The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1891-07-03
Jersey Farms Abandoned.

Cultl 1ltih lSutl, VI tLC Dulcdu vi
Labor and Statistics, has just completed
partment, which deals with the important
subject of farm values. and the abandon
ment of farms in New Jersey. The infor-
nation has been sought for by the farmers
for years, and is particularly interesting
because New Jersey claims to be one of the
first agricultural States in the Union, and
its geographical position between the two
metropolitan cities has given rise to much
speculation as to the effect of high taxes
and southern markets.
The report says
During the year a supplementary in
quiry into the extent of the agricultural
depression was undertaken as to whether
the payment of taxes or the abandonment
of farms was the cause, and what effect it
had upon the value of agricultural lands.
The assistance of local assessors was asked
to collect this information. Returns were
received from 21Stownshlps, which inciude
nearly all the rural districts in the State,
outside of Hudson, Essex and Union Coun-
ties, to which little attention was paid be-
cause of their strongly marked urban char
acter. But eleven townships are missing.
| Not more than half of these strictly speak
ing, are farming districts, while tax sales
seem to be exceedingly rare, not over
twenty farms covering 1892 acres have
been sold in 1889 and 1890, and these con-
fined to the counties of Atlantic. Bergen,
Cumberland, Monmouth aud Morris. Ag-
ricultural hard times are reflected in the
degree of promptness with which taxes
are paid. In Al townships there was an
increasing hardness reported. Atlantic,
3; Cape May, 2; Monmouth, A; Ocean, 2;
Camden, /; Bergen, l; Cumberland, /;
Mercer, 2; Middlesex, 2, Morris, 3; Bur-
lington, :; Gloucester, 2; Salem, 3; Hunt.
erdon, 3; Somerset, 3;Sussex, 2, Warren,
6. In many of the remaining townships
the tax burdens bear more heavily than
formerly or the farmers.
OF all the counties heard from, Salem is
the only one that reports no abandoned
farms which so far as kAown are scattered
over forty-siA townships, and number 313
with an estimate decrease OF between 49,
900 and 20, COO acres, or less than one per
cent of the total improved lands in farms
in the state, aud below the nine tenths of
one per cent of the number of farms. pre-
SHINING that the census data of 1880 are
approximately correct.
This, and also the fact that less than one
fifth of the townships are affected, would
seem TO point TO the conclusion that the
abandoned farm movement has not vet set
in strongly in New Jersey. Much less so
than in some of the Eastern States, where
such information is available. In Hunter
don county, our representative agricultural
district, containing somew hat more than
oLe-tenth of all improved farm lands in the
State, but one farm of 10 acres in West
AmweII township has been unoccupied for
two years. In Salem there is none, while
in the remaining five largely rural coun-
ties OF Burlington, Gloucester, Somerset,
Sussex, and Warren, the cultivation of 1876
farms with an estimate acreage of 1900, or
seven-tenths Of the improved agricultural
land, is reported to be abandoned. The
latter three counties, both in the. aggregate
and separately, make a poor showing, con-
tanning one-third of the reported number
of abandoned farms, 101, an acreage of
62S1.
Many of these farms are not entirely de-
serted, but are used for other purposes than
cultivation, as in the case of some of those
reported from Warren township, Somerset
county, on which cattle range. The reason
for abandonment is given from 256 farms;
13 of them were deserted because of mort
cages, which absorbed more than the pro-
fits to be made out of farming; for 8 cases,
taxation is reported to lie responsible; 210
farms could not be rroftably worked on
account of a poor WORKOUT soil location, or
a similar cause, while death, ignorance, and
poor management are said to account for
% failures. To the latter two causes a
nunb Der of correspondents think should be
credited a large share of the unproftable-
ness of farming.
The table show VS. that in Atlantic county
there are 50 abandoned farms covering an