Cooperative Work with Columbia University 377 



ABANDONED FARMS AND THE CITY MAN'S OPPORTUNITIES IN 



FARMING 



Edward van Alstyne 

 New York State Director of Farmers' Institutes 



My subject, as the title indicates, is a dual one, with just enough 

 interrelation to justify presenting it as one. First, I give you the 

 underlying facts, and, if you will accept them, we shall be in a 

 position to draw conclusions, which I hope may be helpful. 



So antagonistic are the pictures held up depicting our New 

 York farm conditions that it is no wonder, when the western man 

 thinks of them, that too frequently he thinks of a land of aban- 

 doned, worn-out farms, a fit habitation only for serpents, where 

 agriculture is on the decline, overwhelmed by manufacture and 

 commerce. Another picture, with a somewhat different back- 

 ground, conveys the idea that great areas of farm land, well- 

 watered and fertile, are crying for a purchaser, at prices less than 

 the cost of the buildings ; while the land is only waiting for a 

 touch of the magic wand of an occupant — no matter how slight 

 his knowledge may be of matters of earth earthly — which will 

 cause it to bud and blossom like Aaron's rod, and yield " seed to 

 the sower and bread to the eater." 



Both extremes are erroneous. Underneath them lies a grain of 

 truth, most misleading and therefore harmful, both to the indi- 

 vidual and to the state. A partial truth is always more dangerous 

 than an outright lie. The latter is bound to die of its own weight ; 

 the former, with the earmarks of truth, lives and continues to exert 

 an evil influence. In this case the truth is found between the two 

 extremes. 



LAND AREAS 



A few figures from the last federal census are worthy of con- 

 sideration. There were in 1900, 226,720 farms in the state; in 

 1910, 215,597 — a decrease of 11,123. This may be accounted 

 for by a few farms being abandoned, or, more often, attached to 

 other farms. Some have been absorbed by commercial concerns; 

 others taken into municipalities for building purposes, parks, or 

 for public utilities ; and others by eleemosynary or penal institu- 

 tions, several farms being taken together in one large tract. Such 



