Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1904-11-18

UNUSED VERMONT FARMS.
The Word Abandoned" Does
Not Fit Them.

George Frederick Wells in Boston Trans
criptl
There are no abandoned farms i'm YER
| mont. / have asked the following ques-
ton of several gentlemen from different
! parts of the state who eminently quail
| flied to know the facts: DO you know OF
any farms in Vermont or in your section
! of IT., that are abandoned so that their
| owners are not known, no taxes are paid
| and the property Is not profit bearing?
| The invariable answer is, No"
! Hon. G. j. Bell, secretary of the state
| board of agriculture for several years. and
now governor says: THE board has tried
to instruct the people that there are no
! abandoned farms" Hon. Victor l Speer
former statistical secretary of the state
board and now treasurer of the Vermont
| Sugar Makers association, in regard to
abandoned farms, states: There never
have been any in Vermont" The least
positive reply came from Professor J. l..
Hills, D. s., dean of the state agricultural
college. He says: Il have no knowledge
of farms of this character, but ! should
imagine that there might be some" Dur
ing the last eight years the writer. who is
a student of rural economies has lived
in nine different counties in the state for
| a period of at least two months each,
and he has not yet discovered a single
| abandoned farm
We must mention the only official au-
thority of the state upon our specific sub
! ject Though official he is probably the
least scientific and the most questioned
| refer to the late Hon. A. b. Valentine
| OF Bennington, who was appointed by the
state legislature OF 1888 as commissioner
| of the agricultural and manufa curing
interests. MIR Valentines work will be
| spoken OF later. In his official report TO
the legislature of 1890, he says There
are more than 1000 farms in Vermont,
formerly under cultivation, which are now
abandoned for farming purposes one
half of which have buildings thereon in
fair condition. These farms represent an
aggregate OF $4,000 acres, and most of
them could be bought at from SO 90 to
$500 per acre at the time the reports
were made. Another class of farms.
which are now occupied, but indlfferently
cultivated, could be bought at about the
same price as those unoccupied, repre-
seniing 100 900 acres In addition to this.
facts will warrant the statement that
many towns did not report lands OF the
character above mentioned where they
are known to exist. No account is taken
of the many towns which reported less
| than 1900 acres of so-called abandoned
lands 1t is safe to say of the lands under
consideration, there are 500. 600 acres. or
above ten per cent of the arabic acreage
OF the state. There Is no account made
in this estimate of lands once cultiva ted.
but now grown up TO forests, or which
have become part of other farms"
1t is hard to know the true status OF
p the lands under consideration" But
since these lands are listed, as Mr.. VAL
entne gained his knowledge direct from
p town listers, they are tax bearing prop
erty and being for sale at the prices men
+ toned, they have known owners; there
fore, they are not abandoned farms.
There seem to be many farms in the
| state which are unoccupied either by
i owners or tenants, but they are not aban-
n | 1pnpd their tr1b lie no, a.
| generally supposed. Many farms are
. called abandoned because they have nc
y buildings, or II they have them they are
Il not occupied, yet they may not be such
! even though the meadows be turned tC
pastures and the former pastures are
= growing forests. Hundreds OF such farms
are annexed to adjoining homesteads ant
carried on in connection with them by a
central equipment of buildings and farm
n machinery.
i In 1892 the state board of agriculture re.
ported that in 900 towns 1864 farms wer,
r. sold during the year, of which ''252 wer,
of the class known as unoccupied farms.
o The following year the state board a
the requirement of the Legislature o
n 1892. issued a pamphlet entitled: "A Lis
of Desirable Vermont Farms at Low
m Prices" This report states for 1898
THE total number OF farms sold durin,
= the year is 1914. OF this number 10
A were previously unoccupied." or farm
~ uIpt'uplth tlAuti ny OWNER OF tenant
yet having owners, $40 were reported
M 'Of the 376 farms reported as unoccupie,
M II is believed that not over 200 are case
:, of long standing" Twenty five of thes
., farms were not for sale The pamphle
~ described about 200 of these farms whitl
f. were for sale. This report is considere
complete and authoritative
Some outWardly handsome things ma
be inwardly very inaccurate. This is tn
case with the pamphlet sent out in 100
H..
from figures given by listers and tow
clerks of 129 towns that sixty-e eight G
these towns had no "unoccupied or un
" TILED" farms two have Few" such farm:
- and fifty towns have us of them.
= believe that these figures are of littl
., value The reports of the listers are 1
lu the form of estimates, not facts: and tn
70 conditions indicated unlike thos
r. which are considered true by the juds
Z ment of leading authorities in the stat
w. according to better established data. Fo
". | instance, II is a wild estimate whic
no would give the thriving little town {
VS. Bolton 100 unoccupied and untitled farms
or the whole number of such farms in n
of Chittenden county. that the towns
Stockbridge and Halifax. though they al
declining, should be given fifty such farm
each, seems to be evidence of hasty cor
ID clusion. The safer figures are those pre-
viously stated from other sources.
us There are unoccupied farms in III
state, Dut tnelr number Is probably dc
creasing. Professor Hills says: 18th
"a general notion is that there are fewe
Ia farms that are not being worked tina
~ there were ten fifteen years ago.
&c imagine most of them going back
a., forest" If there were four times as man
- unoccupied farms as ten years ago thel
would be no reason for serious alarm
. There are several hundreds of farms q
by the upper hillsides of the state that prof.
a ably ought never to have been SUCH thu
en- is, as judged from an economic vie
point When asked if the unoccupie
m farm condition We're serious problem
Of Governor Bell answered. mo The que.
Ii ton of farm labor is more So" Profess
rl,, Hills again states; MANY of the mount
~ tain farms would be better today II the
We're allowed to go back to forest" Cor
a., corning the matter. Victor |. Spear say
-, 1T is a matter which / think will solN
eu itself Vermont is very largely in Il
p- hands of its friends" Professor CliftC
hs ID. Howe, NJ. s., lecturer in forestry
an the University of Vermont writes: "OI
OF of the chief troubles is that the farm
g. never ought to have been cleared. TT
soil is rocky, sandy or gravelly, and do,
in not hold water, so, Of course, 1t becom,
nm sterile as soon as the comparatively TIL
,r- layer of humus is worn out. 1t seems
lie me that mother nature working in hal
IA mony with certain economic laws w
OF adjust matters in Vermont. The III
profitable lands will he covered wi