THE FARM LANDSCAPE 309 



because these plans are developed for political leaders who make 

 decisions about future development patterns. 



Thus, the White House Conference on Natural Beauty does well in 

 recommending support of statewide comprehensive plans. This is 

 a key factor in lessening despoilation of the landscape. 



Mrs. DOROTHY L. MOORE. No mention was made of the large 

 number (and acreage) of recently operated farms which have been 

 bought for residential use, sometimes divided, sometimes as a whole. 

 Though these come under no farm definition, unless operational, 

 they are recognized by the Soil Conservation Service as an important 

 field for assistance in conservation measures. In many districts of 

 the northeast, and quite possibly in other areas of population con- 

 centration, cooperators of this category outnumber those who are 

 commercial farmers. If these former farm fields grow up to brush 

 and scrub trees, they destroy the qualities of the farm landscape, 

 which may have been a principal visual asset of the area. In any 

 case, growth of trees will obliterate the views which were formerly 

 made available with a foreground of crop patterns and green forage. 



The problem here is to help the new owners keep their fields in 

 good shape. In addition to education, joint or district ownership of 

 large rotary-type mowers is the only means at reasonable cost. In 

 one area of northern Vermont (Lamoille County) the Future Fann- 

 ers of America have bought and made available by the hour, with an 

 operator, a six-foot rotary and tractor. This machine has reclaimed 

 hundreds of acres that were past ordinary haying, making the land- 

 scape more sightly and preserving the distant views of valley and 

 mountain for which the area had become famous. 



Mrs. NATHANIEL OWINGS.* There was a time, not long ago, 

 when land husbandry was part of the art of living. Today the farm 

 landscape is increasingly a dead landscape devoid of birds at nest- 

 ing time, and ever more lacking in those amenities of nature that have 

 inspired mankind over the centuries. 



Ironically, the countryside has been impoverished in the name 

 of production. The trend is due solely to a shortsighted over- 

 emphasis on short-term economic gain. Efficient has come to mean 

 only that which returns a fraction more on the dollar invested. The 

 waste of resources is actually encouraged in the process, providing 

 only that a profit be made today. 



*This is an extension of Mrs. Owings' remarks made during the panel 

 discussion. 



