386 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



October, 1908 



drive or to uncover flocks of quail. They found the winter 

 months so delightful, so restful, and so full of the vigor of 

 country air, that they declared it was better up there when 

 snow covered the ground than when you could pick daisies 

 in the field and wild raspberries in the woods. 



"I want a home here — a cottage," exclaimed a wealthy 

 member one day. "Not an expensive place, but just a cheap 

 pine shack that I can come to whenever the mood moves me. 

 You see, my wife and boys are getting jealous. I talk about 

 the good times I have up here, and they want to accompany 

 me. I've told them there was no room in your house — 

 explained that it's exclusively a club for men — but I can't 

 put them off any longer. Now I want a pretty site on the 

 lake and a little home. How much will it cost?" 



This was the entering of another wedge. The owner sold 

 half an acre of land facing the lake for five hundred dollars, 

 and put up a house the next winter at an actual cost of eight 

 hundred dollars, and turned it over to its future owner for 

 fifteen hundred dollars. It was furnished by the owner, but 

 the pioneer land owner received fifty dollars a year to look 

 after it. Then 

 came others. No 

 member could have 

 such exclusive privi- 

 leges alone. Two 

 more cottages were 

 contracted for, and 

 two more purchased 

 choice sites for the 

 future. 



The services of 

 two carpenters were 

 required all the 

 time after that, and 

 the old abandoned 

 farm began to as- 

 sume a businesslike 

 a i r. Lumber was 

 scarce, and most of 

 the houses were 

 built of logs, stones, 

 and finished off in- 

 side with unmatched 

 timber. They were 

 rustic in the ex- 

 treme, but pretty and convenient. Each succeeding one was 

 an improvement upon its predecessor. There was a certain 

 amount of pride of competition between the members of the 

 club, and walks and drives were laid out and maintained by 

 the club. 



While the stock of the club was owned by a number of 

 men, its control was limited to the original two hundred 

 acres. The broad fields and woods bevond were the ex- 



Nature Was Both Picturesque and Restful in this Quiet and Secluded Region 



elusive property of the first owner. Year by year he paid 

 off the instalments on this land. Others hearing of the new 

 "summer place" in the woods and hills sojourned thither, 

 found the country delightfully restful and invigorating, and 

 decided to settle there. They purchased building plots of 

 half an acre up, and paid for them at the rate of nearly a 

 thousand dollars an acre for lake fronts and one-third less 

 for inland sections. 



Upward of a dozen abandoned farms, uncultivated hill- 

 sides, and waste woodlands were thus converted within five 

 years into a pretty summer resort where city people paid 

 good prices for land and spent money liberally for fresh farm 

 products, good fishing, and, in winter, good hunting. The 

 twenty-five miles across country was not considered a serious 

 objection. On the contrary, it helped matters. It kept the 

 crowd away, and made the place exclusive. The secret of 

 the success of this experiment is summed up in the owner's 

 words : 



"I knew I was too far away to go to the markets, and so 

 I determined to make the markets come to me." 



And to-day all 

 the produce he 

 r a i s es is sold at 

 what would be con- 

 sidered extortionate 

 prices in the city, 

 but the goods are 

 all fresh and of the 

 very best, and no- 

 body grumbles. 

 One can not live in 

 Paradise and not 

 pay for it — not in 

 this world. 



As a serious so- 

 lution to the "aban- 

 doned farm" puz- 

 zle this successful 

 experiment may not 

 be of any extensive 

 value, but it is sug- 

 gestive. There are 

 possibilities in many 

 of these abandoned 

 farms which a man 

 of a little ingenuity, some patience, and a fair amount of 

 capital can develop and convert into cash. Their redemption 

 may not depend upon general farming, special farming, or 

 the application of modern systems of scientific farming, but 

 it would be unwise to conclude that they must forever go to 

 waste and stand as idle monuments to man's lack of ingenuity 

 and foresight. At all events every experiment in this direc- 

 tion contributes its share to the solution of a real problem. 



