Voi.. LXVIII No. 3079. 
NEW YORK, JANUARY 30, 1909 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR 
“UNSUCCESSFUL” FARMS OF NEW YORK. 
A Fair Discussion of Values. 
Of the many letters received recently with reference 
to abandoned farms, one from an old friend engaged 
in the furniture business in a small interior city is 
significant. He writes that it requires five men to 
attend to his business, but since his father-in-law gave 
him a farm of 80 acres recently, eight miles out from 
another city, he took it into his head to buy 70 acres 
.of wood land, adjoining, for 
$10 an acre. Liking this pur¬ 
chase so well he bought a farm 
of 20 acres a little distance from 
the lots mentioned last Spring 
for $2000, the face of the mort¬ 
gage against it. Not many 
years ago this farm sold for 
$9,000, and he regards it as be¬ 
ing "as fine a hill farm as any 
man ever saw.” My friend 
says he was sick last year, so 
did nothing on the farm except 
to cut the grass. The hay will 
sell for enough to pay interest, 
taxes and expenses. He says 
if he can get these expenses 
the timber will pay for the 
farm in a few years. Now I 
think this man has been more 
fortunate in his selection and 
purchase than most people 
could be, but generally speak¬ 
ing, these farms are for sale 
at less than would be the cost 
of putting up the buildings that 
are on them. Bear in mind 
there are farms all around 
these that cannot be purchased 
for three or perhaps five times 
the amount mentioned. It sim¬ 
ply means that the present 
owner, for some reason, does 
not want the farm any longer, 
and there are so few buyers 
that the farms are offered at 
very low figures, though not 
always as low as the above. 
There is a farm of 250 acres 
that I often drive past; 175 
acres, probably, is cleared land. 
Two resolute, sturdy men do 
the work on it. It is situated 
five miles from the railroad 
station, and is on a rural de¬ 
livery route. Dairying is car¬ 
ried on, a silo has been built, 
good cows are kept, and a 
good living and good profits 
are made. There is no un¬ 
necessary expense incurred and 
a lot of hard work is done. 
1 he especial idea, to which I 
wished to call attention, is the 
fact that the location of this . 
farm and its general aspect, as one goes by it, is not 
a whit more attractive than the usual run of unoccu¬ 
pied farms that one sees about the country." To be 
sure the barn has been well kept up and the house 
has recently been improved and newly painted. I can¬ 
not say how expensive were the repairs, but they 
may have cost anywhere from $500 to $1000. Prob¬ 
ably the land has been kept in better productive con¬ 
dition than land that has not been tilled recently, 
but no fancy farming has been indulged in. I sup¬ 
pose that after expenses are paid, usual repairs made, 
and such cash outlays as arc needed for a living 
have been met, there may remain close to a thousand 
dollars a year to put away, and this may be regarded 
as. interest money, wages, etc. Can a man from the 
city get out on one of these farms and clean up five 
hundred dollars a year? I am afraid not, as a usual 
thing. It depends very largely on the amount of work 
the man is able and willing to do, how much he knows 
about actual, profitable farming, and how economical 
he can be and is willing to be in his expenditures. 
A CHENANGO COUNTY, N. Y„ FARMHOUSE. Fig. 37 
BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF BAINBRTDGE, N. Y. Fig. 38 
Not always on how much he can refrain from spend¬ 
ing, for there is a kind of economy that makes for 
loss, but how much he can profitably do without. 
Would a man accustomed to city ways get along with 
$35 worth of groceries and provisions a year to each 
person in his family, and $25 to $40 a year for cloth¬ 
ing? Some farm families spend a good deal less than 
that, especially while getting a start towards paying 
for a home, and there is no car fare, entertainments 
or other like expenses to be met. 
In selecting a farm there is much to be considered, 
and there is little likelihood that all things that are 
to be desired will be found on any one farm. Some 
farms are abundantly supplied with water, which 
keeps on flowing whether the season is wet or dry. 
Some are short of water supply, and some have the 
springs situated where the water cannot readily be got 
to flow to the house and barn. In our ‘‘abandoned 
farms” region there are few farms which do not have 
a good water supply, but there is considerable differ¬ 
ence in respect to the convenience of the supply. For 
most purposes a farm with a 
convenient water supply is 
really worth considerably more 
than one of a different sort. 
The prospective buyer should 
look to this. There is also a 
good bit of difference in soils, 
even in a short distance. I 
was making some inspections 
only about 15 miles from my 
home a few weeks * ago. I 
found that two farms on op¬ 
posite sides of a river, and 
only about one mile apart, 
were altogether different as to 
soil. One was a somewhat 
heavy loam, and v^as a par¬ 
ticularly good grass and graz¬ 
ing farm. The other had a 
soil considerably more gravelly 
and is much better adapted 
for cultivation and grain grow¬ 
ing. Almost any locality can 
furnish examples where the 
difference is considerable. 
Along a river valley, a short 
distance from here, it is com¬ 
mon remark that the pastures 
on the hillsides on the south 
bank, facing nearly to the 
north, are worth more than 
double those on the opposite 
side of the river, which, of 
course, faces in an opposite 
direction. I know of a creek 
valley having a row of farms 
that reach somewhat up one 
hillside and only slightly or 
not at all on the other side. 
There is another row of farms 
on each line of hills overlook¬ 
ing this valley. The land fac¬ 
ing the east on one hillside is 
considered quite superior to 
that facing .the west on the 
other side. Some of this su¬ 
perior land, however, is quite 
steep sidehill. Some of that 
facing the west may be quite’ 
as good plow land. No two 
farms are just the same, al¬ 
though there are some streaks 
extending through a number 
of farms that are practically, 
the same. _ In the instance 
noted the creek farms are not entirely like either 
line on either side. They even have a streak of 
beachy soil, a gravelly ridge, running through them. 
To select land to the best advantage one needs to 
be pretty familiar with it, or he needs to find some 
one who is familiar and will give impartial advice. 
Even then any man may be somewhat deceived. As I 
remarked before, a man cannot find a farm very easily 
where all that is to be desired can be found. He 
would have to buy a good many farms in a good many 
localities to get all the points, and then there would 
