Vol. LXXII. No. 4199. 
NEW YORK, APRIL 19, 1913 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR 
DANES ON NEW YORK FARMS. 
What They Are Doing. 
A request recently came to me to go into Otsego 
County, N. Y., and look up some Danish settlers who 
have- located there, and find out how well they are 
pleased with their situation and their prospects for 
success. By previous arrangement one of them met 
me at the trolley station and took me to his home. 
On the way I got quite well acquainted with him, 
and he gave me many details of his plans and of 
those of others of his people. This one, Mr. Hauberg, 
is a young man, and has been in this country about 
four years. He speaks good English, has a good 
understanding of farming affairs and knows much 
about this country as well as his own country and 
paid $25 an acre on it and had no more to pay with, 
he would as soon give it up at first as to wait later, 
knowing that he would have to give it up later if not 
then. 
After much investigation Mr. Hauberg decided that 
there is no land in the West that he cares for that 
a man of small means can buy and pay for. He 
commenced to look for openings in the East. At 
length through the New York State Department of 
Agriculture, and after consultation with Mr. Alolden- 
hawer of that department, he purchased a farm of 
115 acres in Otsego County for $2,000, paying down 
$350. This left him $250 from his four years’ 
savings with which to buy some stock and tools. 
He is well pleased with his purchase. He has for a 
neighbor a man of his own nationality who bought 
has been in this country some 20 years. Fie had 
never lived on a farm when he arrived in New York, 
having been a tinsmith in his native country. Failing 
to get employment in New York City upon his arrival 
there, and finding that he could get work on a farm 
in Chenango County he went there. He worked for 
farmers for 14 years, or else he took farms on shares. 
He worked on shares the year before he bought his 
farm, and owing to faults in the contract and trickery 
on the part of the landlord he lost all his savings. 
Mr. Hullcr bought 101 acres for $2,100. He has 
several hundred dollars worth of tools and machinery 
paid for and has paid $850 on the purchase price of 
the farm. That is a good showing for six years’ 
work. I asked him if he could save as much money 
working at his trade of tinsmith. He is sure that 
THE SHETLAND PONY ; AN IDEAL CHILD’S PLAYMATE. 
Fig. 175. 
its manner of farming. He was born in town, bi 
from the time he was 10 he has worked on a fan 
somewhere. Getting restless and hearing much aboi 
America he decided to come here and see what it 
hke. Upon reaching New York he found that a 
tne talk was for the West, so he decided to go Wes 
Le went to Iowa and from there to Nebraska. H 
\\oiked at anything that came his way; some of th 
time at digging ditch. Finally he hired out to 
farmer by the year, intending to learn all he coul 
about American farming and later buy a farm. A 
0u time went on it became more and more evider 
| ait to buy a farm in Nebraska or in any desirabl 
<>oa.lity in the West and pay for it without capit: 
l " start with would be impossible. The man fc 
whom he worked had some land that he would sel 
’at the value there is $150 an acre. The farmer ac 
v, sed Air. Hauberg not to buy it, saying that i 
e (the owner) had a farm of $150 land and ha 
a similar farm six years ago and has paid considerably 
on it, although he started without anything to pay 
down. Recently three other families, natives of the 
same country, have bought farms in the vicinity. I 
do not think that these people will be satisfied until 
they have 20 or more families of their own people 
in that section. There are farms for sale in that 
locality, as in others East, and these will be purchased 
in time I think, if they stay on the market. I see 
nothing but death or ill-health that can deter these 
people from achieving success in the held of New 
York agriculture. There seems never before to have 
been a time when a man of energy could be so sure 
of gaining a farm home in a comparatively short 
time, even without capital to start with. This state¬ 
ment refers to the East only, and has no value in 
the regions of the high-priced lands of the West. 
Mention has been made of a Dane who has been 
on the farm six years. This is Mr. Huller. who 
he could not, although he has had chances to work 
at $4 a day. He prefers the farm and is doing good 
work there. I have always been skeptical about a 
man from the city making a success of farming, 
but here is a case of success. 
The land where these people have settled is in a 
somewhat run-down condition. It is land that will 
respond to good farming and two years of really 
good farming will put the land in a productive condi¬ 
tion. Of course that cannot all hi done at once on 
the whole farm, especially where there is li’ttle 
spare money to work with. It is only a matter of 
a few years when the farm can be made to produce at 
a fine rate. One reason why these people have been 
attracted to this land is the fact that it looks to 
them so much like the land' in their native country. 
Fifty years ago the land in Denmark was as poor 
as this, 1 was told. The land there has been brought 
up to a high state of cultivation, and they reason that 
