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P^try h o]A 
NEW YORK, MAY 11, 1907 
WEEKLY, 41.00 PER YEA! 
/I PROBLEM IN HOME SEEKING 
Shall a Western Man Go West or South ? 
When the Hope Farm man came back from Iowa 
last Winter he said that the East is now a competitor 
of the West in the effort to attract desirable settlers. 
Forty years ago the West had little competition, but 
now land values have changed the situation. The fol¬ 
lowing problem is presented by one of our readers in 
central Illinois, and is, we believe, typical of many 
others: 
Where Shall I Go? 
I have a farm or 30 acres here in central Illinois. I am 
engaged in the fruit business, having about 400 apple trees 
I better sell out and go dovvin there, or would it be better 
yet for me to come East and buy one of those farms that 
are selling for less than the buildings are worth? I have 
a list before me, and from it I quote : Tolland Co., Conn., 
100 acres, .$2,500, buildings insured for .$2,400; same 
county, 103 acres, .$1,000, insured for $1,400; Windham 
Co., Conn., 140 acres, $3,300, buildings insured for $3,800; 
Ulster Co., N. Y., 54 acres, $5,000, house would cost to 
buiid $7,000; Bucks Co., Pa., 20 acres, $2,200, buildings 
insured for $3,300. I could give many more examples like 
this. I cannot understand it. I think either the land 
must be no account, or elsa you eastern men do not take 
to farming. Who can give an explanation? So it is seen 
that I have these two sections in view if I make a change. 
I have probably stated a pretty hard problem, but would 
like the opinion of “those that know.” n. 
In order to learn just why certain farm lands in New 
abound in ledge, rocks and stones, sand banks or clay. 
1 he farm I occupy is 65 acres; two-thirds of it is a 
shale ledge which comes to the surface, and one-half 
the other third the ledge will not average one foot 
below, but there are places, even with a few feet of the 
ledge on the surface, where one can go 20 or more feet 
without striking the ledge. The upland is full of small 
stones, the lowland but few and inclined to clay, and in 
some places, stiff clay, other places muck and sand or 
fine gravel. This latter kind of soil is my favorite for 
strawberries and upon such I have fruited at the rate 
of over 12,000 quarts to the acre without other manure, 
save commercial fertilizers. Although I have made this 
farm pay me during the past 15 years better than $20,000 
find several acres in small fruits. I do the work myself, 
except that I pay out about $150 a year for berry picking. 
.My income from the place averages about $1,200 a year, 
though one year a May freeze took everything, and I 
had practically no income that year. This is the problem : 
1 can sell this place for $4,000, or perhaps $4,500. I can 
take this money and go down to northwest Tennessee and 
buy with it 200 acres of land with comfortable buildings, 
and less than two miles from a railroad town of 2,000. 
1 lie land there seems to be about as good as (lie timber 
(clay) soil of Illinois, except that Blue grass will not grow 
like it does here. Down there I would probably engage 
in general farming, for I doubt if there is good local 
market for fruit. The people down there have the repu¬ 
tation of living lazy, but I think are a good friendly people, 
and I think no one need hesitate on account of social 
conditions. The negroes are in a large minority in this 
section and, it is claimed, give little or no trouble. There 
is not a saloon within 60 miles of this place. Now, would 
England arc cheap we have asked a number of readers 
to give the facts about their own neighborhoods. No 
effort has been made to secure special reports, but rather 
to learn the truth. A few of the reports follow,: 
/I Strange Condition in Maine. 
I know of no good farms in my town which can be 
purchased at a very low figure; in fact, I know of but 
one first-class farm—what I would call first-class—in 
town, and that, to my knowledge, has never been offered 
for sale, although some man should own it who would 
improve the very special advantages it offers for profit¬ 
able farming. What I would call a first-class farm is 
one not broken by ledge, few if any stones, with a deep, 
rich, moist loam. Most of the farms in this section 
at six per cent interest, I very much doubt if I could 
sell it to-day for farm purposes for what the buildings 
would cost, in case I should lose them by fire. It is 
a common, and in most cases a true saying here, that 
when you sell your farm you must expect to give away 
cither the buildings or the land. Before the advent of 
our Summer visitors from the cities comparatively little 
farming was done along our coast. Most of the inhabi¬ 
tants then were engaged in fishing, coasting and lum¬ 
bering, but now they arc giving it much more attention. 
South Hancock Me. e. w. w. 
Among the Connecticut Hills. 
There are many reasons why these New England 
farms are sold so cheaply. One reason is that they are 
