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HORTICULTURE: 



May 12, 1906 



ABANDONED FARMS AND THEIR 

 CAPABILITIES. 



Abstract of an address given before the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society by 

 1'rof. W. M. Muuson, Orouo, Me.: 



One of the first reasons for the aban- 

 doned farms in New England is the in- 

 herent restlessness of the American 

 boy. That this innate restlessness 

 should take active form, however, was 

 the result of changed conditions. The 

 conditions and problems presented to 

 the New England farmer of today are 

 very different from those of even half 

 a century ago. 



The early farmers of New England 

 worked hard, lived simply and had 

 few debts, but also few of the comforts 

 of life as we understand them at pres- 

 ent. A race of sturdy, efficient men 

 and women was the result; men and 

 women who have made their mark 

 wherever they have gone, in the grad- 

 ual settlement and development of the 

 country. 



Many farms of the East have been 

 literally carved from the hillsides, and 

 the labor incident to the management 

 of such farms is great. As a result, 

 even during the first half of the last 

 century, many of the best young men 

 were attracted away from the old 

 homes to the newly developed North- 

 west territories. With improved 

 transportation facilities, which de- 

 veloped rapidly after about 1850, bring- 

 ing eastern farms into direct compe- 

 tition with the cheap and fertile lands 

 of New York, Ohio and Michigan, and 

 soon with the black prairie lands of 

 Illinois, Minnesota and the Red River, 

 lands which could be had almost free 

 of cost, the values of all agricultural 

 lands in the East fell. The New Eng- 

 land farmer found himself, with de- 

 pleted soil and rigorous climate, grow- 

 ing wheat and corn which had to com- 

 pete in the open market with similar 

 products from the rich lands already 

 mentioned. He found his sons leaving 

 the old home and joining the ranks of 

 the factory hands, or moving West to 

 grow up with the country, and swelling 

 the ranks of those with whom he must 

 compete. 



Instead of meeting the problems 

 mentioned in the forceful, intelligent 

 way we should expect from the sons 

 of New England, the farmer of the 

 East lost his grip and his spirit. He 

 sought other professions, and "aban- 

 doned" and neglected farms became 

 common. 



A very important factor in the ac- 

 cumulation of abandoned farms is that 

 of injudicious management. The old 

 notion that "anybody could be a 

 farmer" has been the cause of the un- 

 doing of a vast number of farms, as 

 well as a much larger number of farm- 

 ers. So-called "worn out" lands may 



be the result of several distinct con- 

 ditions; namely, they may lack humus, 

 either from too much or from too little 

 cultivation; they may lack plant food; 

 they may have become acid; they may 

 need draining; they may need tilling. 

 Having ascertained the reason for 

 the condition existing in a given in- 

 stance, the application of specific 

 remedies is not a difficult problem. 

 Deficiency in plant food may be met 

 by the use of concentrated fertilizers. 

 Lack of humus, one of the most com- 

 mon troubles, may be corrected by the 

 use of green manure — as clover — in 

 those cases where stable manure is not 

 available. In cases of acidity of the 

 soil, when leguminous crops cannot be 

 grown for the supply of humus, an ap- 

 plication of lime at the rate of from 

 one to two tons per acre will accom- 

 plish wonders. The application of 

 wood ashes, which contain thirty or 

 forty per cent, of lime, with varying 

 amounts of potash and phosphoric 

 acid, are also frequently used with re- 

 markable results. 



The younger generation can scarcely 

 realize that truit growing is still in its 

 infancy in New England, and that in 

 this direction is the most hopeful out- 

 look for the future of New England 

 agriculture. From the earliest settle- 

 ments on the Massachusetts coast till 

 the present day, fruit has been grown 

 in New England. Plums, peaches, 

 pears and apples galore have been in- 

 troduced from England, France and 

 Belgium. Until about fifty years ago, 

 however, there was very little of the 

 fruit we know today; and that little 

 was produced largely in the gardens 

 of a few enthusiastic lovers of fruit. 

 Apples were then produced from nat- 

 ural seedlings, growing without care 

 or attention, and were of more im- 

 portance for cider than for any other 

 purpose. Pears of delicious quality 

 were grown, but mostly on a small 

 scale for home use or home markets. 



But now all this is changed. We 

 are beginning to recognize the fact 

 that a large part of New England, 

 rough though it be, and difficult of 

 manipulation for the ordinary farm 

 operations, is well adapted to the pro- 

 duction of fruits of the highest color 

 and finest quality. We are beginning 

 to realize that with moderate annual 

 expenditure for labor and plant food, 

 we may reap a rich and sure return, 

 and that right at our doors are the 

 best markets in the world for a com- 

 modity which we can produce as readi- 

 ly as we can make shoes, cotton cloth 

 or wooden nutmegs. 



Over much of the area of New Eng- 

 land apple trees are growing aimost 

 spontaneously; and wherever, in the 

 past, seeds may have been scattered, 

 we may find trees growing. These old 

 trees, though neglected and broken by 



storms, usually produce some fruit 

 every year and are frequently loaded 

 to the ground. When given half the 

 chance of ordinary farm crops these 

 same' old trees, regrafted to varieties 

 of recognized merit, become the most 

 - valuable assets of the farm. In thil 

 connection I have in mind an old or- 

 chard in ' Southern Maine, set more 

 than eighty years ago and naturally 

 somewhat decrepit now. In three suc- 

 cessive years recently, this orchard, 

 covering about two and one-half acres, 

 yielded 650, 400 and 350 bushels re- 

 spectively; which brought the owner 

 $480, $300 and $350, or an estimated 

 net profit to the owner of seventy-five 

 per cent. These old moss-covered, 

 neglected veterans, hardy as maples 

 and refusing to die, stand as living 

 witnesses to the possibilities of New 

 England's hillsides. Nor is' the testi- 

 mony confined to these old veterans. 

 Very many modern instances of men 

 who have accumulated a competence 

 from old rocky pastures by the aid 

 of the apple tree might be cited. 



Phineas Whittier, Maine's "apple 

 king," began his labors as a fruit 

 grower about 1850 with the purchase 

 of ninety acres of most unpromising 

 rocky pasture and woodland for the 

 sum of $400, of which he was only able 

 to pay $75 down. Apple trees were 

 set wherever a place could be found 

 among the rocks, and today there are 

 substantial buildings, including fruit 

 cellars and evaporating house, and the 

 annual returns from the orchard, 

 which now covers nearly a thousand 

 acres, are from $3000 to $6000. 



Only a few weeks ago, in conversa- 

 tion with the owner of an "abandoned 

 farm" in Maine, the following inter- 

 esting facts were brought out. The 

 owner, a resident of Waterford, Ox- 

 ford County, was a young married man 

 and wished to branch out somewhat 

 in his farming operations. In 1886 an 

 abandoned farm of 136 acres one and 

 a half miles from home was bought 

 for $650. This is what is known as a 

 hill farm, and apple seedlings grew 

 almost spontaneously. At the time of 

 purchase there was a thick growth Of 

 natural apple seedlings over the aban- 

 doned fields. Some of these had been 

 top worked, and that year yielded 

 twenty barrels of fruit. The same 

 year the owner set three hundred trees 

 and began grafting the other seed- 

 lings. Such wood and timber as there 

 was on the place was sold on the 

 stump at $4.00 per thousand, instead 

 of spending time and labor in clearing. 



During the first three years the 

 young orchard was cultivated and 

 planted to corn, the old trees being 

 in pasture, but there was an annual 

 application of 8 to 15 pounds per tree 

 of fertilizer, made up of 200 pounds 

 nitrate of soda. 600 pounds muriate of 

 potash and 600 pounds ground bone. 



As indicating the earliness of fruit- 

 ing, one of the top grafted trees, the 

 third year from grafting, produced 

 three barrels of Baldwins, and the 

 fifth year five barrels. The tenth 

 year (1896) there were sold from the 

 place 275 barrels of Baldwins at $1 

 per barrel, mostly from the top 

 worked trees, of which there were 

 about three hundred. In 1900 and 

 1904 the net returns from this small 

 orchard on one of Maine's abandoned 

 farms was nearly $500. In 1905 the 

 net returns were $700. and the or- 

 chard is not yet at its best bearing 



