need for improvements and methods of supplying them were explained, then 

 satisfactory arrangements probably could be made. The promotion of such 

 understandings between owners of idle land and farmers might be carried 

 out on both a general and an individual level by interested organizations. 

 Again, interested owners and farmers should feel free to call on their county 

 agent and their college of agriculture for assistance. 



5. Owners' Attitudes Toward Selling 



For the most part this study takes for granted the present ownership. 

 However, one possibility for idle land being made available to farmers is 

 through purchase by active farmers. Several owners showed some interest in 

 selling. Most of these were interested in selling their places in their entirety 

 rather than selling the farm land separately. This applied especially to owners 

 of the smaller places whose farm land was often near the house. Owners of 

 rural residences or summer homes generally wish to keep control of nearby 

 land to prevent its use for purposes undesirable to them. Farmers could not 

 afford to buy these small places for farm land use alone because of the high 

 value of the houses in relation to the land. Owners of larger places, too, 

 sometimes preferred to sell their places intact. Sometimes this appeared to 

 be due to a mistaken conception of the adequacy of the place as a commercial 

 farm or to overlooking the possibility of realizing a higher total from a 

 divided sale. In instances where there is not too much competition from hobby 

 farmers, nearby farmers might buy the larger places for their farm land and 

 resell the houses with their nearby land for nonfarm uses. This, of course, 

 involves a larger problem of financing than if farmers could buy the agri- 

 cultural land separately. 



Attitudes of Farmers 

 In Greenland, Stratham, and Hopkinton the interviewer stopped at every 

 place which showed any signs of being a farm of a kind using any consider- 

 able amount of land. For the most part this meant dairy farms, although it 

 included some orchards and vegetable farms. Inquiry was made as to the 

 kind and size of farm, whether the farmer thought he needed more land, the 

 kind and amount of such land, whether he would prefer to buy or rent the 

 needed land, what lease terms would be agreeable, how far he would go for 

 land, and whether he knew of suitable land. This approach, of course, ex- 

 cluded some potential users of idle land, namely, active nearby farmers out- 

 side the town boundaries and persons desiring to begin farming. 



1. Land Wants of Active Farmers 



In Greenland and Stratham there were two farmers wanting complete 

 farms, and eight, representing 11 families, who wanted some acreage to sup- 

 pelment their present farms. 1 In Hopkinton one farmer wanted a complete 

 farm, and six, representing nine adult males, wanted supplemental land. Of 

 those wanting complete farms, two were hired farm operators and one was 

 a part-time farmer. Of the 14 wanting supplemental land, 11 were dairymen, 

 two had fruit and vegetables, and one was a part-time farmer. 



The three, who wanted complete farms were equally divided between pre- 

 ferring to rent, preferring to buy, and willing to do either. Of those who 



1 Farmers wanting land were counted in terms of the number of independent farm 

 businesses represented. Sometimes within a single farm business there was more than 

 one adult male operator such as a father and one or more sons. 



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