1005. 
55 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MORE ABOUT NEW ENGLAND FARM LANDS 
AGRICULTURAL ADVANTAGES OF THE EAST. 
Mr. Mead Comes Again. 
After reading the editorial on page S in relation to 
“Mr. Mead and New England abandoned farms,” allow 
me to say I have not said, neither do I think, all hill 
farms (as we understand that term here) are not worth 
living upon. But I do say that there are many farms 
on which buildings were built that under modern condi¬ 
tions cannot support a family, except under such grind¬ 
ing toil and privations as no intelligent man or woman 
should submit to. Neither does a New England farm 
of 50 or 100 or more acres often contain half that of 
land fit for cultivation, and in many cases not 10 per 
cent. Simply because a piece of land has buildings upon 
it. and some one once lived there, is no reason why it 
should be occupied now. The only question is, “Can it 
properly support a family now, as judged by modern 
farming?” Modern machinery and methods of trans¬ 
portation drove from our towns the small and unfavor¬ 
ably located manufactory, and so it has and will drive 
from his farm many an unfavorably located farmer. 
I believe in a better New England for our farmers, with 
the leisure and comforts enjoyed by our other working 
classes. Neither have I any sympathy with those so 
anxious to advise and teach somebody’s else children to 
stay on New England abandoned farms. 
Massachusetts. h. o. head. 
“Me for New England!” 
As there have been several articles lately in The R. 
N.-Y. in regard to so-called abandoned farms in New 
England, and as I have been investigating the farm 
problem for several years with a view to purchasing a 
farm where I could get the best home and 
good markets for the least money, 1 think 
that perhaps the results of my investiga¬ 
tions might be of some interest to readers. 
1 am formerly from New England, having 
resided in all those States except Rhode 
Island, so that I have a very fair idea of the 
lay of the land in those States, and as I 
have been here in Michigan 12 years, 1 have 
a fair idea of the land and markets here. 
1 have decided that, as for me, New Eng¬ 
land offers the most in every way for the 
least money. I can buy a good farm in 
either Maine, New Hampshire or Vermont, 
or parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut, 
in some instances including stock and tools, 
for much less than the buildings cost. In 
fact, I can buy a farm in New England for 
$2,000 which if it were in Michigan could 
not be bought for less than $8,000 to $10,000, 
and the Michigan farmer in nine cases out 
of ten has to depend on the commission man 
to sell his crops, where in the places I have 
investigated in New England the farmer is 
his own commission man, and also gets a 
better price for his crops than the Michigan 
farmer’s commission man gets here. There 
are plenty of good and bad farms in Mich¬ 
igan as well as in New England, and a man 
can get the worst of the deal in either place, 
but that is the fault of the man, not the 
location. I am so fully convinced that New England is 
the best place to purchase a farm to make a living on 
that I am going there next Spring to buy one of those 
abandoned farms. I have also inquired pretty closely 
into farms in other western States, including Oklahoma, 
where land and dugouts are cheap, but where buildings 
cost money and lots of it. Again old New England 
comes in ahead, with her comfortable well-built farm 
buildings and well fenced and watered fields, nearby 
good markets, schools as good as the best, newspapers, 
churches, libraries, electric and steam cars, and numerous 
other advantages for comfort not found in any new 
country like Oklahoma. Again I say emphatically: “Me 
for New England.” f. r. s. 
Michigan. 
New York State Feels This Boom. 
Your editorial note at the bottom of the article headed 
“A Western Man and Eastern Farms,” page 921, strikes 
the nail squarely on the head when you say that the best 
farm bargains are to be found in the East. Farms are 
changing hands every day in most section^ of New York 
at from one-half to two-thirds their value. Just why 
this is it is hard to explain, unless having once gone 
down in price they are slow to advance again. In west¬ 
ern States, such as Illinois, Indiana or Iowa, farms are 
selling at from $100 to $150 per acre, and in many cases 
the\ r are in a strictly agricultural country, not close to 
villages and railroads, while here in the East farming 
lands of just as good quality are selling at from $50 to 
$75 per acre. These eastern lands are in a more thickly 
populated country, closer to towns and cities, nearer to 
flipping stations and markets than the western farms, 
and in many cases (hey are close to a trolley line or 
macadam road. Why aren't they worth more than the 
western farms? I believe their value Is beginning to 
be appreciated, however, especially in some sections. 
Among these may be mentioned Orleans County and sur¬ 
rounding territory. In talking with several different 
men from that section they have told me of farms sell¬ 
ing from $100 to $140 per acre. I see no reason why 
farms in other parts of the State that are just as good 
as these Orleans County farms should not sell for as 
much. If a man can make his farm pay, on an average, 
10 per cent on a valuation of $100, why is his farm not 
worth that much? Charles buchan. 
Ontario Co., N. Y. 
TELEPHONE AND TROLLEY THIEVES. 
A Farmer's Detective Work. 
The telephone is certainly a thief-catcher. Our trolley 
line extends from Cleveland in a southeasterly direction 
to Garrettsville, a distance of about 40 miles. Seventeen 
miles out from Cleveland is the village of Chagrin Falls. 
Between Cleveland and Chagrin the cars run on hour 
and sometimes half-hour schedules, but from Chagrin 
on out toward Garrettsville they run only once in about 
three hours. It was this latter infrequency of running 
cars that gave an opportunity for a pretty heavy job of 
thieving. On a Thursday morning in December last, as 
the morning car proceeded just before daylight eastward 
from Chagrin, it had reached a point where for about five 
or six miles the car line runs through a long stretch of 
woods. It was here that the car failed to work properly, 
and proceeded at a very slow and irregular pace. 
“What’s the matter there,” said the conductor to the 
motorman, “why don’t you go along?” “That's just 
what I want to know,” was the reply, “I've turned on 
an extra amount of ‘juice’, but she don’t work, and I’m 
going to get off and see.” Stopping the car he sprang 
off to take a look under the car, but immediately upon 
alighting, his eye caught the glint of freshly cut metal. 
“Some thief has been cutting these copper bonds,” he 
called back to the conductor. Proceeding along the 
track each way from where the car stood they examined 
the track and found the copper bonds all gone. I hey 
had been neatly clipped off by some sharp instrument. 
Now a copper bond is a heavy piece of copper that is 
round, and about one-half inch diameter, and two feet 
long, and each one weighs about three pounds. I hey 
connect the ends of the rails, and are necessary to con¬ 
vey the current back to the power house from which it 
started, so that a circuit will be completed. They are 
also necessary for the protection of traveling public who 
cross these trolley lines. An imperfectly bonded track 
is a source of great danger. A horse crossing such a 
track soon after a car has passed is liable to receive a 
severe shock through his shoe coming in contact with 
the rail. Many such accidents have happened, and some 
horses in consequence can hardly be driven across a 
track. When the track is properly bonded the current 
will not leave the rails, because of the better conductiv¬ 
ity of the copper bonds. The motorman and conduc¬ 
tor mounted their car after a brief investigation and 
worked their way slowly along to the next telephone 
station, when they notified the officials back at Chagrin 
what had happened. Then there was hurrying to and fro, 
and men and messages were sent in all directions where 
it was thought a discovery of the thieves might be made. 
But all day Thursday no clue to the thieves or missing 
bonds was obtained, and all the efforts of the trolley 
officials were fruitless. It remained for a keen-witted 
farmer to do the Sherlock Holmes act, and make the dis¬ 
covery that led to the arrest of the thieves and the 
recovery of the stolen bonds. Right here is where the 
telephone comes in. Thursday evening was cold and 
snowy. Looking out of his window Farmer Joe saw a 
heavily loaded wagon slowly passing along the road in 
front of his house and headed toward Chagrin Falls. 
The whole outfit was easily recognized as a “sheeny 
wagon.” In our local vernacular a "sheeny” is a man 
who goes about the country buying old rubber boots, 
old iron, old brass, old rags, old copper, or “most any 
old thing.” They are undoubtedly a useful class of peri¬ 
patetics, and are really commercial scavengers, who buy 
what we don’t want, and what we are anxious to get 
rid of; pay us a little something for it and take it away. 
But they all come from the great city of Cleveland, and 
they all need watching while they are around your 
premises. If they find no one at home they are apt to 
go plundering around the premises and find something 
to put aboard their capacious, wing-topped wagon box 
before they drive away. Men of this character are not 
uncommon in the vicinity of any large city. 
Joe took a good lock at the outfit then passing his 
house, and his suspicions were at once arounsed. Turn¬ 
ing to his wife, he said: “I’ll bet those are the fellows 
that stole the copper bonds last night.” 
"If you really think so, why don’t you telephone down 
to Chagrin,” said his wife, with that quick intuition 
characteristic of the sex. Acting on this suggestion, Joe 
quickly stepped to the telephone (in his own house), 
and called up the trolley depot at Chagrin. 
"Hello!” he said, after being connected, “there are a 
couple of sheenies coming your way. They are loaded 
down heavy; shouldn’t wonder if they had your copper 
aboard: might pay you to look after them.” The farmer 
and the telephone did it. The trolley officials imme¬ 
diately acting on this friendly tip, sent out 
two officers. The sheenies had turned up at 
a farmhouse and asked the farmer if they 
might drive in his barn and feed their 
horses. “You can’t get in my barn,” said 
the farmer, “for I have just filled the barn 
floor with cornstalks. But right over there 
in those meeting house sheds is plenty of 
room. Put your horses over there and feed, 
and come over to the house and get some 
supper.” They did as he julvised, and it 
was while they were there that the officers 
came. They searched the wagon and found 
436 copper bonds hidden under piles of old 
rubber boots and other junk. A good bolt 
cutter such as blacksmiths use was also 
in their wagon. Arrests immediately fol¬ 
lowed, and the sheenies now await their 
trial. a. r. p. 
Chagrin Falls, O. 
GOOD WIRE; WHERE TO BOY IT. 
I have been reading your articles on poor 
fence wire from time to time, and also note 
the one on page 928. I think I may be able 
to offer a few suggestions which will be of 
value to your readers. I have made a spe¬ 
cial study of wire during the past two years, 
as it is necessary in telephone line con¬ 
struction to use wire which will not 
rust, and which will have good conductive prop¬ 
erties. We classify wire into four grades, viz., common 
galvanized iron wire; steel double-galvanized wire; 
B. B. annealed double-galvanized iron wire; Extra B. 
B. double-galvanized iron wire. The first grade is the 
kind found in all hardware stores, and sold for all 
general purposes; it is also made up into woven fence 
wire. T have taken down telephone lines made from this 
kind of wire which were all pitted and rusted after- 
being up IS months, while lines strung with the double 
galvanized steel and the B. B. iron wire, which have 
been exposed to the weather for from three to 10 years 
or more, are still good. The commercial or common wire 
is made by the Bessemer process, and contains a high 
per cent of carbon, which will not last even if it were 
double galvanized. The elements soon start corrosion 
on it. I have seen black iron wire in old timber 
countries which had been exposed to the weather for 30 
years, which was as smooth yet as if galvanized. This 
wire is presumably of the annealed iron. I have no 
trouble in getting these grades of wire from the manu¬ 
facturers, true to name and at only a small advance in 
price over the other wire. The double galvanized steel 
wire has about one-third greater tensile strength than 
the B. B. iron wire, but the B. B. wire costs more, hav¬ 
ing a lower resistance to electrical currents. These 
grades of wire can be made up into woven fence with 
the hand machines which are common, or we can fur¬ 
nish the name of a fence company who have furnished 
us with the B. B. wire; they could probably be induced 
to make fence of this kind of wire. We can also fur¬ 
nish the names of wire dealers who will furnish the 
good wire, with every bunch labeled and guaranteed. 
These same principles apply to iron pipe. j. p. 
Auburn, Iowa. 
R. N-Y.—Addresses of dealers or manufacturers who 
will guarantee wire are just exactly what we want! 
“ALL ABOARD.” Fig. 28. 
Prize Picture from Mrs. E. S. Teague. 
