Greenland is No. 1 I the best) and most of the south half is No. 2 (second 

 best ) dairy opportunity land. The map for Stratham classifies it as all No. 1 

 dairy opportunity land except for a small area of No. 3 land near the center 

 of the town. 



Number and Size of Idle Places. In Greenland there were no completely 

 idle places but there were 11 only partially used. In Stratham there were 

 7 idle places and 18 partially used place. Altogether in these two towns 

 there were 36 places with a total of 1,322 tillable acres and 855 acres of 

 nonwooded pasture. For the two towns the total of unused and partially 

 used places by size groups were: commercial size 8; doubtful commercial 

 size 11; and less than commercial size 17. 



Current Use and Ownership of Idle Places. The preceding section showed 

 that there is land suitable for farm use which is idle or only partially used. 

 What is the principal current use, if any, of these places? Who are the 

 owners? Answers to these questions may aid our understanding of the prob- 

 lem of idle farm land. 



Use of the house as a rural but nonfarm residence appeared to be the 

 principal use of 30 of the 36 places. This was the case with all of the com- 

 mercial size places, 10 of the 11 doubtful commercial size places, and 12 of 

 the 17 less than commercial size places. In addition to the 30 places used as 

 year-around residences, 2 more were, used as summer homes. The remain- 

 ing four had no current use. The obvious first conclusion is that residential 

 use had outbid agricultural use for the most of these 36 places. If so. why 

 was this the. case — how had it come about? 



Commercial Size Places. Of the eight commercial size places, three were 

 occupied by families who had farmed until they had lost their herds on 

 Bang's disease tests. The owners were holding their farms with some degree 

 of expectation of rebuilding their herds. One family was making some pro- 

 gress in that direction at the lime of the interview. Two of the eight were 

 women heirs of farmers: they preferred to live in the old homestead but 

 could not work the farms themselves and there were no members of the im- 

 mediate families who cared to operate the farms. Two were owned by re- 

 tired businessmen who were currently, or at the time of purchase, able to 

 afford country estates. One was owned by a retired farmer who had not yet 

 decided what to do with his land. These 8 places probably had the great- 

 est potential agricultural value of the 36. Probably only one of the eight was 

 held on the basis of the owner's present wealth alone, that is, the owner was 

 wealthy enough to hold an idle farm without importantly affecting his level 

 of living. The rest were held more on the basis of uncertainty, sentiment, 

 lack of knowledge of alternatives, and indecision. 



Doubtful Commercial Size Places. Of the 11 doubtful commercial size 

 places, one was the unsettled estate of a farmer and one was for sale by the 

 woman heir of a farmer. Both of these places seemed to have a fair chance 

 of returning to agricultural use. One was the residence of a businessman and 

 eight were residences of various nonfarm workers. The division between the 

 nonfarm-work group and the business and professional group is not al- 

 ways clear-cut. In general, the distinction is that the nonfarm-worker group 

 receives its income as wages. It is probably significant that in seven of these 

 last eight situations either the present owner or his father had farmed the 

 place as his chief occupation. There is the suggestion here that within the 



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