<< 
Back-to-the-Land  ” 
A  True  New  Year’s  Story 
THE  PERSONAL  EQUATION. — III  giving  an  ac¬ 
count  of  our  experience  as  back-to-the-land 
'  farmers  we  have  in  mind  those  whose  eyes  are  turned 
toward  the  country  and  who  hope  to  solve  their  fin¬ 
ancial  problem,  as  well  as  to  satisfy  other  desires, 
by  farming.  Through  the  recital  of  our  successes 
and  failures  they  may  learn  something  of  the  possi¬ 
bilities  and  limitations  of  farming  with  limited  capi¬ 
tal  and  no  especial  preparation  for  the  work.  Look¬ 
ing  back  beyond  the  time  we  bought  our  farm,  we 
can  clearly  see  that  each  person  lias  a  problem  of 
his  own;  that  it  is  what  the  man  and  the  woman 
arc  as  well  as  the  money  in  hand  that  will  either 
limit  or  enlarge  their  lives  as  farmers.  Emerson 
says:  “Men  their  fortunes  bring  with  them.”  That 
is  more  evident  in  farm  life  than  in  any  other  form 
of  work  where  outside  factors  can  be  utilized. 
THE  BEGINNING. — It  is  eight  years  ago  that 
we  decided  to  shake  off  the  dust  of  the  city  from  our 
feet  and  make  our  living  from  the  soil.  One  of  us 
had  some  knowledge  of  rough  farm  work,  having 
many  years  ago  worked  on  a  farm  as  a  hired  man. 
while  the  other  had  spent  many  years  in  a  retail 
business,  and  was  nut  only  entirely  ignorant  of  farm¬ 
ing  but  had  no  experience  in  housework.  However, 
each  of  us  had  hard  discipline,  had.  _ 
learned  the  value  of  self-denial  and 
patience,  had  learned  to  ignore  all 
other  things  for  the  essentials  and  to 
do  promptly  whatever  had  to  be  done. 
Besides  the  little  money  we  brought 
to  the  farm,  these  things  constituted 
our  chief  assets, 
THE  FARM.— We  found  a  farm  of 
50  acres  by  chance.  Its  natural  beauty 
and  possibilities  attracted  our  eyes. 
Wq  saw  broatl  meadows  of  sandy  loam 
sloping  to  the  south.  That  meant  a 
good  location  for  henhouses  and  the 
cultivation  of  raspberries  should  we 
want  to  have  them.  We  saw  beautiful 
maple  trees  grouped  about  the  house 
and  scattered  throughout  the  meadows 
and  pasture  fields.  We  saw  an  acre 
of  what  the  former  owner  of  the  place 
called  scrub  hemlock  and  laurel  and 
apologized  for  their  being  there,  as 
“there  was  no  money  in  them”;  but  to 
us  it  was  a  beautiful  natural  park  of 
hemlock,  laurel  and  Rhododendron — 
a  rival  to  the  hemlock  grove  in  Bronx 
Park.  We  did  not  see  the  worn-out 
pasture  laud  surrounding  it.  overgrown 
with  hardback  and  weeds.  We  did  not 
see  the  worn-out  soil  in  the  meadows, 
the  broken  fences,  the  land's  need  of 
drainage,  and  buildings  that  were  not 
even  apologies.  The  owners  had  not 
lived  on  the  farm  for  a  number  of 
years;  they  cut  the  hay  and  fed  il  to 
their  cattle  on  the  farm  they  occupied 
in  the  neighborhood — and  as  the  farm 
never  had  thorough  cultivation,  its 
condition  at  the  time  we  bought  it  can 
easily  he  imagined. 
DIFFICULTIES  AND  DISCOUR¬ 
AGEMENTS, — We  moved  in  Septem¬ 
ber.  and  then  we  began  to  realize  our  difficulties  in 
making  a  living  on  the  farm.  The  place  was  lit¬ 
tered  with  rubbish — apparently  the  accumulation 
of  many  years,  and  it  took  us  several  months  to  re¬ 
move  it  from  the  yard  as  well  as  from  the  buildings. 
We  hired  carpenters  to  build  a  henhouse.  10x32  feet, 
after  the  model  supplied  by  the  Maine  Experiment 
Station  (the  first  open  front  house  in  this  locality), 
and  before  the  house  was  completed  -\ve  had  (Octo¬ 
ber  20)  a  severe  snowstorm,  which  blocked  some  of 
the  roads  and  furnished  good  sleighing  for  several 
days.  The  snowstorm,  in  addition  to  our  other  dif¬ 
ficulties,  added  greatly  to  our  discouragement. 
POULTRY  AND  BERRIES.— Our  county  is.  gen¬ 
erally  speaking,  a  dairy  country.  Besides,  nearly 
every  farmer  keeps  hoarders.  We  would  not  keep 
hoarders,  and  the  land  was  in  such,  a  condition  that 
we  could  keep  hut  two  cows,  and  so  we  decided  to 
raise  chickens  and  berries,  although  neither  of  us 
knew  anything  about  either.  We  bought  1.000  Cut  Al¬ 
bert  raspberry  plants  and  200  Rathbun  blackberry 
plants,  and  ordered  1,000  strawberry  plants  for 
Spring  planting.  We  hired  a  man  and  a  team  of 
horses  and  plowed  up  an  acre  of  old  sod  ground,  and 
putting  commercial  fertilizer  in  the  hills,  we  set 
out  tlu>  berry  plants.  The  raspberries  were  success¬ 
ful,  and  for  several  years  yielded  us  a  fair  income, 
but  the  Rathbun  blackberries  were  not  able  to  stand 
our  severe  Winters. 
LB  E  STOCK. —  White  Plymouth  Rocks  appealed 
\Ttdli  KUKAL  NEW-YORKER 
to  our  esthetic  taste,  and  we  found  about  45  fowls 
which  we  bought  for  $47.  They  proved  to  he  a  pom- 
investment.  as  they  were  not  vigorous  and  laid  very 
few  eggs  in  the  Winter.  In  the  Spring  we  decided 
to  dispose  of  them,  and  we  bought  Barred  Ply¬ 
mouth  Rock  eggs  for  hatching.  We  also  bought  a 
horse  which  the  seller  guaranteed  to  lie  10  years 
old  and  “perfect  J-5T  every  respect.”  One  morning 
in  February  we  found  him  dead  in  the  stable;  he 
died  of  old  age.  The  purchase  of  a  cow,  some  wag¬ 
ons  and  farm  implements  had  about  exhausted  our 
capital.  In  the  following  Summer  the  cow  broke 
through  an  old  fence  and  ate  poisoned  potato  vines. 
She  became  totally  blind,  and  we  sold  her  for  five 
dollars. 
THE  FIRST  WINTER, — We  almost  froze  to 
death  the  first  Winter,  as  the  siding  on  the  house 
and  the  doors  and  windows  were  loose,  and  we  did 
not  allow  ourselves  an  extra  stove  beside  the  cook¬ 
ing  stove.  We  were  not  prepared  to  find  the  Win¬ 
ters  so  long  and  severe  as  they  are  in  this  altitude 
in  Southern  New  York.  We  were  confronted  by 
endless  expenses,  and  could  we  have  sold  out  and 
left  for  a  more  genial  climate,  we  would  gladly 
have  done  so  before  Spring  came.  However,  when 
Spring  did.  come,  we  decided  to  go  on  with  our 
work,  and  the  amount  of  work  we  accomplished  was 
tremendous.  We  gave  the  raspberries  a  thorough 
A  Basket  of  Silage  Ready  for  the  Cows.  Fig.  3 
cultivating  and  hoeing,  which  was  hard  work  be¬ 
cause  of  the  toughness  of  the  sod;  we  set  out  the 
strawberries,  we  planted  about  two  acres  of  corn 
and  half  an  acre  of  potatoes;  we  prepared  and  plant¬ 
ed  half  an  acre  of  garden,  and  we  sowed  nearly 
two  acres  of  oats,  which  in  July  were  cut  by  hand 
for  green  fodder.  We  hatched  1,000  chicks  in  two 
small  incubators  and  raised  75  per  cent  of  them  in 
small  colony  brooders.  We  bought  another  cow  and 
experimented  in  making  butter.  Not  knowing  any¬ 
thing  about  butter  making,  our  first  attempt  was  a 
failure,  but  shortly  afterward  we  learned  to  make 
good  butter,  which,  together  with  buttermilk  and 
pot  cheese,  we  sold  to  private  customers.  We  also 
sold  eggs,  broilers  and  garden  stuff.  We  spent  two 
days  a  week  selling  these  things.  In  order  to  ac¬ 
complish  all  this  we  had  to  rise  very  early  and  work 
until  10  or  11  o'clock  in  the  night.  Later  in  the  sea¬ 
son  we  had  the  help  of  a  14-year-old  hoy. 
THE  SEASON'S  RETURNS, — At  the  end  of  the 
season  we  found  that  we  had  made  our  expenses 
and  some  over.  We  had  115  fine  Barred  Plymouth 
Rock  pullets  and  a  few  cockerels,  and  to  improve 
our  stock  we  bought  two  expensive  cockerels  from 
the  Maine  Experiment  Station.  We  also  had  two 
good  cows  and  a  calf,  a  fair  horse  and  some  farm 
implements.  To  buy  all  these  we  had  to  borrow 
money,  and  we  were  still  confronted  by  the  need 
of  several  hundred  dollars  to  extend  our  poultry 
plant,  to  make  the  house  livable,  to  repair  the  barn 
and  other  outbuildings,  to  buy  fertilizer,  more  im¬ 
plements.  etc. 
ECONOMY"  AND  SELF-DENIAL;- — Knowing,  as 
we  did,  that  our  salvation  was  in  the  money  we 
could  save,  we  considered  it  necessary  to  sell  all  the 
farm  products  and  use  the  money  to  save  the  farm. 
M  e  found  the  practice  of  our  neighbors,  who  used 
everything  they  wanted  from  the  farm  and  sold 
what  was  left,  an  impossible  situation  in  our  case. 
We  could  not  live  and  farm  unless  we  could  outgrow 
the  conditions  under  which  we  started,  and  the 
money  must  come  entirely  from  what  we  raised. 
We  practiced  the  sternest  economy  in  every  direc¬ 
tion.  We  bought  no  clothing  except  what  was  ab¬ 
solutely  necessary,  and  our  meals  consisted  of  home¬ 
made  bread,  skim-milk,  buttermilk,  leniils.  beans, 
corn  and  oatmeal,  fruit  and  vegetables  from  the 
farm.  and.  once  in  a  while,  cheap  cuts  of  meat. 
MAKING  PROGRESS. — In  the  following  Spring 
we  built  two  colony  brooder  houses.  7x12  feet,  and 
installed  in  them  six  hovers  which  were  highly  re¬ 
commended  bj  an  expert  poultry  man,  at  that  time 
connected  with  an  agricultural  experiment  station. 
Me  followed  the  instructions  given  by  that  man  and 
l  y  manufacturer,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks 
we  lost  ( 00  chicks,  and  in  consequence  we  were 
i-bliged  to  hatch  more  chicks  than  we  otherwise 
would  have  done.  We  bought  another  cow  and  made 
more  butter,  and  later  in  the  Summer, 
our  raspberries  and  strawberries  yield¬ 
ed  well.  We  also  had  some  blueber¬ 
ries.  which  grow  in  a  swamp  on  the 
upper  edge  of  the  farm.  Pickers  were 
scarce,  and  we  did  all  our  own  [lick¬ 
ing  and  marketing,  which,  that  year, 
had  to  he  done  every  day  in  the  week. 
In  Fall  we  built  an  addition  to  our 
chicken-house,  and  made  improvements 
in  the  barn  and  other  buildings,  for 
which  we  again  had  to  borrow  money. 
During  alt  that  time  we  worked  from 
14  to  10  hours  a  day.  seven  days  in 
the  week. 
HEALTH  AND  NERVES— The  ex¬ 
cessive  amount  of  work  done  and  the 
fact  that  we  were  farming  on  borrowed 
money,  together  with  other  troubles, 
broke  down  our  health;  our  nerves 
were  shattered  and  while  we  are  doing 
all  we  can  to  live  a  quiet  life  and  to— - 
avoid  all  excitement  as  much  as  possi¬ 
ble,  we  are  no  longer  able  to  do  a 
day's  work  which  would  do  credit  to  a 
farmer  or  a  farmer’s  wife.  One  Win¬ 
ter  both  of  us  were  confined  to  bed  for 
a  long  time,  and  the  farm  and  house 
were  left  to  the  tender  mercies  of  a 
hired  hoy  and  a  hired  girl.  The  in¬ 
come  from  the  farm  was  not  sufficient 
to  cover  our  expenses,  and  we  sold  two 
cows  and  a  number  of  pullets.  Our 
health  Improved  somewhat  in  the 
Spring,  and.  while  we  went  on  with 
our  work,  we  had  not  sufficient 
strength  to  sell  our  produce.  Fortun¬ 
ately  for  us  a  sanatorium  was  estab¬ 
lished  in  our  neighborhood,  and  furn¬ 
ished  a  market  for  our  eggs,  broilers, 
cream,  and  some  berries  and  garden 
produce. 
HIRED  HELP. — We  find  it  impossible  to  get  ef¬ 
ficient  hired  help  at  fair  wages:  at  times,  it  is  dif¬ 
ficult  to  get  any  help  at  all:  and  considering  our 
own  impaired  health,  we  were  obliged  fo  sell  the 
rest  of  our  cows  and  to  cut  down  nearly  all  of  the 
berries.  Many  a  time  we  were  considering  the  ad¬ 
visability  of  selling  off  the  stock  and  trying  a  year 
of  complete  rest,  hut  we  never  had  courage  euougn 
to  do  it.  and  each  Winter  finds  us  still  alive,  with 
as  successful  a  season  as  can  fie  expected  under 
the  circumstances. 
PLEASURES  OF  FARM  WORK. — In  spite  of  all 
our  troubles,  we  love  our  farm  and  have  not  the 
slightest  desire  to  return  to  the  city.  We  find  our 
greatest  compensation  in  work  with  the  soil  and 
growing  things,  whether  it  is  a  calf,  a  kitten,  a 
chick  or  a  plant.  To  us.  it  is  a  new  creation,  and 
wonderfully  interesting.  We  love  the  beautiful  hills 
and  clear  fresh  air.  Each  season  is  a  promise  and 
a  fulfillment  in  some  wonderful  way.  We  are  satis¬ 
fied  to  do  without  many  things  found  in  the  city  in 
order  to  have  the  things  the  city  cannot  give.  “The 
kingdom  of  Heaven  is  within  you.”  we  read  in  the 
Bible.  Every  would-be  back-to-the-lander  should 
ponder  over  this  saying,  and  ask  himself :  “Is  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven  within  me?  Do  I  possess  the 
spirit  of  the  country?  Do  1  love  farm  life  sufficient¬ 
ly  to  suffer  deprivations  on  account  of  it?”  No  one 
who  cannot  take  his  greatest  happiness  in  farm 
work  should  take  up  farming.  There  is  not  enough 
