Putnam patriot., 1911-11-24
The Majors story Bears Fruit

\ PATRIOT reader from Thompson,
 who read of Major MeIntyte5s mis-
 take in last weeks issue, has sent us
 the article that the major supposed he
 clipped from the New York Sun of No
 vembe ,, and we give it herewith:
 BACK TO THE SOIL
 Illusions Shattered by Visit to Foun-
 dered Farms in Connecticut
 To the Editor of The Sun-Sir: Looking at foundered farms is an edu-
 cation You feel seriously at the out set that the need of getting back to the soil Is a duty that nature and necessity are imposing. You scrutiniZe the blue prints at local real estate speculator' s office and SC ect from his picture gal lery the most promising domiclle. lie has taken pains to give you the most favorable view of il. Then you ask few perfunetorY questions how lar this particular place is from railway
 station, the number of acres and the character Of the soil-and when he sees that you are duly impressed he says m the lone ot q winner: "N ell, we can | ! sell our goods without showing them. You get into his ear and are whiSked | lwaN on countrywide Jaunt to spy 1ut ,he land To take an actual jour peN; the start k made from Nilhman- tie. On the westerly edge of the most 1ortheasterlN county of Conneetictt It K a region of hils. From this starting ] point il k thirteen miles to Ashford. | The journey k somewhat rough, but
 as hills are an attraction the climb Is i tUlerantlv regarded by the real estate | af ha f.,ts n Q lene and trusts his tires. \ Nou run
 more or less smoothly to the top ot the i hin at the foot of which is Mount | Hope. Al the cluster of houses which
 make up this little hamlet you "eut
 out" your engine for the long pull up 1 hill 10 Ashford. There are farms here , of Revolutionary fame. A stone . | throw from its center are the acres that more than century ago were titled oY | Colonel knowlton, who was killed at ! the battle of Harlem Heights, The ! place has dwindled from one of some l importance in those bygone days to 1 hamlet of imbTeeding Yankees. ou l wilt be told by residents who know It ] for a part of two generations that there
 are more cellar holes of long abandon | ed houses thar there are inhabited or 1 inhabitable domiciles. Most of the ! farms that change hands today fall in- i to the possession of Huns and Italians.
 If night and hunger oVeftake you l here there k only one place of refuge l that will open hoSpitable doors to you, i and that tx the little Orchard House, ] kept bN an honest Yankee, who k al i once poultereT and mine host. From i Ashford as the crow flies il iS ten miles i 10 Thom pson, which iS about half of the distance to Woodstock Valley. l Thompson k close tO the popu- ! lous manufacturing town uf Putnam. i People and railroads are essential even ! to an agricultuHSt. So you look al a ! farm near by, The present owner tells you that he has lived on il for hall a i century. Will he seil2 Yes. So you l haegle about the price. The acres and 1 their productiNeneSS none but an eN- l pert could pronounce upon. But the ] house is in visual evidence, with no H. | luSions to gloss over its defects. It needs a coat of paint and the front Of II 1 has settled You "ramble" through | the endless rooms. There are some | apple trees, some outbuildings with the usual accumulation of used up and
 csst oil implements, and in addition to
 all of these advantages the depres-
 sing atrophy of the fall of the year and
 & farmer with his hands in his pockets.
 To use the vernacular of New York | you see your finnish" keeping that