Families tended to be large in New England because:

Parents needed large families in order to protect themselves from poverty, and they had many children in order to ensure that some survived to work on their farms and to take care of them when they became too old to provide for themselves.

Explanation:

1

b gas tractor

2

c and negotiated lower prices for farm equipment and supplies

3

d the grange

4

c over 15,000 bankrupt businesses

5

c people became more self-sufficient