problem appear minor. Elsewhere various kinds of nonfarm rural residences 

 were competing strongly with agriculture for land use. 



In the majority of cases (probably most of the 83 small pieces and the 

 31 places of doubtful commercial size) residential use won by default on 

 the part of agriculture. These places have become too small for farm units. 

 At some critical stage, such as death or retirement of an old farmer, the loss 

 of a barn by fire, or perhaps when a younger man sees a better opportunity, 

 the places with less than enough good land pass into nonfarm use. Possibly 

 more of them would be consolidated into active farms but for two common 

 obstacles: The distance between the good pieces of land, and the relatively 

 large associated amounts of nonagricultural property, especially the well- 

 built old houses. There are many individual variations explaining the idle- 

 ness of the two smaller sizes, but this thread runs through most of them. 



In the case of the commercial size places the positive action of demand 

 for nonfarm and "hobby farm" use is more evident. Even here, however, the 

 owners are not infrequently farmers' heirs, exfarmers, and others of appar- 

 ently very modest means whose continued ownership of nearly idle places 

 of commercial size is probably due to a combination of sentiment and a weak 

 market for farms, especially after they have been allowed to run down. 



Usually local people predominate among the owners of agriculturally 

 idle places. This is almost exclusively so in Greenland and Stratham. In 

 Hopkinton, Gilmanton, and Walpole summer home owners are also present 

 in considerable numbers. Some families come first for the summer, then, 

 except for the activelv employed members, become established as year around 

 residents. In Walpole hobby farms are rather numerous. Most of those in 

 Walpole were making active use of their land, but in other of the 20 towns 

 they were a fairly common stage toward idleness of commercial size places. 



Chapter III. Possibilities of Using Idle Farm Land 



ri^HE preceding chapter showed that there is considerable idle or nearly 

 Jl idle farm land in New Hampshire. It also showed something about the 

 size of these places, their current use, and the nature of their ownership. The 

 second major phase of this study concerns whether and how this land might 

 be more actively used for agriculture. Conceivably the idle land might be 

 farmed by the present owners, by farmers now operating in the vicinity, or 

 by people who would take up farming in the vicinity. As noted earlier, some 

 of the present owners of idle farm land have had or do have some intention 

 of farming. Some of these potential farmers might succeed if assisted with 

 appropriate advice and credit. Others might not have bought farm land had 

 they been more adequately acquainted with the problems of operating it. 

 However, for the most part we will take for granted either long or short 

 term ownership by nonfarmers and inquire into whether or how the agri- 

 cultural land could be made available to farmers. There is a considerable 

 movement of farmers from one area to another and there are new farmers 

 becoming established each year. Neither of these, however, are apt to be 

 nearly as numerous as the established local farmers and they would be diffi- 

 cult to locate in a study of this kind. Both because of their greater numbers 

 and because of practical research considerations we will be concerned mostly 

 with the possibilities of present local farmers using the idle land. 



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