The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-04-17
NEW YORK FARMS.

| A Minnesota Expert Calls Them Slow,
 but Advises Westerners to Go East, l The cheapest improved farms in the 1 country to-day all things considered,
 are in central New York in the estlma- l tion of a no less expert authority than l O. C. Gregg, superintendent of the Min
 nesota Farmers Institute course. MT. l Gregg has just returned from five
 weeks featuring tour with the Far
 mers Institute staff of that state.
 MT Gregg found a somewhat disoour- ! aging state of affairs among the far-
 mers of that one-tirne famous agrlcul- 1 tural section. Many have moved to the
 west and among the remaining ones | there is general feeling that their sec tion has seen it's best days and cannot | hope longer to meet successfully the competition of the west. The fine cour- age and hopefulness of the western far- mer are rarely found there. instead there are gloom and discouasement ana general apathy.
 After a careful study of the situation,
 MT. Gregg became convinced that their
 condition was nothing like as desperate
 as the farmers themselves would make
 | cellent agricultural possibilities ana
 any progressive western farmer Would
 be pefectly safe. he holds m selllns out
 his hgh-priced farm here, ana solhs
 down there and starting over again'
 Several causes have contributed to
 the present conditions among the taf1n-
 CTS of New York" said MT. Gregg to-
 day in reviewing the situation as he
 saw it. First, the land IS m most
 casee badly run down from oVef-cfop-
 ping and poor farming methods. TOO much of the profits of the farm must now be spent for fertilizers. Deiofesta-
 ton has also contributed to the result.
 Following the removal of the trees from the hills and slopes the ram
 washed the fertility away and left un- productive land. The high price of feed stuffs is another bar to profitable farming there. But the chlet source or the trouble in my opinion is the unpro- gressiVe methods of the New YofK Tar mer. was simply astonished to see in that old, settled country how little at tention has been paid to sclehtlnc breeding of dairy cows The heras as rule are poorly bred, and with the pre- vaiing high price of feeds, can give put very small margin of profit am certainly surprised at their lack of ap- preciation of the value of improved breeding methods. In this respect the farmers there are much behind ours in Minnesota. The silo however, l found to be in general use, and this is good so far as it goes.
 ,,rryt.. E..,, l,A fig, to my mind, to be found in more ana better cows, better feeding methods, re- forestation of the hills and slopes, greater attention to the cultivation or apples and intensive farming of the land best fitted for agricultural puf- poses. There will always be good market for milk in New York tnd the western apple can never drive out the New York product. The New York ap- ple can hold it's own against the Wofiu
 Farms in the sections l visited are low in price. Many me ones are on the market at less than the cost of the improvements that i'll thelr day have commanded more than one hundred dollars per acre. They offer fine opportunities to the enterprlsing -armef WOulu not pe altal" t0 '"NN'N )ne of those farms myself. even at my ,se. and there would be money In 1t Tor ne to sell my own place down in Lyon ,ounty and begin life anew down there. do not believe this condition will con- inue indefinitely. The time Is coming when the eastern farms of the better trades are going to be in demand again md when agriculture will show distinct iiens of reyival.- Minneapolis Journal