190 HOW TO GET A FAKM, 



CHAPTEE VIII. 



The Long Island Barrens Their Condition, Price, and Crops. 



WITHIN one to three hours ride of the city of 

 New York, by railroad, there lies a vast body of un 

 cultivated land popularly known as &quot; The Barrens.&quot; 

 Why an area so extensive should have remained un 

 appropriated and idle, within cheap and easy reach 

 of a population of nearly a million of consumers, 

 has long been a subject for wonder and speculation. 

 But of late years the public attention has been more 

 particularly turned in that direction, principally by 

 publications of the Farmers Club of the American 

 Institute, the writings of Hon. John A. Dix, Mr. 

 Thomas Schnebly, Dr. E. F. Peck and others, from 

 whose examinations and reports the substance of the 

 following account has been compiled. 



It would perhaps be difficult to say exactly how 

 these lands first acquired the damaging name of ; 

 &quot; Barrens.&quot; In the early settlement of Long Island 

 they secured a very different character, and were 

 held in the highest esteem by all who either de 

 scribed or lived upon them. The writers of two 

 centuries ago referred to them as exceedingly fruit 

 ful, with a fine climate, and beautiful streams and 

 bays abounding in all kinds of fish and water fowl. 

 They enumerate the grains, the fruits, and the 



