30 THE AGRICULTURAL BLOC 



land has steadily become depleted until 

 more than 20 million acres of lands are 

 abandoned and beautiful houses and farm 

 buildings are going into decay with no 

 other occupants than the rats and mice. 



I will give a few illustrations of condi- 

 tions as they have come to my notice. A 

 neighbor of mine who came from Ithaca, 

 New York, several years ago, went back a 

 few years ago on a visit. I questioned him 

 regarding conditions in the country around 

 there. He said he had a cousin who owned 

 a 100-acre farm and said when he first left 

 Ithica it was worth $100 per acre, but when 

 he returned on a visit he was trying to sell 

 it at $8.00 per acre and could not. He said 

 he went down to Lake Cayuga to visit a 

 cousin who owned a fine 200-acre farm. He 

 said his cousin told him he used to raise the 

 finest of crops and lots of cattle and horses 

 on his farm; that he had tried to build up 

 the fertility of his land ; had spent $30 per 

 acre for fertilizers but the prices he realized 

 for his produce would not pay for artificial 

 fertilizers so he had to give up farming his 

 land and all he could do was to graze a few 

 sheep on his once fertile 200-acre farm. 



Another friend of mine went back on a 

 visit to his old home in Maine, and it was 

 occupied by his brother. He had just had 

 bad luck and lost his house by fire, and he 

 asked him when he was going to build a 

 new house. He said he would not build a 



