The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-02-09
Heinemann, Feb. 15-5Oc
EASTERN LANDS ARE
DRAWING FARMERS
Migration from West to East
Very Great-An Odd
Condition.

Albany, n. Y, Feb ga wide
spread and substantial migratory
movement from the west to the I'M
occupied and unused farms Of New
York state has been in progress for
some time, and it has now reached a
stage where the immigrants are com
ing in blocks of fifty families from as
far away as Minnesota, Nebraska, AL
berta, Saskatchewan. and the state of
Washington.
In few years the so-called aban-
doned farms of the Empire state will
be thing of the past, and millions
of dollars worth OF produce will be
raised each year on acres which now
yield nothing.
This movement back to the old
farms from the supposedly more fer
tile western ranches is remarkable
in many ways, chief of which, it seems
to Maj r. r. Riddell. head of the
bureau of farm statistics of the New
York department of agriculture, is it's
empathetic contradiction of the long
prevailing opinion that agricultural
opportunities lie only in the west.
West Just Learning About East.
Things had got to such state, said
Maj. Riddell, in explaining how large
had become the eastward migration,
that the possibilities of the west were
much better known in the east than
the possibilities of our home lands
were known to ourselves.
of hn o;I h1f~ hn
forms of New York have tremendous
advantages. The best markets of the
! world are almost within rifle shot of
the farms; the state is spending mil
lions upon it's roads, the school sys-
TEN is surpassed nowhere, and more
money return is obtained with less
effort.
A case in point, which is typical of
hundreds that have come under the
notice of Maj. Riddell, is that of a
man named Douglas, who gave up his
| farm in Chenango county nearly thir-
! ty years ago to settle in western Ne
braska Two months ago he sold his
farm there. for half what he received
/ bought farm of equal size in New
York. He maintains he will get d
better income because of his proximi-
| ty to markets.
| Advance agents of fifty Swedish
families, all of whom settled near one
another in Nebraska many years ago
will soon be at work on as many I'm.
used or unoccupied farms. These
people have sold their Nebraska lands
/ for $3.50 an acre and bought farms in
New York at prices ranging from s.
TO $40 an acre.
| No Really Abandoned" Farms.
| AS a matter of fact, there are nc
Ia abandoned farms in New York. That
word abandoned" has done much tc
iniure agricultural interests in this
state in the mind of the outside world
! The word was overworked five OF
six years ago, when the Legislature
was being scared into voting money
for the establishment of a farm bu
reau- There are, however, many un
occupied farms. and a much. fewer
number of absolutely unused farms
/ In the whole state there are ,62t
/! farms averaging slightly more thar
! 100 acres each. Five thousand O.
these are now unoccupied, and may be
thought for a song. But there are
nearly IS, 600 other farms also in the
market now held by men past theil
prime. not able TO work them to ad
vantage. II is one of the misfortunes
OF farm life that good hands are hare
to get
| Sratissicians OF the department o.
agriculture have learned that half o.
New York state. is still in wood ans
swamp and waste, but all of it is usa
Bile.