ABANDONED AND RESCUED FARMS. 
An Agricultural Lesson from the Bay State. 
HE two Bets of buildings shown at Figs 122 and 123 
are to be found within three miles of each other 
in the southern part of Worcester County, Mas¬ 
sachusetts. The pictures are made directly from photo¬ 
graphs taken on the spot by a R N.-Y. representative. 
The ruins shown in the upper picture are on one of the 
“abandoned farms” enumerated by the Massachusetts 
Commissioner of Labor. The first thought that came to 
the writer’s mind 
on seeing this 
photograph was— 
“ There is rum in 
the pedigree of that 
place ! ” It is al¬ 
most a perfect copy 
of the ruins that 
were found on a 
farm in the little 
Massachusetts 
town in which he 
was “raised.” The 
beauty, comfort 
and value of that 
farm had all gone 
down its owner’s 
throat in the form 
of hard cider and 
rum. Even at that 
time—25 years ago 
—the farm was 
“ abandoned,” be¬ 
cause rum was too 
horrible a compan¬ 
ion for respectable 
people to live with. It had driven the mother into her 
grave, one boy into State’s prison and the daughter into a 
fate worse than death. The drunkard lived somewhere in 
a corner of his ruins—a shaky, blear-eyed, horrible old 
man; without friends, home or comfort. It is no wonder 
that the boys and girls who lived within the shadow of 
that dreadful life-failure became strong temperance men 
and women. “ Drunkard signing away the farm 1 ” There 
is no more pitiful picture in imagination than that of a 
once prosperous and self-respecting farmer signing, with 
his shaking hand, 
the mortgage that 
takes the home 
away from his wife 
and children. What 
have they had for 
all their work and 
suffering and tears? 
Nothing! It has 
all gone down that 
rum scarred throat 
and left nothing 
but a ruined life 
and a blighted soul 
to pay the fearful 
penalty. The rum 
shop is to day the 
worst enemy of the 
American farmer. 
“ The first glass of 
liquor is the glass 
too much.” “Civil¬ 
ization must de¬ 
stroy the liquor 
traffic or be de¬ 
stroyed by it! ” The 
only hope for the 
future of this country lies in the rearing of boys and girls 
who will despise liquor and the liquor dealer as they would 
despise some loathsome disease ! 
Such thoughts naturally come to mind at this pathetic 
picture of home desolation. We are happy to state, how¬ 
ever, that there is no rum in the pedigree of the farm here 
pictured. On the death of theovner a number of years 
ago, the heirs were unable to come to any agreement re¬ 
garding a fair division of the property. This family 
quarrel was kept up until the death cf t le widow about 
five years ago. During the difference the buildings were 
neglected, and gradually fell into the condition shown in 
the picture. The bam, not shown, is flat 9 n the ground, 
with the exception of one end. The old house is known 
to be over 130 years old. One might say it is high time it 
did come down to make room for a “younger” building. 
But these old buildings were put up to stay, and had this 
one been properly cared for and repaired, it might well 
serve as a “ home ” to day. 
The farm was always considered a good one—a large 
part of it lying on the borders of a stream. It contains 
much good grass land, and must have been a fine stock 
farm in the days before the dressed beef business upset 
New England agriculture. About 40 years ago the owner 
was offered a large sum—said to be $40,000—for the place. 
The lumber was then of great value, and even now there 
are many tall, straight oaks on the place. It Is doubtful 
now if the farm could be sold at all except to some monied 
man who would use It for a country residence, and de¬ 
stroy all its present distinctive features. Who likes to 
move into an old ruin haunted by the mournful memories 
of a century ? Who is stout-heart? d enough to try to put 
that ruin to rights, unaided by capital or influence ? 
The other picture shows the buildings on another farm 
in the same township, or just over the line in another. So 
far as soil and natural location go, the two farms are about 
equal. They are only three miles apart on the same 
stream; the one with the ruined buildings is in the better 
location as regards railroads and town. One has been 
neglected for years and bears the curse of a family quarrel. 
The other has been systematically worked by a business 
man. It maintains 30 cows, and ships milk and cream to 
the Boston market. The buildings show what the farm 
has done and what It Is capable of doing. The main 
farming business of this part of Massachusetts is that of 
sending milk and cream to the Boston market, Ayrshire 
or Holstein cattle are kept. The soil is naturally good- 
large crops of hay and corn are grown while such pastures 
as are well cared for are very productive. Grain is mostly 
bought. But there is a good deal of “ farmin’ don’t pay ” 
talk, especially from those who keep poor cows, feed 
poorly and do not have silos or grow roots. 
The price of milk is low—the contractors and middle¬ 
men getting most of it. Only the men who cheapen the 
cost of their milk by keeping the best cows and making 
use of the best crops, methods and machinery for produc¬ 
ing stock food can 
be said to mnke any 
money. The cele¬ 
brated “Deerfoot” 
farm is but a few 
miles from the 
farms here pic¬ 
tured. While the 
section is naturally 
adapted to grazing 
and is, first of all, 
a dairy country, 
there are many 
places where fruit¬ 
growing, poultry 
keeping and early 
lamb-raising might 
bj made wonder¬ 
fully successful, 
thus diversifying 
farm products and 
adding new in¬ 
dustries. The 
farmers long ago 
settled upon the 
business of selling 
water as their chief crop, but they have not taken the best 
form of water. With every gallon of milk they sell over 
three quarts of water which is In combination with probably 
the most perishable “dry matter ” in existence. If a por¬ 
tion of that water could be sold in the form of celery, 
strawberries, cabbages, asparagus and fruits of various 
kinds, it would keep longer, bring better prices, make life 
pleasanter, and so regulate the supply of milk that its 
prices would be far more satisfactory. 
Perhaps the most important question before the New 
England farmer is 
what to mix with 
water in order to 
obtain the highest 
price. Water costs 
nothing aDd is 
found everywhere. 
It can be used to 
float New England 
agriculture into 
prosperity. M i 1 - 
lions of tons of it 
are hauled across 
New England in 
the form of veget¬ 
ables and fruits. 
There is water 
enough at home to 
manufacture most 
of these products. 
When you sell a ton 
of potatoes you sell 
1,500 pounds of 
water; a ton of 
onions contains 
1,700 pounds of 
water; a ton of 
tomatoes 1,800 pounds of water and a ton of squash or a 
ton of cucumbers 1,900 pounds of water. L9t the West 
grow the ash: sell water. Are you feeding stock at a 
loss ? If you are, “abaudon ” that sort of farming. How 
“ rescue ” it ? Plow your green crops directly into the 
soil and supplement them with chemical fertilizers. Water 
is the cheapest thing to buy—when properly combined it 
is the cheapest thing to sell. 
They talk about the skill and care needed by the manu¬ 
facturer in mixing or making the articles he has to sell. 
They do not begin to compare with the scientific possibili¬ 
ties of the farmer in making up high-priced combinations 
of water. Water is life to New England farming, 
RUINED BUILDINGS ON AN ABANDONED MASSACHUSETTS FARM. Fig. 122. 
