The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-10-07
DECAY or NV ExGLAND.


ueserfed Villages and Abandoned Farms
People Have Come west
Quite recently during this year the COM
missioner OF agriculture and Immigration
OF New HampsI ire issued book in which
It vas stated that there had been reported
to his office 1.442 vacant farms with tenant
Anie bui d.ngs in various parts of the state.
He says:
Many Of these farms can be purchased
for less than it would cost To replace the
buildings. and for one-fifth of the cost of
the permanent improvements upon them.
We claim that there IS no section Of the
country where = small investment in
farm will secure more for the purchaser
tnan IN one Of the vacated farms Of New
Hampshire. They are adapted to dairy
ing. poultry raising, fruit culture, sheen
nusbandry. market gardening. or can be
nffed up to swell the already large number
OF summer boarding establishments.
These farms have more or less
wood and timber land. IS will be
seen by the descriptions given,
and the work OF placing the forest products
upon the market Will afford femunerAtive
winter employment for q number of years.
There are many valuable mapIe-sugar
orchards, the products of which ind .
ready sale 1t good prices. Hundreds of
these farms are located upon the hills and
mountains, and on the borders of lakes and
streams. and would make delightful sum
mer homes. Many Of them embrace
or0ad acreage. good, roomy buildings, and
can be put in shape for summer use 1t little
cost; and they can be bought for price
less than many man pays for having his
family crowded into hotel for single
season. Even man OF moderate means
may possess himself of one of these upon
terms whicn will enable him to occupy il
and entertain his friends in il from May
until October cheaper than he can live at
home in the city or patronize decentsum-
mer clearinghouse. When once he has
It he can turn his family loose upon
1t. cultivate it as little or as much
as he pleases, roam through the
woods and over the lodges and by the
brooks upon il, and enjoy all the comforts
OF farm life. The millionaire, who can af-
ford TO do more, to build fine houses, breed
biooded horses and cattle, lay face walls,
set out shade trees, and farm for fun gen.
orally. may also ind on these farms the
opportunity he wants to scatter his income.
promote his health and happiness and pro-
long his life. Many OF the best farms in
the state are owned by such rich men, and
it would be hard TO find one who thinks ne
is not getting his moneys worth. notice
that the purely agricultural county of Coos
has only zoo abandoned farms, while the
county Of Hillsborongh, of which the man.
ufacturing city OF Manchester is the county
seat, has 258 of them.''
Judge Mott, OF the court Of claims, has
issued pamphlet on The reason for the
decline OF farm values in New England"
in which appears this pathetic description
of a deserted New England village. The
poetry of Goldsmith could add nothing
to the effect of the plain statement. Mid
a ia mi
borough | saw on the summit of hill
against the evening sky what seemed .
large cathedral. Driving thither [ found
q huge old-time two-stOry church, large
Academy (which had blended in the dis
lance with the church). village with .
broad street. perhaps 150 feet in width.
/ drove on and found that the church
was abandoned. the academy dismantled,
the village deserted. The farmer who
owned the farm on the north of the village
lived at one side of the broad street. and
he who owned the farm On the south lived
on the other, and they we're the only in
habitants. All of the others had gone to
the manufacturing villages, 70 the great
cities, 70 the West. Here had been indus
try. education. religion. comfort and con-
tentment, but there remained only . drear
solitude of f0rsaken homes.S
Writing of this pamphlet to its author
the venerable poet Whittier says:
DANyERs. MASS, December ], 1859.
Ny DEAE FsIEsp; = thank thee for thy noble
England agriculture. Every year when 60 to
the New Hampshire hill country find more
and more abandoned farms, aud the sight takes
away much of the pleasure Of q sojourn in view
of the mountains.
Hope thy article, with which i fully agree,
will be wioely read. Itshould be published in
pamphlet form and scattered broadcast
.M 's' l JOHN NV 6. WHITTIER