December, 1931] Dairy Faeming in Gkafton County 



13 



alluring to some of the young people of the farms. Loose thinking may 

 easily lead to the conclusion that the trend is toward older farmers re- 

 maining, or that too large numbers of the young people of rural par- 

 entage are being lost to other callings than agriculture. The abandon- 

 ment of some of the unprofitable hill farms, leaving visible evidence in 

 dilapidated buildings, contributes to this idea. 



In this era of keen competition, many 3'oung men are leaving the 

 farms of New England, as elsewhere, in an attempt to obtain other oc- 

 cupations which offer better opportunities. However, such a migration 

 aft'ects the poorer farms — too small, on the hills and among the rocks, 

 far from the market, associated with inadequate roads and infertile 

 soils — much more than the good ones.* The age distribution on good 

 farms is likely to be much more stable than on the inferior farms. 

 j\Iany of tlie older operators retire to the villages, or continue to live 

 in the country but turn their business over to some younger members 

 of the family or to a neighbor. These adjustments apparently balance 

 each other to such an extent that the average ages of operators fluctu- 

 ate but little through the years or between different communities of 

 good farms. 



In order to present a more comprehensive idea of the relative char- 

 acteristics of farms found in this area, some comparisons will be made 

 with data from a similar farm survey recently conducted in northern 

 Livingston County, New York.^ This is recognized as one of the more 

 prosperous regions in the United States. It has been studied period- 

 ically for twenty years by the survey method. The area is character- 

 ized by level and rolling limestone soils, good roads, and easily acces- 

 sible markets. 



Ages of Operators 



The ages of 410 operators interviewed in this survey compared with 

 those of 514 obtained in Livingston County are shown in Table 5. 



Table 5 — Slioiring the age distribution of farm operators. A comparison of 



tiro regions. 



* For a description of personnel in a less prosperous area, see University 

 of New Hampshire, Extension Circular 6 8, pp. 6-7. 



** The ages of four operators were not enumerated. 



