Entered as Second Class Matter at New York 
under the Act of Congress, March 3. 1879. 
NEW YOKK. AUGUST 31. 1918 
Published Weekly at 333 W. 30th St., 
New York. I'rice One Dollar a Year. 
Yol. t.xxvii 
“ Back to the Hills ” 
How the Hill Farms Are Coming Back 
II.AXiiEI) (’OXDITIONS.—Why our snuKl- 
fiitluM-s. who trekked M'ith their ox team.s into 
the M’ikls of Southern New 1 ork. left the feitile 
river bottoms to estnidish liomes" on the hills is a 
question that has imz/ded me. Look- 
inir at it from my standiioint. they 
ne.uleeted one-hundred-dollar land be¬ 
neath their feet to clear that worth 
scarcely a third as much in more in- 
accessibh' jilaces. I am told, however, 
that tlu* lu'avily wooded bottoms, with 
their malaria-breedint^ swamps, were 
less attractive at that time than the 
more easily cleared timber lands 
above the v.illeys. IMy home county 
of Tio.ua. ill the southern tier of New 
York counties, is centrally located, 
and is fairly representative, agricul¬ 
turally siieakinst. of a considerahle 
IKirtion of the State. In its beau¬ 
tiful valley of the Susipiehamia. and 
along smalh'r streams, are sonu' of 
the choicest farm lands to be found, 
tbat in these latter years have been 
almost, or cpiite. deserted. .Tust now. 
it is the.se hill lands, or the deserted 
farms of New York, that are attract¬ 
ing most attention. Strictly speaking. 
there are but few really de.serted farms, but there 
are many whose owners are ready to desert them 
for a very moderate linancial consideration, and 
^onle that, for home-making purposes, have been 
actuall.v abandoned. Nearl.v all these farms once 
supiiorted large families, and their owners were 
substantial men in the commnnit.v. The present 
Thr t^choolhouse at the Corners. Fiy. oO.'t 
generation has drifted away from them, however, 
and shows little tendency to return. The softer life 
of the bottoms h.as dr.awn the old families from the 
hills and left them to be re-poitulated. if at all. by a 
ii’.ore hardy race of new pioneers. 
THE NflKTlIEltN INVASION.—In many places 
the repre.sentatives of the “old stock” that still 
cling to their homes are finding them- 
s(dves becoming surrounded by a jum)- 
l)le who speak their language with 
difficulty. Foreigners they are 
called, though they are no more for¬ 
eign to the land than the not veiy 
remote ancestoi's of the most hlue- 
blooded old families. Fortunately, 
the.s(' new-comers represent the kind 
of immigration that America has 
alwa.vs been glad to welcome: the 
sturdy races of Northern Europe who 
bring with them habits of tb.rift and 
no fear of hard labor. Finns. Swedes, 
•Norwegians, and Poles; these are re¬ 
placing what a friend facetiously calls 
“played-out Yankees." 
'ITIE ItETURN PRiOM THE 
'WESd'.—In other ])laces families are 
coining from the South, impelled, ap- 
parentl.v. by no greater need than the 
desire to try their fortunes in a new 
section; a desire that finds an echo 
in the hearts of many of those dis- 
A Ganne of Snap the Whip During the School Recess. Fig. o05 
