial patterns of adoption and abandonment are similar. They centered early in east central Illinois, a prosperous agricultural core, and spread outward. Laggard counties as well as persister ones were mainly in southern Illinois, a peripheral area with a relatively impoverished agriculture. Influences on the patterns include farm value, size, and type and land quality. |
