''ABANDONED FARMS/' 



The numerous applications received for "abandoned 

 farms " makes it necessary to repeat that " abandoned " 

 is a misnomer when applied to Connecticut farms. 



Statistics show that while in 1850 there were 22,445 occu- 

 pied farms, there were in 1900 on practically the same area, 

 26,948, an increase in the half century of 4,503, or a little 

 over 20 per cent., while the increase in the total value of 

 farm property for the same time has been over thirty-one 

 millions or 38 per cent., and the annual value of farm prod- 

 ucts shows a much larger increase. 



No one speaks of " abandoned " factories in Connecticut, 

 and yet all over the state are ruined and moss grown mill dams, 

 once the sites of prosperous industries, on streams that now 

 flow unvexed to the sea. 



Steam proved to be a cheaper and more reliable power, 

 and the old water wheel was abandoned to decay. 



In like manner the farmer found areas unsuited to culti- 

 vation with modern machinery, and they were given over to 

 pasturage or allowed to revert to forest, while by intensive 

 cultivation of the more suitable areas he has greatly increased 

 the products of the soil. 



The popular idea of the number of farms for sale in 

 Connecticut is, I believe, like Mark Twain's comment on the 

 report of his death, "greatly exaggerated." 



The prosperous farmer — and there are such here — is not 

 more anxious to sell his farm than the prosperous merchant 

 to dispose of his business. I think that not more than five 

 to ten per cent, of the farms of the state are pressed for sale, 

 and a majority of these are offered either to settle estates or 

 because the owner, from age or infirmity, is no longer able to 

 conduct them. 



