Vol. LXVII, No. 3068. 
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 14, 1908. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
“NO NEED OF HIRED HELP.” 
Saving an Abandoned Farm. 
When J. W. Whippie, of Cheshire County, N. H., 
sent us the picture of that family shown at Fig. 407, 
he said that they came from the city six years ago and 
went to farming on an abandoned farm; that they had 
met with success, and gave The R. N.-Y. credit for a 
good part of it. Then he went on to say that they 
raised potatoes and colts and he might well have 
added children, but as lie truthfully said:. “We are 
not troubled with hired help.” The Good Book makes 
out a list of things belonging to our 
neighbor which we should not covet. We 
can easily go past many items on that 
list, but when we see that great family 
of strong, hearty, clean-looking boys and 
girls we are led into temptation right 
away, for that is the kind of a family 
with which to tackle an abandoned farm, 
or any other kind of a farm for that 
matter. Mr. Whippie’s experience on 
the farm would form the basis for a 
good story. 
He was doing teaming and jobbing 
work in the city, and came to the time 
when he could not make it pay as well 
as he would like to. Looking ahead, as 
all men have to at such a time, he saw 
that a change of some kind was neces¬ 
sary, and with that big family he con¬ 
cluded that the country and a farm was 
the place for him. So after looking 
around he bought a farm in New Hamp¬ 
shire, and moved on to it. At the time 
he took this farm he had $400 in cash, 
a team of horses, a cart and lumber 
wagon and a set of sleds. He made up 
his mind that the first Winter he would 
work for a lumber company, which 
would give him some extra capital, and 
so with this in view he paid out most of 
his cash for the farm. He moved on 
the farm early in October, and while 
his wife was getting things straightened 
out inside the house he and the boys 
were cleaning up the farm, picking 
apples and trying to get ready for Win¬ 
ter. About three weeks after they went 
there they all woke in the night to find 
the house on fire, and had barely time to 
get out away from the flames. In one 
hour after they got out that fine old- 
fashioned farmhouse around which they 
had built all their hopes for a home was 
nothing but a bed of hot coals, and they 
were strangers in a strange land, and 
homeless at that. But it is hard to beat 
the New England neighbors for kindli¬ 
ness, and the family was taken in and 
given a shelter until they could straight¬ 
en themselves out. When they took 
account of stock the next morning they found that 
they had the parlor furniture, a cook stove, half a 
barrel of flour, two horses, a cow, the wagons and 
sleds. They had the barn and the hay left, and 60 
cents in cash in their pockets. They lost some cash 
in the fire, and were $1,000 in debt and no insurance 
whatever. In a way that is a worse situation than 
many of the old pioneers in New Hampshire faced a 
century before, but that big family would be enough 
tc nerve any man and give him courage to go on. 
They finally got a house near by, and moved in with 
what they scraped from the fire. The neighbors 
helped as best they could, and they made themselves 
comfortable for the Winter. Mr. Whippie worked for 
the lumber company part of the Winter, and then he 
and the boys cut lumber on their own farm to pro¬ 
vide timber for building a new house. They got this 
up and boarded and shingled, and then a wealthy man 
wanted to buy the farm for part of a game preserve. 
1 hey got enough out of it to pay off the mortgage, 
and then obtained a free lease of the farm for 10 years. 
Then Mr. Whippie hired an abandoned farm, on 
which he is now located, for $75 per year. At one 
time it was one of the best in town, but had long been 
neglected. In its better days the old owners had 
cleared it of rocks and left strong, clean, rolling fields 
KIT MORGAN” AND HER FARM CONTRIBUTION. Fig. 406. 
NO TROUBLE WITH HIRED HELP HERE. Fig. 407 
with a southern slope. It was just the place for po¬ 
tatoes and similar crops, and has proved to be very 
profitable, when handled properly with plenty of fer- 
tdizer. Mr. Whippie says that when handling the crop 
with care and with the necessary tools he is able to 
raise from 250 to 400 bushels per acre. He makes 
potatoes his main money crop, and also grows quite 
a little cabbage and vegetables for the Summer board¬ 
ers. His annual crop of potatoes will run froni 
2,000 to 3,000 bushels a year, and he has a complete set 
of Iron Age potato machinery, so that they can farm 
in Summer and cut lumber in Winter. He now keeps 
one yoke of oxen to do the heavy work, and four 
mares and two colts, four two-year-olds and two 
yearlings and a couple of little things like the one 
shown in the picture, Fig. 406. He says he has paid 
out $650 for horses, and has sold $445 worth, and has 
now on hand $1,500 worth of horses, one yoke of oxen 
and $700 worth of farming tools, and has money at 
interest. That great family of children has proved a 
comfort and a blessing in more ways than one. The 
older ones are doing well, either in homes of their 
own or in some kind of business where they earn! 
more than a living. 
So much for a man with a big family on an aban¬ 
doned farm. Where could this man have gone to do 
better with that great family of children, 
when he found that his little business in 
town was failing, and we might add 
where in the country could he have 
found better opportunities than on one 
of those abandoned farms in New Eng¬ 
land? Fie says he lives in a town where 
the first well that was ever dug was dug 
by a woman with a fire shovel, and that 
well is in use to-day. That is, in a way, 
characteristic of the way New England 
people started on that stubborn soil. 
They did things thoroughly and well, 
and though years have passed and 
though many of these farms have grown 
up to briars and brush the fields are still 
level and smooth, the soil is still strong, 
and waiting only for strong hands and 
stout hearts to take hold of it and make 
it bloom again. The best thing of it 
all is the way Mr. Whippie talks of his 
wife. Fie says: “Don’t think that I 
have done this all myself, for a great 
part of my success is due to my life 
partner; our mother.” Don’t you think 
a woman who can sit in the midst of a 
great family like the one shown in the 
picture must have a feeling of satisfac¬ 
tion as she realizes how she has helped 
to make that farm pay, and how she has 
given to the world good citizens and 
strong hearts who respect her and 
realize what she has done for them? 
There ought to be more such families as 
this in the world. There are great op¬ 
portunities for them out in the country, 
and we wish that we could help fill up 
the waste places and make these old 
farms bloom again and support the fami¬ 
lies they did in old days. 
THE FARMER AND THE DEER. 
It affords me much pleasure to report 
that the first case to be tried under our 
new deer law has resulted in a victory 
for the farmer. Perhaps a short re¬ 
sume of the case will be of interest 
and value to other communities that are 
afflicted with the plague of so-called 
. sportsmen, whose idea of sport is to 
kill something they have no real use for, yet who would 
debar the people whose livelihood depends on the pro¬ 
duct of their land and labor, from protecting their prop¬ 
erty against the ravages of destructive animals and 
birds. It is positively nauseating to hear the men, who 
spend a good part of their time in killing inoffensive 
creatures, claiming to speak in the name of protection 
to animals. It needs little penetration to discover 
that, consciously or unconsciously, they are really 
speaking from a selfish motive, their desire being to 
compel other people to provide the means whereby they 
may obtain such amusement. The sportsman comes 
home boastfully with a big bag full of little birds, 
and has the audacity to tell the farmer that he shail 
