62 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



O. L. Martin, commissioner of Vermont agriculture, says he 

 has received 85 inquiries for farm property within six months, 

 with ")0 of them outside of New England, and a dozen are from 

 west of the Mississippi, and as many more south of the Mason and 

 l)ixon line. W. T. Billings of the Boston & Maine railroad says 

 that inquiries for New England real estate, particularly farms, 

 originating from points west of Chicago, or south of New York 

 ( ity during the past six months number 56. This does not include 

 the dozens of inquiries made to the department regarding New 

 England products, opportunities, and general information. 



T. F. Mahoney, manager of the New England real estate com- 

 pany, says: "The demand for New England farms today is ten 

 times greater than in years gone by. I can safely say not a day 

 has gone by in the past six months but we received anywhere from 

 five to fifteen inquiries about New England farms." One of the 

 most extensive real estate concerns doing business in New England 

 is the E. A. Strout company, and Pres. Strout says: "Our sales of 

 New England farms to men from west of Pennsylvania were double 

 in 1908 what they were in 1907, and for 1909 our sales were three 

 times what they were in 1907. The best part of this new move- 

 ment is that these western men are young, and usually have a 

 capital of several thousand dollars. They are experienced and are 

 buying large farms. The New England farmer for years has 

 brought his children up to look down upon farming as an occupa- 

 tion and he and his wife have scraped and saved to send John to 

 college to become a one-horse doctor, a seedy lawyer, or a mellow- 

 headed clergyman. Their daughter was sent to normal school or 

 college. She has married away from the farm for her mother 

 brought her up to look higher than a farmer for a husband. In the 

 West farming for years has been a respected business. Farmers 

 brought their sons up to become farmers and encouraged their 

 daughters to marry farmers. Today what is the result? In New 

 England there are more good fertile farms than there are farmers 

 to farm them. In the West there are many more farmers than 

 there are farms. New England needs those surplus farmers. 

 Those western farmers need New England's idle farms. The time 

 is ripe for action. Hundreds of thousands of western farmers 

 move on to cheaper lands every year. They are going now to 



