Daily Republican., 1881-09-14
Large farms An Injury.

Large farms an Injury.
Land grabbers, or in more poll
terms those who have mania for bu
ing farm after farm and adding them
their possessions for the sake mere
for the accumulation Of property cal
not be said to be adding to the prospe
ity of neighborhood nor to the weslt
of q State. There are exceptions to tn
as there is to every thing and We al
glad to note the DUPONT family of OF
own State as one of those exceptions
Generally speaking, men who sccum,
late number of farms have only . pc,
sonsl motive i'll doing 80, and tt at motiv
not very commendable one. If the
we're purchased and accumulated fc
the purpose of improvement or devsloI
ing their productive capacity the objec
tion to this class of people would not b
SO great. Every additional farm tn
DuPouts buy adds not only to tn
wealth of that already wealthy famil
but 1t adds to the wealth of the commu
nifty as well. Why does it do so in tn
case named? Because these gentlemen
will not have poor farms. They ma,
be poor and delapidated when they pur
chase them but they soon develop int,
first class farms and bring two fold bet
tor crops than they ever did before The
old fences disappear, and if there are
boulders or stone either loose or in quar-
ries on the place, stone fences appear,
and old rickety barns disappear and
are substituted with modernized large
bank barns with every improvement,
painted the well known lead or brown
color by which the DUPONT barns are so
well known and designated from other
barns. These farms are tenanted like
hundreds of other rentable farms in the
State but the tenants never change
every year or two, because they are sat-
is1ed ifthey are good farmers and want
no change.
The case is quite different in other in
stances where men own number of
farms. They purchase them to crafty
a mania for land grabbing perhaps with
the idea that an accumulation of dCz.
On or two of farms entitle them to the
distinction of being wealthy. The farms
are poor when purchased very likely
and they soon become poorer and more
delspidated by neglect afterw ards
There are thousands upon thousands Of
acres just in this little State of Della
ware that are held in that way.
In Kent and Sussex counties there
are men who own . dozen or more
farms or tracts Of land desi gnated farms
the most OF them so poor that they cali
not produce enough to make a decent
living for decent family and pay the
taxes. Such land owners and land
grabbers are no benefit but instead a
detriment TO State prosperity. Large
farms in the West have been excusable
in the early settlement of the country,
but there is no doubt that they are in
That section now as much OF a positive
injury as they a,e in the east The
great land owner in the West ploughs
down thousand acres and slap it in
wheat, and he is sure to reap rich re-
ward from that one crop that year. The
crop is matured, aud the straw burned
to get it out of the way. Not dollar is
spent except for the purpose of getting
the seed into the ground and in nar.
Vesting the products. 1t matters little
10 the princely owners Of the waving
fields whether the system holds cut.
He knows that before the fields give
way to the excessive drain his acres
will have paid for themselves over and
over again and poured vast wealth into
his pockets. This l., not true agricul.
ture, it is only wearing out of land
that prevents the raising of good crops
afterwards unless different system ia
pursued and good part Of the fortune
50 hastily gathered is spent in rejuve-
mating the ground.
1t is a common expression in Della
ware-we say Delaware because we
intend our remarks for local applica.
tion-that it is no wonder. some people
are poor because they own so much un-
Improved land. This may seem strange
but 1t is nevertheless true.
A thousand acres of uncultivated
sand barrens or swamps will make any
man poor, and yet there are men in
Delaware who hold on with the ,enac1ty
OF life grip to their barrens and their
swanpe rather than sell them off in
small farms to those who have the
energy aud capacity to improve them.
1t is a blessed thing for tho State aud
community that such men almost in
variably fall into the hands of the
Sheriff who makes scatterlnent Of the
farms for the public good and the relief
OF the man who insanely tried to hold
them.
Small farms are always the most
productive. Usually they are cult
waited by those who own them. On
great farms hired labor is used almost
exclusively, and the mon who mechan-
ioally do their work have no other in
terest in the farm than TO draw their
wages, and in many instances to do as
little as they can for the wages. We
are glad to see that in New Castle
County subdivision of farms is going
on, and a. they are divided their ca