needs for land and the conditions 

 under which they could use it. 



The Principal Findings. The 

 towns studied so far indicate that, 

 in most towns which have consider- 

 able agriculture, we could expect to 

 find from a dozen to two dozen idle 

 pieces of farm land, ranging from 

 full commercial family-size farms 

 down to a single small field. Not 

 all these farms are entirely idle. On 

 some the hay is cut or a small 

 amount of stock is pastured; but not 

 enough farming is being done to 

 keep hay and pasture from running 

 out and brush from coming in. 



Most of the owners of these places 

 (particularly the larger ones) indi- 

 cate willingness to have their farm 

 land used, sometimes for very little 

 rent. However, they often are not 

 willing to make needed improve- 

 ments. Several of the more active 

 farmers in these towns indicated in- 

 terest in using the better, more con- 

 venient idle land, and expressed will- 

 ingness to make some improvements 

 that were needed to grow good crops 

 provided they could get long-term 

 leases with low rent. 



Hoiv Farmers Might Profitably 

 Use Land Now Idle. Developments 

 in agricultural methods are making 

 it possible for a farmer to handle a 

 larger farm business. As some 

 farmers develop larger businesses 

 others must follow or their incomes 

 will suffer. With good land and 

 equipment one active man with some 

 haying help can handle 20 or more 

 cows, yet many farms have well be- 

 low 20 cows, a condition which may 

 be due to lack of hay and pasture on 

 the home farm. In such cases, the 

 farmers could well explore the possi- 

 bility of renting land now idle. If 

 a farmer is not able or willing to buy 

 hay so that his choice is between a 

 10-cow herd or a 20-cow herd, fed 

 partly from rented land, the renting 

 of additional land may add consider- 



ably more to his income than the 

 market value of the hay produced on 

 it. 



Another type of farmer who might 

 profit from arranging for the use of 

 some of these idle places is the young 

 man who is trying to get started. 

 Today some kinds of farming require 

 considerable capital. One way 

 partially to overcome this barrier to 

 getting started is to rent a farm or a 

 part of the land used. Even if the 

 young farmer has the required down 

 payment to buy a farm on a mort- 

 gage he might well consider, at pres- 

 ent, whether or not it might be bet- 

 ter to rent for a time and see where 

 prices are going. 



Although there is some idle land 

 which might be leased, we must be 

 careful to keep in mind that a poor 

 farm will not make money for a 

 renter any more than for an owner 

 and that a poor job of farming will 

 not make money on a rented farm 

 any more than on one's own farm. 

 In renting we need to be very care- 

 ful that the terms of the lease provide 

 conditions favorable for both owner 

 and renter in order that they may do 

 what is necessary for a good job of 

 farming. Provisions for either the 

 owner or the renter to make needed 

 improvements such as liming, seed- 

 ing, and repairing fences and build- 

 ing are especially important. Gen- 

 erally speaking, the owner should 

 make those improvements which in- 

 crease the value of his property. 

 However, as many owners of idle 

 farm land in New Hampshire are not 

 farmers and are not interested in im- 

 proving the value of their places as 

 farms, it may be necessary for the 

 renter to make the improvements. In 

 order to get the returns from these 

 improvements, the farmer needs low 

 rent and either a lease long enough 

 to get the full benefit of his improve- 

 ments or a provision that he will be 

 paid for the unused value of im- 

 provements. 



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