14 City Homes on Country Lanes 



ever since it is worth while to mention a few of the 

 latest revelations on the subject: 



The abandonment of New England farms is a very 

 old story; nevertheless, it is startling to realize that 

 Massachusetts had three times as much land in culti- 

 vation 100 years ago as now, and that 92.8 per cent 

 of her entire population dwells in urban centers. Not- 

 withstanding the general increase in land values during 

 the past few years, there are still opportunities to ob- 

 tain good land, most favorably situated with respect 

 to great and growing markets, for one dollar to ten 

 dollars per acre. And that within a few miles of the 

 spot where the Pilgrims landed in 1620 ! 



It is only within recent years that the rural decline 

 has been noticeable in the Middle West, but in the past 

 ten years the number of farms decreased throughout 

 that fertile region in every State except Wisconsin and 

 Minnesota, while there the increase was slight. In the 

 country as a whole the number of new farms fell off 

 about 90 per cent; to be exact, from 10.9 per cent 

 between 1900 and 1910, to 1.4 per cent between 1910 

 and 1920. 



In Ohio, the number of habitable vacant farmhouses 

 increased 61 per cent in a single year; from 18,000 

 to 29,000 between June, 1919, and June, 1920. The 

 number of men and boys on Ohio farms decreased 30 

 per cent in the same period of time. 



In two years 46,000 men left the farms of Michi- 

 gan, and the vacant places grew from 11,831 to 18,232 

 making a total of 1,666,000 abandoned acres. In 

 April, 1920, there were left on the farms of Michigan 



