FARMING AMONG THE COAL MINES. 
Driven Back to the Hills for Land. 
A 8ERIOU8 AGRICULTURAL PROBLEM PROMPTLY MET. 
( Continued .) 
[editorial correspondence.] 
Repairing a Worn Out Farm. 
Mr. Garrahan chose for his cheap land, a farm at 
Hick’s Ferry, Pa.—about 20 miles below Kingston. 
We have explained why he desired clean and cheap 
land. This place is within an hour’s railroad ride of 
his market. His staple crops are potatoes, onions, 
cabbage and celery—all of them with “ age” enough 
to warrant them being held or stored for some time if 
need be. Yet 
these crops are 
all heavy feed¬ 
ers, and de¬ 
mand a rich 
soil—or plenty 
of plant food. 
The new farm 
is long and nar¬ 
row—the lower 
parts of it cold 
and wet be¬ 
cause of springs 
The upper part 
is natural pota¬ 
to soil—mellow 
and line with 
that open, por¬ 
ous texture in 
which the pota¬ 
to thrives and 
develops to its 
best condition. 
Hut, while nat¬ 
urally good, the 
farm had been 
neglected for 
years. There 
was no drain¬ 
age on the 
lower fields— 
they were sour 
and soggy from 
many years of 
soaking. O n 
many parts of 
them, the 
coarse, harsh 
grass, so char¬ 
acteristic o £ 
wet soils, had 
crowded out the 
Timothy. 
And what of 
the strength of 
this soil ? For 
the past 12 years, this 80-acre farm had been run by 
tenants. Any one who is acquainted with the worst 
of that system will understand what that meant. The 
owner of this farm was supposed to receive half of 
the gross cash receipts, out of which he was to pay 
taxes, etc., and buy what fertilizers were used. The 
tenant received his living and the other half. For the 
past few years, the owner’s share has averaged about 
$125 per year, out of which he was to pay taxes, in¬ 
terest, etc. You may be very sure that there was 
little left for fertilizers out of that. The farm sup¬ 
ported five cows and about 10 hogs. The product 
from this stock, with some wheat, gave all the income 
of the farm. In other words, 80 acres of naturally 
good land, gave a fair living and less than $300 in cash 
as an average crop. To a man who knows much about 
farming, these figures are enough to show the con¬ 
dition this farm was in when Mr. G. bought it. No 
matter what system is followed to increase the yield 
from such a farm, capital and skill are both needed to 
make a success of it. Plant food must be imported in 
some form, at least until a good crop of clover can be 
grown. A man might go to such a farm with a herd 
of cows or a flock of sheep, buy a large quantity of 
baled hay and grain, feed the stock through the 
winter, and in the spring use the manure on a few 
acres to grow a large crop of corn for ensilage or soil¬ 
ing. The next year the ensilage ground could be 
made to grow clover hay or small grain, while a 
new piece of the exhausted land would receive the 
manure and grow corn. In this way, the land would 
slowly be brought into a high state of fertility, so that 
a farmer could grow large crops of potatoes, cabbage 
or onions on it, or so that it might produce both fod¬ 
der and grain for a large herd. This would be slow, 
hard work, with but little profit in these times, and in 
any event, the fertility needed to start this improve¬ 
ment must be bought outside and brou/jht to the farm. 
Without capital in some form, with which to purchase 
the plant-food needed to start the improvement, the 
most skillful man would be handicapped. 
Mr. Garrahan had been a farm-gardener all his life. 
He had always bought plant food, either as manure or 
fertilizers, and knew nothing about stock keeping. 
He did not buy this farm to learn how to run a dairy. 
It was like a sponge out of which the profit and value 
had been squeezed. He knew how to fill that sponge 
again, so as to get its original value back again and 
make a profit while doing it. 
So last spring he descended upon that farm with a 
stout team of horses, good tools, and a car-load of 
fertilizer. Leaving the wet places for the time, he 
plowed the fields best suited for a beginning, and 
went in with his fertilizers and crops. I told you 
what the tenant formerly cleared from this farm. 
This first season, on this exhausted soil, with the 
terrible drought and all the delays incident to starting 
a new business, Mr. G. raised a crop worth $1,800. 
Not only that, but the land is in far better condition 
for next season’s crop. Clover has been started over a 
part of it, and the soil contains fertilizer enough to 
make a full crop of grass. At the time of my visit, 
they were put¬ 
ting the last of 
a car-load o f 
tile into those 
damp places. 
When they dry 
out sufficiently, 
a heavy crop of 
clover or some 
other green 
manure will go 
into the soil, 
and then with a 
ton of fertilizer 
to the acre, it 
will produce 
mammoth 
crops of celery. 
Now that rate 
of progress 
from a $300 crop 
to $L,800 in one 
season, does 
well enough for 
a “ dry time.” 
It required less 
capital, less 
work and less 
patience, than 
it would to have 
bought manure 
from the dis¬ 
tant mines, 
o r attempted 
dairying on 
purchased hay 
and grain. It is 
a great object- 
lesson, and Mr. 
G. has taken 
pains to make 
it very clear 
that the result 
is due to ferti¬ 
lizers skillfully 
managed. Many 
of the farmers in that part of the country, were “ born 
50 years behind time,” as some one has expressed it. 
Their farms are poor and unproductive. A small crop 
of wheat, and the butter and pork from a few cows 
and hogs, comprise their cash products. Thus, as 
their crops and prices contract, year after year, it is 
but human nature for the young folks to leave the 
farm, and for the old folks to become disappointed 
and unhappy at life’s prospect. You may imagine the 
shock to the nerves of such people when Mr. Garrahan 
came into their midst with such a statement as this : 
“ Car-load after car-load of potatoes is shipped into 
Scranton and Wilkesbarre from the West and North. 
In some cases they are brought hundreds of miles from 
the places where they are grown. If men can ship 
potatoes 500 miles at a profit, why can’t we ship them 
“ THE MODEL HUSBANDMAN!” THE MANUFACTURE OF TRASH INTO STOVE WOOD. Fig. 15. See Brevities. 
