The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-02-08
HARD PROBLEMS OF RURAL LIFE

land Hill Towns.
A recent carriage drive Of so miles
| through the Schoharie county has
brought afresh to my mind some hard
problems of rural life They are prob
| lens connected with the ultimate fate
of those unfortunate farmers who are
| trying to gain livelihood upon poor
| mountain farms which are stony, steep,
| infertile and remote from market.
These people, contemptuousy known
| as "hillers," must nevertheless be sub
| jects of grave interest and sympathy to
| the sociologiSt and the student of farm
| economics. In order that we may more
intelligently consider the question, it
will be well to glance at the geology and
! topography of Schoharie county, Agri-
| culturally and geologlcally speaking,
the farm lands of the county may be
! divided into three classes. First, there
| is the alluvial soil of the wonderful
Schoharie valley; then there is the roll
| ing limestone upland of which the west
ern half of the county is composed; and
| thirdly there is the rough hill country
which forms the western continuation
of the Catskills.
The first class has many Of the feat
ures of limestone land in general. 1t is
placesa country of extensive caverns
and rock holes and disappearing
streams In many places the rock comes
to the surface and shows the scratches
where the great glacial pillow furrowed
1T In direction somewhat west of
! south. While there is an occasional for
| eign boWlder scattered about the fields,
the great mass of the glacial drift is
| lime rock and doubtless there is plenty
of lime in the soil. 1t is a soil which is
| inclined to be heavy and to make trou-
! BILE If worked too wet, but when prop
erly handled it proves a strong fertile
soil which grows hops and the cereals
to perfection.
The Schoharie valley Is a deposit of
alluvium which skirts the creek for 80
| miles and varies in width from a few
rods to more than a mile In color the
deposit is reddish brown or chocolate,
with depth in some places at least of
several feet Except in those places
where the creek has thrown up gravel
at times of high water it is entirely
free from stone. These flats, while al
most perfectly level, are nevertheless
favored with a substratum of sand and
gravel which provides very good nat
ural drainage. Through this broad val
ley, now one one side, now on the other,
but seldom in the middle, the Schoharie
hurries down to the Mohawk Farming
on the flats has its disadvantages. The
unruly creek Is, to a certain extent, an
ever-present source of anxiety. Much of
it's way in the upper courses it is neces-
sary to dixie the banks with stone and
to encourage the protecting belt of
trees. Once out of it's course and a new
channel started, the soft alluvial soil
crumbles and melts away like a snow
bank in spring freshet, and in an hour
is removed the sedimentary accumula-
tons Of thousands of years At Blen-
helm, June freshet in single night
swept away 20 acres of beautiful river
fiat from one farm and left a desolate
waste of naked cobblestones which 30
years have failed to cover with any,
thing more than the scantiest vegeta-
ton. Such distinctly geologic changes
are now going on at rate which is
probably exceedingly rapid as COM
pared with the period previous to the
clearing and cultivation of the coun-
try When the hillsides were protected
by the roots of trees and the accumula-
ton of forest leaves, and when the
rains were held back by the sponge-like
vegetable matter, while at the same
time the banks had a certain stability
1t is probable that, except at times of
unusual floods, the Schoharie ran al
most clear and sparkling, even when
large in volume. Now all that is chang
ed and at times of high water it sweeps
down. a turbid, sometimes almost
brick-red torrent, bearing the soil of the
Catskills to form the bars that trouble
the navigation of the Hudson. Ordinar- |
lily, we consider that changes of this
kind are too slow to be menace either |
to us or to our grand children; but it
is probable, in cases like this that the |
denudation of the hillsides by torrential |
action may become a serious matter |
even in the present generation. 1t is a |
remarkable formation where few rods
takes one from the richest valley soils
to the scanty earth of the hillsides, and
where the creek hugs precipice on
one SIDE while on the other the valley
spreads out into broad farms. Possibly,
when the long-hoped-for railroad is put
through, we shall have a new tourist
route advertised.
The Schoharie valley was settled in
the autumn of 1912 by German Palatin-
ates, followed very soon by Holland
ers, and from that day to this the
High Dutch and the Low Dutch
have been the dominant elements in the
valley, and as a rule their policy has
been too conservative for their own
good. There is much of interest to the
antiquary and student Of colonial his
tory. There are still to be seen several
brick and stone houses which antedate
revolutionary days. Nowhere is there a
larger collection of folklore tales relat-
ing to the Indian atrocities which filled
the valley for many years. 1t is credibly
stated that more than 1000 people were
slain in this country during these trou-
bous times, and on two or three occa-
sions nearly every house on the Scho-
harie was burned.
The soil of this valley is certainly an
example of wonderful fertility. 1t has
been farmed by rather primitive and
careless methods for more than so
years, and to this day, under fairly
good treatment, the growth of crops OBJ
tanned is about as large as will stand
UP. Thirty years ago these farms were
readily worth 5000 per acre,
but since they have declined at least so
per cent and if common report be true,
To cpo Or opH "a |