The sun., 1918-08-03
ABANDONED FARMS.
A Practical II Cynical Essay on the
Subject.


To THE EDITOR OF THE suN-Sb: Cheap
abandoned farms? There Amt no such
animal. There are dead farms. There
are one lunged farms There have been
good farms and some pretty good farms
offered at fair prices owing to death In
the family or draft or high wages paid
In munition or other factories but as
rule the landowners are not giving any
thing away Newspapers carry columns
Of farms for sale" advertisements. Some
OF the offerings are alluring: Fifty as
sorted fruit trees, nifty acres Of land in
cultivation, seventy-fve acres in timber
and pasture, ample barns. tools. six
room house. &C Buildings alone worth
the price asked" Why. even your astute
and brilliant correspondent Agnes c.
Laut seems to have fallen for the Land
for nothing clause in the sacrihcial
offer.
The man with the 1875 acres seems
to have neve~ been able to clear and
plough more than fifty acres. He built
his house In 1868, say, and his barns
and sheds as he could later on. His
well was dug at or near the kitchen
door for convenience. The stable was
built near by also, with a view to saw
ing steps. Typhoid did not enter into
the overworked mans calculations. He
was too busy removing rock and stumps
TO think of everything.
May be there was a little mortgage
to be considered. At frst his crops were
produced without fertilizers other than
the humus naturally deposited on his
land. Then came the stable manure
that cost him nothing but the labor of
hauling and spreading. And finally he
was forced to buy commercial plant food
to raise anything at all As his children
grew to manhood and womanhood such
Of them as survived the unhealthy well
and other things grew thoughtful when
they saw the bent shoulders Of their
sire and the gnarled knotty hands or
their mother, and some Of them lit out
| for the city, where hall bedrooms and
cheap lunches could be provided out OF
| the 50 to $l1 they could earn in the
| department stores. Even thus they
Jared better and rose later in the morn
| ing than they had ever done at home
All this left the old people short
| handed. They could not AFFORD to hire
much help, no more fertilizer must be
bought The horse that died Of over
J work and old age had TO be replaced
| occasionally. The barns began TO bulge
| and develop a swayback. The dwelling
| house grew hoary and the shingles died.
! One by one spokes ratified and hubs
| creaked on the old farm wagon, The
| pioughs were always In need OF mould
board or a clevis. harness needing new
| buckles Is there any reason why this
old couple should not sell out and go TO
| town TO live with a married son or
| daughter None whatever.
What chance Is there for a city tailor
or bricklayer to make a living on this
| farm unless he has enough money to
burn every rat infested. buggy. germ
laden structure on the premises. get a
new water supply, and above all spend
| his money like an erstwhtle drunken
sailor for 2-3-9. 7-4-l1, or some other
| expensive fertilizer" Potash is SAID 10
he somewhat higher now. Then he would
| have a small and promising farm forty
or fifty miles from New York. why
not point his nose south or southwest :
There are thousands of untouched, rich
| muck lands about as far from the pat
| terry as Boston or Buffalo. to be had al
81 an acre, that could be drained for 10
and grubbed and ploughed for 50 more
all told say sl4 an acre, that ought to
Weld seventy-nve bushels OF corn the
first crop. THE sun recently published
a photograph of twenty eight acres OF
muck land that yielded twenty-eight car
loads OF lettuce, besides 1900 bushels OF
Vatn
properly said was gardening MT tar'n.
ing. But muck land needs no bush and
likewise no fertilizer. except lime TO take
the acid out OF the virgin black soil Oh
course this land Is fifteen hours from the
woolworth Building. but such land within
an hours journey from here would be
cheap ct slc5 an acre. q. w. STOKES
NEW York. August 2.