Deserted Farm Buildings 27 



time. My reader must realize the fact that we 

 are beginning a new agriculture, not continuing 

 an old one. 



We must be careful, also, not to be misled 

 merely by the appearance of farm property. 

 The mere abandonment of farm buildings may 

 or may not be a cause of apprehension and 

 regret. Buildings may be abandoned because 

 two or more properties have been combined 

 into one and not so many buildings are now 

 needed ; or because the farmer has moved 

 from an old building into a new and better 

 one. In many parts of the East, the buildings 

 are no doubt too many and the farm proper- 

 ties too small for the greatest effectiveness. 

 These properties were laid out or divided at 

 a time when the great West was unknown and 

 when these eastern lands grew the grain and 

 other tilled crops for the large markets. Some 

 of them were probably laid out in their pres- 

 ent form in war time, when conditions were 

 wholly abnormal. Many of the buildings were 

 erected when lumber and other materials were 

 cheap and when the comforts and facilities 



