24 The State and the Farmer 



folks. The bushes encroached on the back lot. 

 The stone walls fell to ruin. The kitchen 

 roof tilted and fell in. The old folks died. 

 The house was closed. The stripling forest 

 overran the orchard and the garden. The 

 tansy now haunts the old dooryard. 



I have no desire to analyze at this time the 

 causes of the so-called abandonment of farms, 

 or to make any close study of the results ; I 

 wish only to call attention to some of the 

 grosser features of the movement, with the 

 purpose of establishing a point of view for 

 my reader on some of the coming relations 

 between the state and the farmer. 



The "abandoned farm" question is supposed 

 to be an eastern question, and in a way it is 

 so : that is, relatively difficult lands were set- 

 tled in the East because other lands were not 

 available; the adjustment to changing condi- 

 tions comes first, of course, in the older 

 communities, and the older the community 

 the slower the adjustment is likely to be. 

 Similar questions are pressing agriculture 

 in all parts of the country, however, so that 



