RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1155 
Back to the Hills 
From Northern Wisconsin to Southern New York 
W HAT THE WESTERNER WANTS.—After 
having lived in the State.s of MistJOuri, Mi.^- 
tsissipjii. Kansas, Oregon, and Wisconsin, it is surely 
a compliment to the hill farms of 
Siuithern Neiv York that an intelli¬ 
gent farmer should choose one of 
them for a home. It may be thought 
that the comparative cheapness of 
these New Y’ork farms is their chief 
attraction, so it will be interesting to 
note just Avhat a hack-to-New-Yorker 
found when he exchanged a home in 
the cut-over timber lands of Northern 
Wisconsin for one in the hills of 
Tioga Co., N. Y. After some years 
as a school teacher in the States 
above mentioned, George Dawes took 
a home.stead claim in Northern Wis¬ 
consin overlooking a beautiful lake in 
that sparsely settled region. Tattle 
of the land was yet cleared. :ind. of 
his 70 acres, but 22 were lit for culti¬ 
vation. The “im]irovements” con¬ 
sisted of a small house and barn, 
laving conditions were those of a 
pioneer. Instead of encouraging ac¬ 
tual settlers, wealthy interests of the 
State were endeavoring to keej) these cut-over l.-inds 
as a wild game preserve and site for Summer camps. 
Tau'gel.v because of its very desirable location upon 
a lake, Mr. Dawes was offered ,$4.70C* for his 70 
acres. He had read much of the cheap farms of 
New York, and the opportunity to exchange a small 
home in the wilderness for a larger one in a long- 
settled community seemed good to him. Tlie offer 
was accordingly accepted, and a short time later 
found him in Southern New York looking for one 
of those much-advertised farms that could be pur¬ 
chased for less than the cost of the buildings. I.et 
us see what he found. 
THE OLD FARMS.—Tlio.se who cleared tlu‘ liills 
of Tioga County lie in the scattered cbuivbyanls. 
and their descendants are tinding the old farm 
homes losing their attractiveness. Man.v of these 
are on the market at prices wliich seem ridiculously 
cheap to tho.se who are accustomed to the over¬ 
priced Western land. It is but fair to prospective 
j.urchasers to sa.v, however, that these old farms 
have lost more than the human intere.st which once 
made them more than land and buildings. Their 
virgin fertility of soil is gone. Some have been 
rented for years and some indilTerently worked by 
their owners until their stores of plant food have 
been seriously depleted. Their ability to produce 
paying crops is not Avhat it once was, and can be 
restored only by further years of intelligent man¬ 
agement and painstaking labor. 
CONDITIONS AND SCRROT’NDING!^.—<)ne of 
(be.se farms, a good examiile of what New York has 
to offer the home-seeker, was brought to the atten¬ 
tion of Mr. T>awe.s. and later imrchased. A neighbor 
tells me that within the (!0 years of his remembrance 
six families liUA’e owned this farm and eleven chil- 
dnui have been re.ared tlu're. As a typic.-il. though 
rather small, hill farm, it is worth describing, and 
I shall attempt to show it to you. The nearest 
large village is sc'ven miles away, over good loads, 
A little less than half this distance 
is by the macadam road of the valley, 
reached by a winding descent of 
about 500 feet through the hills. 
Mdthin two miles is a small hamlet 
where a grocery and general store 
may be found. A daily i-ural delivery 
brings mail directly to the farm, and 
a telephone line places it in com- 
nuinication with any point on the 
Bell system. Through the necessary 
relay.s, Mr, Dawes could doubtless 
talk from his farm to old neighbors 
in Wisconsin. 
AN ATTRACTIVE OUTLOOK.— 
The house attracts one's attention as 
he approaches the farm. A small 
spring brook lies between it and the 
main road and at the foot of the ele¬ 
vation upon which the farm buildings 
are set. It is an unusually well built 
and pretty farmhouse of twelve 
rooms, painted, and very attractive in its setting of 
shade trees and orchard—a house that wouUl reach 
the heart of an.v family hungry for a home. 
Nearby are two barns, unpainted, but in good 
repair, and either of them, as Mr. Dawes say.'i. worth 
more than all the improvements upon his Wisconsin 
farm. A henhouse, tool-house, granary, and hog- 
house complete the group of buildings. 
SOIL AND ITS NEEDS.—So much for the build¬ 
ings; with the stock and tools, they carry .$4,000 in 
insurance. Now as to the 70 acres of the farm. 
These acres are important, for one cannot live upon 
Martini/ and I'ackiiui Irva para led Apples. Fip. dli-i 
Imildings, no matter how costly and attr,active. 
Incredible as it may seem, farms are being sold 
every day to men who permit good buildin,gs to hide 
the soil from their sight. Of these 70 acres 50 are 
under cultivation, the balance being in pasture and 
wood. ilr. Dawes confesses to a little disappoint- 
will corn in a favorable season. Any surplus of 
potatoes and buckwheat raised ma.v be sold, but the 
ha.v and other grain raised will all be needed by the 
stock on the fai’in. This stock now consists of ti\«‘ 
dairy cows, one team, three young cattle, about 50 
hens and two pigs. The five cows are depended 
upon as the main source of farm 
income, though the hens help out, 
and there is a small return from sur¬ 
plus potatoes and buckwheat. Mr. 
.•uul Mrs. Dawes and their ei.ubtccn- 
year-old son are able to do all the 
work, and they benefit, of cotirsc. in 
the matter of living, by the unusual 
farm perquisites of garden and or- 
<“hard. The present season's crojis are 
about those that any of Mr. DaAve.s’ 
neighbors would rai.se on a .similar 
farm, consisting of 11 acres in oats. 
D4 acres of barley, seven acres of 
buckwheat, four acres of corn. 
acres of potatoe.s, one-half acre of 
beans, and 15 acres of meadow. Some 
potatoes and beans will probably b<‘ 
sold in the F:ill. but a little addi¬ 
tional grain Avill have to be ])urchased 
for (be cows tlnit are in milk throu.gh 
the Winter. Mr. Dawes gives the 
income from (he five cows as $750 
for the year; from this $400 must be 
deducted as the cost of ha.v and grain, leaving $.“.50 
to pay for labor, investment, etc., while $.“> to .$4 
per week from the farm flock of hens helps ver.v 
materiall.A' on the grocer's bill. Fi’om his own story. 
I jud.ge that Mr. Dawes did AA’ell to bring his family 
East. With the limited capital at their command 
they have acquired more of comfort and inde¬ 
pendence here than the West could afford them, and 
tliey are fitteil by nature and training to make the 
most of their opportunities, m. b. dkax. 
I'epreidneed from- flie Neir York Evening Telcf/ram 
rneiit in the land ; it doesn't work quite as easily as 
that he bad been accustomed to in the West, and 
what we Easterners speak of simply as stones loom 
up as “rocks" to him. It is good, average, hill soil, 
however, needing only what all of our hill soils 
need—lime, manure, and muscle. These 7!) acres. 
I 
Marketinn Apples al Cold Floraiie. Middleport. A. Y. Fip. ofUi 
with a team, one cow. tlu' farm wagons 
and li»( Is. .some hens and a i(ortion of tlu*- standing 
croi)s cost Mr. Dawes .$.“.0(K> in the Fall of 1017. 
CROPS AND LIVE .STOCK.—While naturally 
gO(>d grass land, this farm can produce but a limited 
amount of grain.. Oats and buckwheat do well, us 
Building Up Old Pasture Lands 
On page 9S7 W. ,1. Wright says pastures may be 
‘‘built up by liming or reseeding.” Hereabouts teanis 
are olT the farms and on government work for an in¬ 
definite period ; no horses or teams for hire locally on 
farm work. However, it becomes an interesting ques¬ 
tion to ask if it be possible to get a seeding for hay 
Avithout plowing on a sod iioaa* “worn out.” If liming 
on sod Avill sAveeten it sufficiently to get a catch of 
pasture grass fof Ioav growth and successive season), 
Avliy should it not be possible to do the same for hay, 
grasses and clover, tall growth and all kinds used 
together to mature sufliciently at same time to cure for 
hay? Of course, one Avonld probably have to use more 
seed by one-half or more. This seed. howeA’cr, AA'ould 
be of inconsequential cost under the circumstances. 
Again, if this can be done, much land .so stony as to 
b') A'ery hard plowing could be made to yield hay crops 
of considerable value. It is granted in advance that 
ordinary procedure of sowing grass Avith or after small 
grain is desirable when and Avhere possible. Problem 
in this instance is to use ground AA'hich has not been 
and cannot be plowed at this time. Would more lime 
be needed than for cultivated land? Would caustic 
lime be desirable under these circumstances rather than 
carbonate? There is much land noAV standing idle 
Avhich cotdd be put to growing hay if this plan is 
feasible, but cost for lime and seed must not be pro- 
hibitiA-e in relation to value of the hay crop. J. s. R. 
Black Hall, Conn. 
^VII,L state Avliat Ave have found in this county in 
re.gard to our pasture improvement demonstrations. 
These demonstrations have been upon different types 
of soil, both in the lowland and upland regions of 
Allegany Co., N. Y. Ordinarily A\-e h:iA*e had splendid 
success Avhere the ground could be plowed and the 
following treatment given; We rec¬ 
ommend an ai)plication of manure be¬ 
fore ploAving or top-dressed lightly 
after seeding. Before seeding down 
a ton of limestone and about 2(K) lbs. 
A»f acid phosphate Avas applied. We 
used the general pasture mixtures. 
dei)ending upon the different types of 
soil. On the light dry soil aa'o gen- 
erall.v used the following applicafion 
per acre; Timothy, 9 lbs.; Orchard 
grass. 0 lb.s.; MeadoAv fescue. 5 lbs.; 
Canadu'.n Blue grass, 4 lbs.; .Vlsike 
clover. lbs.; Red clover, “ lbs.; 
White clover. I lb.; depending ui>ou 
the nature of the soil. To this Ave 
sometimes add Broome grass and Tall 
MeadoAV Oat grass, Avhlch have proven 
to be (piite beneficial. 
On the heavier lands and on (he 
bottom lands, e.specially. Ave have had 
sjjlendid .success Avith the folloAving 
mixture; Timothy. 1 Ih.; Red-top, 0 lbs.; Kentucky 
or Ctimtdian Blue grass, depending upon the type of 
soil, 4 lbs.; .\lsike clover. 4 lbs.; White clover. 1 1I>. 
Sometimes Orchard .grass and Red clover is added 
to this mixture. It should be understood that these 
pasture mixtures are not recommended for all soils, 
