The Press., 1890-06-26
ABANDONED FARMS.

ABANDONED FARMS.
 Colonel Alexander Warner, of Pomfret, by invitation of the Hartford Board of Trade, recently spoke before that body on ssThe changes in rural districts and how they affect the cities."
 President Allen, in introducing the speaker, said that the effect on cities which was produced by the condition of the surrounding towns had been subject which had been frequently discussed by the board of trade, and no doubt those present would be glad to hear from one who had made this subject an especial study.
 Colonel Warner, in prefacing his ad- dress, said that President Aliens introduc- tion promised more than he could fulfil at this time, as he had had no time to pre- pare any line of thought to present to them, backed up by statistics, as it should be. He said
 "There is an unusual depression in the agricultural interests of New England. When the land was first settled it was nat uraly we'll fertilized to support vegetation. I attribute the depression in New England to a deterioration in the soil and cheap transportation. As the farming industry increased, the farmer demanded tariff to supply a home market They needed something, and the tariff did stimulate manufacture and supplied the necessary home market. Up to this time the pro- ducts of the farms supplied the farms, but the demands from manufacturing centers kept drawing on them until every salable article wal sold in the city. This state of things was only increased by the war. The farmers made money, but instead of put ting it back again on the farm they invest, ed it in stocks or put it in banks. In the meantime. the farms which had been at first so fertile deteriorated. In brief, gentlemen, for century the farms have been robbed of their fertility. If have a farm I can only get from it what have put into it. There is no necromancy about 1t. Natures laws are plain. This state of things have been allowed to come upon us because it came so grad ually and like all slow processes it came so gradually that the farmer failed to realize 1t. It has come so gradually, too, that now no farmer has any idea Of the possi- bilities of his land Who Is raising sixty bushel of oats 10 the acre or three tons of hay to the acre? The question comes now, How shall these lands be brought back?
 It can only be done in my opinion by the state securing fertilizers and selling to the farmers at low rates and easy pay ments. It would pay them to do it, and 1t would pay the railroads to transport il free."
 In speaking of the abandoned farms in New England, MT. Warner said that he didn't believe anybody could take one iso lated from center and make it pay even if the farm was given to him. But farm located near some town or city he thought could be made to pay, as a market could be found for perishable products.
 In conclusion he said ::
 ''The city has duty to do in the mat ter. Ways and means can be devised by the business men of your city to increase the agricultural product of Hartford coun- ty two fold. If you should do it, the ef. feet would be a re-awakening of business of every kind. The interests of the city and country are mutual.
 A New York letter tells what physical culture has done for the young women of that city: There is nothing so striking on fashionable promenades at present as our tall, splendid girls. Many of them are pictures of health. They have bright eyes and rose- tinted cheeks, and there is a grace and swing about their movements that was unknown to the mincing gait of the girl of generation ago. The change is owing to physical culture and outdoor exercise. Our girls are taller, healthier and more graceful than the girls of twenty five years ago were. The change, from the same cause, is so marked in England that girls there are universally taller than their mothers. Life outdoors, physical culture that limbers up every muscle in the body and keeps it full of electric life, will go far toward making an old woman g young one. And woman is never toe old to begin such training.