The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-12-18
ABOUT DESERTED FARMS.

l2. S, Hinman's Paper at Danbury Far mer's Convention-Abandone Sites, of Which There are Few, Show Pros perity-The Former Tillers Can Make Better Living Elsewhere-No Bene- 1 fit to Farmers to Have Them Occu- pied by Foreigners.
 Danbury, Conn.,, Dec, 16.-At yester- days session of the Connecticut Far mer's convention held at Danbury, R. s. Hinman of Oxford, chief clerk in the office of the secretary of the state, read a paper on "The Deserted Farms of New England" He said: "There has been so much said and so much writ ten of the abandoned farms of Con necticut and the other New England states of late, that my theme may seem little worn. but I believe there are phases of it worthy of our considera- ton for the few minutes allotted to me. Some years since l had occasion to transact little business with Dutch ess county, New York, farmer. Learn ing that came from Connecticut, he expressed his surprise at the thritti- ness of Connecticut farmers. He owned a hundred acres of land in what Is known as the Oblong valley, worth a hundred dollars an acre and only got living, but over in Connecticut the farm houses were painted, picket fences separated the front yard from the highway and there was a general air of thrift about the premises, while, so far as he could see, there was not so foy inc Ia D6 q whole township as there was on this farm. To get the full force of the gentleman's surprise one needs to drive through the richest part of Duchess county, in which the Oblong valley lies, and then across into Connecticut. Ever since l have been familiar with that country I have contended that the Knicker- lockers that sailed up the Hudson and settled along it's shores took up the land as far east of that noble stream as they considered 1t habitable and left the rest for Connecticut.
 "A few months ago I came across an article in popular magazine written by a southern woman that evidently considered herself better posted. Its title was The Gray Cabins of NeSs England.
 CURIOUS DELUSIONS.
 '"The impression that one not cOnVer- sant with the facts would get from this good ladys description would be that the farm houses of New England are little one-story, unpainted affairs in which, in these latter days, there con- monly dWells one or two lonesome old maids or 8 morose old bachelor and his still more morose old maid sister. During the day, when their dyspepsia will allow of labor, these unfortunate beings do what they can to keep body and soul together, and when night comes they hug a fast cooling stove while they brood over the misfortunes of their fallen race. When at last death ends their sufferings all they can expect is that the grass and weeds will be scraped away from a little spot of ground in the nearest graveyard, a hole dug, and the last sad rites per formed over a descendant of the Puri- tans. That the author of the article was as Ignorant of her subject as one of the poor southern whites with whom she is undoubtedly familiar is quite true. but doubt whether she really in tended to libel the good people of New England.
 s'She had read, undoubtedly, much about the abandoned farms of New England, and drew upon her knowl- edge of farm life among poor people and her imagination for a description of the farm houses of New England and the people that inhabited them. THERE ARE DESERTED FARMS.
 "But we must allow that we have de- serted farms I have in mind piece of land, facing the northwest, so full of boulders and fast rocks that, upon an average, doubt if a furrow five feet in length could be continuously turned and that never had anything but a thin, poor soil. A gentleman now liv- ing, that in his old age rides bicycle for exercise, has told me that when he was in his teens he and his brother-in- law planted that field with corn or shares the owner, if l remember arfeht. taking half the crop Those two young men possibly got fifty cents per day, boarded themselves and were content That field has never beer titled since and it is not likely to be unless in the distant future there comes a time when fifty cents per day is the best wages a young Connecticut farmer can earn and board himself Goo grant that such time may not come ir our day. Within sight of this field tha I have been telling you of there lives 8 pioneer. Some ten or twelve years age he bought stump lot for two or three dollars per acre and put up as dwell, ing a cross between wood choppers shanty and a western dug out ant what he calls his barn. The entire out fit of buildings, aside from his own la bor did not probably cost him fifty dol lars.
 'The place Is half mile through sprout land from the nearest highway and here he and his wife and one sor live. He has plenty of muscle and en ergy and now has the stumps ant stones cleared from a patch of ground as big as a well-to-do farmers garde1 ought to be.
 NO LAND NEED BE ABANDONED
 His little new land farm is, however