The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-02-26
FARMING IN OTHER LANDS.

which Will Dc r0du Will
surprise
DECLINE OF New ENGLAND FARM
MG-During last summer L drove
owe a large part of the farming dis.
trict of Massachusetts and some OF
the adjoining New England States;
and no fact struck me with so much
force as that the farming industry OF
the region is certainly declining. De-
serted farm houses are strikingly COM
mon and farms run to. waste are met
with on every side. In one days
drive near Mt. Monadnock, in South
ern New Hampshire, | counted fifteen
deserted houses, and the next day L
passed six in succession. Here was a
whole district so entirely deserted that
even the s~chool-house was slowly going
to ruin. I saw before me farms when
once must have been made to supply
families with the means of subsistence,
but which are no longer considered
of any value. Much labor had been
expended in clearing patches for NOW
inc, which are now rapidly returning
to their wild state. Orchards set out
with evident care are choked out by a
young growth of chestnuts and oaks
Barns and houses exposed to the
weather. and without care, are falling
down amid the rank growth OF grass
and weeds.
Why this astonishing change ( Inc
question is not hard to answer. 10
start with the rocky and billy charac-
ter of the land renders it impossible
to raise one crop over a large area, SO
as to admit of the use of improved
machinery, as is done on the prairie
lands of the West. The soil is natu-
rally very strong, and for this reason
it has taken a long time to wear 1t
out. On most of these farms no ma
nure is ever used except the scanty
supply of stable waste, and that
mainly for the house garden. Under
such treatment even the strong New
England soil is bound to give out, and
has in many places done so. This
wearing out of the soil is one u OF
the decline. Then cheap freight rates
from the West and the remarkable
development of the farms there have
made farming in New England un-
profitable. By cheap freights distance
has been eliminated, and it practically
comes down to a question whether 1t
is possible for a man to compete single
handed with the wholesale agrlcul-
ture of the West. Railroads, agricul-
tural machines, the opening up of
the West and the careless use of the
home farms are all elements in the
decline. But this is not all. | claim
that even with all these difficulties
every cleared farm in New England
could and should be made to support
a thrifty family. The restless money
getting spirit of the times, the desire
to better ones condition, has taken
root on every farm in New England.
The younger element in these days OF
easy transportation becomes dissatis-
fed with the "hum-drum life" on the
farm and yearns for something live.
lier. The farmers boy gives up his
free life in the country for n OF
slavery in the city +; he delves In the
noisy work-rooms of the factory rather
than in the open air on the farm, and
lives in his dingy boarding house, sur
rounded by noise and filth, in prefer
ence to dwelling in the house he Cal
call his own, where he may be free
from care and worry and vice. Stay
at home, young mani Leave the ex
citement of the factory and city fol
those who are so unfortunate as to b.
obliged to taste it.
Mr.. Ben Tucker, writing from Lon
don, England, to The american Agra
cuHur5st, declares that the farming in
terests in England are undergoing
a great change. He writes as follows
England is passing through
radical change in her farming In
terests. I have visited nearly ever
county in England, and have converse
with the larger and the more humbl
farmers, and the story is the sam
wherever you go: "There is no us
for us to attempt the cultivation {
the larger crops; it is nothing bu
ruin; we must turn u attention t
the smaller products, fruits or stool
but no wheat or corn, save for HON
consumption" This is the universe
story throughout the country. Tn,
is the universal story throughout tn
country. This feeling on the part
the farmer-I mean the actual farme
the tenant farmers fixed and it
not the landlords business what crol
should be cultivated. This interfe
ence on the part of the landlord hi
been the cause of hundreds of tenant
giving up their acres in despair ar
turning their attention to other pu
g. l.