Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1900-02-16
New England Farm.

w
wears about the depreciation IN value
of New England farms, that the pup
lie has cot the idea that all FARMING
property in New England has greatly
deprecated alike in value ana 1ertll'ly'
while large number of farms nave
been actually abandoned by thcir
owners, and have relapscd into via
state. There is some truth IN th's
rcport or it would not have galheo
currency the way it has, but there Is
more error than truth regarding lhe
matter. 1t is true that farm proper
tv has declined in cash value in the
last % years, but if the value was
measured in some primitive way, say
by payment of horses cattle ana DAIRY
products. farms arc about as h'gil
now as they we're in the Co.'s or 10 s.
The value of all kinds of property Is
regulated very highly by it's earning
or producing capacity. When eccohoih-
zeal conditions bring down the
price of farm products, and farm val
mes must come down in like proper
ton: sometimes more SO as when the
price of any commodity drops TO
very low figure, producers get d'scolr-
aged and abandon the enterprise 10
to such an extent that it amounts TO
almost panic. The west had an era
of great prosperity, it has also had a
relapse that has caused eastern farm
ers to hesitate about going west.
Then there was a large number OF
rough strong stony hill farms cleared
and cultivated 30 years ago that never
ought to have been cleared they were
too rough and barren in the first
place and ought to have been kept as
forrest lands.
This is the class OF farms that have
been abandoned as homes and turned
back into state of nature. 1t is also
time that in some fairly good agricul-
tural sections, farms have been left
without tenant, the old buildings
have gone to decay simply because the
owners have grown old or died off and
the legal heirs were living in distant
parts of the country and did not care
to come back to look after the old
farm. Within the last five years
many of these deserted farms been
reoccupied by new owners, either by
city people as summer homes, or by
actual tillers of the soil as perma-
nent homes. The writer has travel
ed over all parts of New Hampshire
and Vermont in his reuglar routine
business and knows this to be the
case. There are but few really good
farms today that can be bought for
much less than their actual value.
1t is also true that a very large per
cent of New England farms have de-
preclated in fertility in recent years
through a vagrant sort Of tenancy,
but the land is not worn out. Soil
that is naturally good for cultivation
with Il subsoil to sustain it, never
wcals out. 1t GETS awful hungry
sometimes and refuses to work unless
it is fed, the same as you and | would
do under like treatment.
Any farm possessing the right kind
Of soil, no matter how much worn out
by poor treatment, can be brought
back to the highest state of cutiva-
ton if the right man gets hold of it,
There are lots of thrifty farmers in
New England that are growing larger
and better crops now than their grand
fathers did on the same land. 10 or
100 years ago. The soil hash t weak
ened half as bad rs the farmer has, in
most instances.
The farmers that are obtaining the
heaviest yields today are getting these
results very largely through the use
of home fertilizers, barn yard manure,
clover or some soiling crops. mixed
with Il generous amount of elbow
grease.
l think there are just as good OPP
portlnltlcs today for a man to engage
in farming in New England as there
were 20 or 30 years ago. think the
next 10 years will see more improve
ment in farm conditions than we have
ever seen before, and the man that is
fortunate enough to own snug little
farm, all his own, is fortunate man