Commission er of Agriculture 159 



feature of information for those who were seeking farm homes in 

 the state. So great was the demand for this information, that an 

 edition of 5,000 bulletins issued in the month of April was prac- 

 tically exhausted at the close of the fiscal year, September 30, 

 1909. As reports concerning the sales of these farms were very 

 important, a blank was prepared and, mailed to every owner of a 

 farm listed in the bulletin, together with oik 1 to the supervisor of 

 each town, with a request that they report on the blank whether 

 or not the farm was sold and if so the price received. The 

 reports which have been received at this office, which include the 

 majority of the number listed, give as the total amount of money 

 received from sales about $030,000. This, added to the sales of 

 farms listed in the three previous bulletins, covering the entire 

 period of the bureau's existence, makes the sale of farm properties 

 in the state, through the work of the department, at least 

 $4,000,000. Furthermore, it is safe to say that the improvements 

 which have been made in the cultivation of these farms and in 

 the betterment of the buildings and fences and in the restocking 

 has added to the value of the property to a very great degree. This 

 is amply proved by the fact that many farms which were bought 

 for $8 to $10 per acre two and three years ago are now held at 

 more than double what was paid for them. 



It may be noted here that the indirect benefit to ihe stale of the 

 work of the department in rehabilitating our old farms consti- 

 tutes no small part of the value of the work. We have had reports 

 of many cases where farms not listed in the bulletin have been 

 bought by seekers of New York farm property whose interest had 

 been awakened by the information furnished through the litera- 

 ture and bulletins issued by this department, concerning farm 

 conditions and farm lands in the state. 



At the same time that Farm Bulletin Xo. -1 was being prepared 

 it became necessary, because of the increasing demand for informa- 

 tion concerning New York State, to prepare a new and revised 

 edition of the illustrated booklet known as Agricultural Advan- 

 tages of T\"ew York State. This second edition of 5,000 was 

 exhausted in less than 4 mom lis and it was necessary to prepare 

 and issue a third edition of 3,000 for the use of the bureau during 

 the remainder of the year. 



