June, 1937] 



Land Utilization in New Hampshire 



23 



cultural products. (Table 8) Those in the 41 to 60 age group made 

 up 45 per cent of the number and accounted for 53 per cent of the sales 

 of agricultural products. The operators over 60 made up 25 per cent 

 of the number and were responsible for 25 per cent of the sales. On 

 the whole the younger men were doing less farming and relying more 

 on outside work for their income. Those 40 or less in age averaged 

 $431 from outside work, while those over 60 averaged only $135. 



Several of the older men had continued to carry their herds and to 

 maintain their tillage fields and, thus, had more production than many 

 younger men who were handicapped by lack of good land, equipment, 

 stock, and experience. 



Family Status 



Thirty-four of the places were occupied by men living alone and six 

 by w^omen living alone. In all but a few instances these 40 individuals 

 were over 50 years of age. In addition, 14 places were occupied by 

 widows with children, 16 by men and their children, and 13 by men 

 and other adults. Thus, a total of 83 or about one-third of the places 

 were occupied by remnants of families. 



Of the 169 places occupied by man and wife, 38 had no children, 17 

 had no children at home, and 114 had children at home. These data 

 suggest that many of the farms have become the haven for those who 

 are not inclined or cannot meet the requirements of either an aggres- 

 sive agriculture or a commercial urban life. Perhaps many could not 

 find a more satisfactory alternative solution to their problems than to 

 remain in the better parts of the area. 



Table 9. Number of years operators have lived on the present farm, 

 grouped by sales of agricultural products. 



Sales of agricultural products 



Years on the Present Farms 



One hundred and eighteen of the operators had lived on their present 

 farms ten years or less. (Table 9) Over a third of these had mi- 

 grated to the farm within two years and were probably in most part 

 depressi^on victims ; they were handicapped by poor soil, lack of equip- 



