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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



July, 1906 



How to Buy Worthless, Run-Down Farms with $1,000 or Less 



and Make Them Productive 



By S. L. De Fabry 



S it advisable for the city man with a few 

 hundred dollars and no experience to start 

 farming with some assurance of success is 

 a question often asked, but difficult to 

 answer. The vision of a snug country 

 home is inviting to the average bread- 

 winner crowded in his city quarters, but the perils of 

 inexperience and an abundant lack of capital weigh down 

 the efforts and discourage the attempt. If a man is willing 

 to rise with the birds, work sixteen hours per day in all 

 kinds of weather, not minding a sore back or blisters on his 

 hands, is frugal in his wants, saving in his earnings, willing 

 to lead a lonely life, and combines sound judgment with per- 

 severance, that man can safely undertake the experiment. 



Jersey and Delaware and along the eastern shore of Mary- 

 land there are many cheap farms, held by mortgagees or 

 heirs who have no use for them, and who by renting them 

 out on half shares succeed in increasing the number of the 

 run-down farms. The soil is generally light, sandy loam, re- 

 sponding quickly to good cultivation, the climate is healthful 

 and not severe in winter, and the land can be developed with 

 leguminous crops to a state of productiveness with less dif- 

 ficulty than the stiff, often sour or stony soils of the cheap 

 New England farms. They are eminently adapted for the 

 non-experienced amateur, as the land besides being good for 

 general farming is suited for fruit and vegetable growing, 

 also poultry raising, opening a variety of crops to the 

 beginner, which is of vital importance, as it is the 



How the Barn Looked at the Time Possession 

 was Taken 



The Young Son, Who with a Helper 

 Did Most of the Farm Work 



He soon will own his home and may add to his own the 

 homestead of his neighbor who has been less adept in profit- 

 ing by "long experience." Experience of the wrong kind 

 h the very reason that so many cheap, run-down farms can 

 be bought P'ast, at almost any price. The so-called "aband- 

 oned" New England farms demonstrate that the style of farm- 

 ing of fifty years ago is unprofitable to-day. The home- 

 stead, which can be purchased at the mortgage value, teaches 

 the lesson that life-long experience, if not adapting itself to 

 modern ideas, is valueless and may prove disastrous. The 

 fundamental principle is, never to undertake more than what 

 can be accomplished successfully and to develop with the ut- 

 most energy the profitable and to throw out the unprofitable. 

 In selecting a place the acreage is not of importance; the 

 fertility of the soil and market facilities are the main points 

 that should guide the beginner. In certain sections of New 



only guide to discriminate between the profitable and the 

 unprofitable. Farms of fifty to one hundred acres can be 

 bought in that section from $1200 to $2500. The terms 

 are generally easy, only a small cash payment being required 

 in most cases. Of course, if the place is really cheap, the 

 buildings are no doubt sadly in need of repair; the fences 

 may be down ; the orchards are probably in weeds and neg- 

 lected; but as a whole, if properly handled the future 

 prospects are good and success lies entirely with the man who 

 attempts the feat. I know of a farm of one hundred and 

 fourteen acres near New York in New Jersey, three miles 

 from Lakewood, which was sold two years ago for $2500 — 

 five hundred cash, balance on five years' time. Years ago 

 this farm produced annually the amount for which it was 

 sold. The heirs having no taste for farm life and being 

 wealthy people, rented the place "on half shares," to care- 



