A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 169 



organizations. The lack of services, or the poor quality of services, 

 rendered by these social and economic agencies result in a low plane 

 of community life. In a locality in which there has been abandon- 

 ment of 25 to 50 percent or more of the agricultural land, with a 

 resulting decrease in the farm population, it is evident that although 

 it may have been possible to support adequate social services prior to 

 the beginning of abandonment it is no longer possible to do so. Many 

 churches and other organizations have disappeared or gone out of use 

 with a resulting loss to the community. 



It is the younger people who most readily leave such areas. The 

 older people find it more difficult to break their ties with the com- 

 munity. All their capital is invested there, their friendships are there, 

 and often they are unaware of opportunities elsewhere; or they feel 

 that considering the difficulties of moving and starting over, they 

 would be no better off after making the change. These same con- 

 siderations tend to hold the young people in the area but to a much 

 less extent. A study of abandoned farm areas, 16 referred to previously, 

 states that on 47 percent of the farms there were no children and there 

 were only 49 boys and young men over 20 years of age on the 510 

 farms in the areas. The community loses the stimulus and enthusi- 

 asm of the young people and in some instances all the potential 

 leaders leave the community. 



The only apparent reason why some communities with no more 

 favorable natural conditions than others have not been abandoned is 

 that the quality and leadership of the population has been main- 

 tained. The process of decay in social life may go to the point where 

 a virtual rural slum exists, with all the associated evils. 



The loss to the individual and to society through attempting to 

 utilize submarginal land like that in areas of extensive abandonment, 

 although not large in comparison with the total resources of the coun- 

 try, is nevertheless important to the individual involved and to the 

 county and to the State in which these areas are found. Often the 

 same effort applied by the individual in other areas or in other occu- 

 pations would result in a larger return to himself and to society. 

 Similarly, investing the same amount in roads and schools in other 

 areas would secure a greater return to society for the money expended. 

 The areas of abandonment and other areas containing submarginal 

 land are particularly fruitful fields for unscrupulous real-estate opera- 

 tors and land companies. Abandoned agricultural land, or land which 

 should be abandoned, is sold to persons unacquanited with local con- 

 ditions. These persons attempt to eke out a living for a time; then 

 abandon the land or sell to some one equally ignorant of the possi- 

 bilities; then the process is repeated. The turnover in ownership in 

 such areas is very high. In each transfer there is a loss of the accumu- 

 lated savings which are invested, and a lowering of the standard of 

 living, resulting in disappointed and discouraged families and dis- 

 satisfaction with existing social conditions. This shifting of the 

 population adds to the difficulty of maintaining a vigorous com- 

 munity life in areas which had already found it difficult to maintain 

 themselves. 



is Vaughn, L. M. Abandoned Farm Areas in New York. 1928. Cornell Agr. Expt. Sta. Bui. 490, p. 

 250. 



