Die RURAL NEW-YORKER 
117 
The Back-to-the-lander’s Problem 
I note some of the articles on “back- 
to-the-landing” and your comments. If I 
were to put it in a few words. I would 
say that most of the people come back to 
the land filled with “sound advice,” nine 
parts sound and one part advice. Some 
men can do as much work as two ordi¬ 
nary men. They are rare. No inexper¬ 
ienced man can take up work and ac¬ 
complish much until he becomes exper¬ 
ienced and proficient. Knowing how to 
do work and having the strength, force 
and “stay-there” to get it done, are some¬ 
times as widely separated as the shores 
of the ocean. Our failure was partly in 
the fact that we tried too many things, 
put money into chickens that should have 
been used to buy a cow or sheep, and 
tried to garden more than our strength 
warranted. We also put too much money 
in a house and not enough in a barn. 
ti. B. 
We never had so many calls for advice 
about “going back to the land,” and 
never felt so little inclined to advise. As 
the years go on we realize more and 
more what it means to change home and 
the habits of a lifetime. It is a great 
responsibility to decide a question which 
involves so much for a family. It is 
almost entirely a matter of personality. 
During the past few weeks at least 50 
people have asked us to say whether they 
would be likely to succeed on a farm. 
We have never seen these people, and 
know nothing of their strength and per¬ 
severance. One of them puts the propo¬ 
sition as follows: 
A city man of, say 50, proposes to re¬ 
tire to a farm; will you tell me through 
The R. N.-Y. how he should proceed? 
This man wants the farm to produce the 
maximum of his living expenses, restrict¬ 
ing his expenditures to clothes, beef and 
lamb, milk and butter; the plan contem¬ 
plates raising vegetables and chickens 
and growing as much of the chicken feed 
as possible. Are pigs profitable? Is a 
cow essential? What and how much is 
he to plant and how much ground would 
he require? Approximately what finan¬ 
cial outlay and what financial backing 
would be required until this farm would 
become sustaining? Is there any general 
advice that may be given to a city man 
who would take up agriculture? What 
are the fruit requirements, and in short, 
what must a city man actually do to 
make his farm self-sustaining for a fam¬ 
ily of five? 
Now that looks easy. If a man asked 
such questions about the grocery business 
we could get him the figures. We learn 
that for about .$4,000 a wholesale grocer 
will fit up a fair-sized store with an out¬ 
fit of goods. The grocer must turn this 
stock over twice or three times a year. 
When it comes to farming no such figures 
can be given because farming is far more 
of a personal business than any trade or 
profession. It requires more keen judg¬ 
ment than any town business, more hard 
work than any trade and more patience 
and skill than any profession. 
Personally, we do not feel like advising 
any man of 50 to go to a farm unless it 
is a case of necessity, or unless there is 
some powerful spiritual motive to drive 
him on. By that we mean some desire 
to make a home for a child or some de¬ 
pendent. You must remember that a 
large proportion of farmers feel like leav¬ 
ing the farm or letting up on their work 
at 50. A city man of that age would 
have the odds against him, though we 
know several who have won out. 
No farmer should buy milk, butter or 
lamb. We find the cow the most profit¬ 
able animal we can keep. True, we have 
a large family. The milk and butter 
supply for them would cost, at present 
prices, nearly $450! Some men with 
only two or three in the family object to 
a cow on account of the confining work. 
Yet if you are to keep chickens the cow 
will help feed them with her skim-milk. 
Pigs are profitable now. In nearly every 
neighborhood there is a demand for little 
pigs, and two or three bred sows with a 
fair range on rape or sorghum will pay. 
At present prices for pigs our sows will 
earn $90 or more per year. As for tell¬ 
ing a man what to plant without seeing 
him or his land no sensible person would 
attempt that. It depends on how much 
land you have, and its character. Corn 
is usually a safe crop and is a necessity 
where chickens are kept. Crops like bar¬ 
ley and Spring wheat give a good amount 
of chicken feed and can be fed without 
thrashing if desired. Where the land is 
suitable potatoes pay, but on much of our 
Eastern land they cost too much in labor, 
fertilizer and seed. It will generally pay 
the bueli’to-Uie*laudiT best to raise corn, 
possibly potatoes and only a few kinds of 
vegetables at first. If we were starting 
over again in a location near a fair mar¬ 
ket we should buy a good cow, at least 
one good brood sow, about six sheep and 
start a fair flock of poultry. We should 
plow up some of the old sod and plant 
corn with fertilizer, sow two or three 
acres of barley and perhaps five of Spring 
wheat, and a first-class home garden. We 
would take a chance on at least one acre 
of potatoes and plant a crop of cabbage, 
in the meantime starting to plant peach 
and apple trees on the rougher land. 
Much of the work of caring for these 
crops will have to be hired. The object 
would be to provide al! possible food for 
the family and as much of the feed for 
our cow and chickens as possible and 
depend on pigs, eggs and poultry, pota¬ 
toes and cabbage, for sales. We would 
not attempt this unless we had the farm 
secured and at least $1,500 for working 
capital. An experienced farmer might 
not need so much, but no bac-k-to-the- 
lander should try it with less. 
Shall He Move Away? 
To relieve my unsettled frame of mind, 
I write these lines asking you for help. 
We own a farm of 97 acres here in Con¬ 
necticut, a typical New England farm. 
Ten years ago, through business transac¬ 
tions we landed here, and during all these 
years I have been a dissatisfied farmer. 
Previous to coming here we farmed in 
Central New Jersey, where I spent the best 
part of my younger days. The crops on 
the Jersey farm consisted mainly of small 
grains and corn, whereas in our New 
England home it is hay. silage and cows. 
Were I interested in dairy work, I be¬ 
lieve no better country could be found 
fr. that purpose, as our soils are natural 
hay kinds, also h iving great success with 
Alfalfa. My wife, as well as myself, have 
to admit that in the 10 years we have 
spent here we never had a crop failure • 
in fact, we have l:^en quite successful, 
when you consider that the place was 
run down and forsaken and bought for a 
price that could not be duplicated today. 
We started into raising poultry, for which 
I have had a fondness since a boy. In 
the 10 years we have done hard work 
aplenty, and today we are still at it. with 
a flock that we feel proud of. Now comes 
the main rub; our lands being blessed 
with some stuue. and then some more, 
prevents me from using a binder or rid¬ 
ing cultivator. I am the only person in 
our neighborhood who raises any amount 
of small grain. Every year I managed 
to raise a small quantity of Winter wheat, 
barley and quite a bit of flint corn. Those 
small grains I cut and bind by hand, the 
poultry doing the thrashing. This all 
sounds well and good, but doing this year 
after year, with a feeling a century or 
more behind the age, and my mind flit¬ 
ting back to the days when I cut 10 acres 
of grain in the same time I spent on one, 
it has just worked on my nerves: in fact, 
it has gone to that extent that I took a 
trip to Maryland recently ; struck out for 
no particular place, and finally landed in 
Queen Anne County. How I came by 
there is a mystery; nevertheless, I was at 
home no sooner than I set my foot down 
in that country, so here I am, as I start¬ 
ed this letter. I have been unsettled in 
mind and body ever since I came back. 
I got express rates on shipments of eggs 
from several points in Maryland, and 
find that the cost is no greater than from 
here to New York, so if I can get the 
same money for my goods, and have the 
advantage 'which that country can offer 
me, why not make the move; can you tell 
me the reason ? L. L. 
Connecticut. 
R. N.-Y.—We cannot. This is merely 
printed as a fair sample of hundreds of 
such letters. We could not decide such a 
question, though L. L. puts it clearly. 
The trouble with him is largely mental. 
If he liked dairying he would not think 
of changing . nor would he be likely to 
go if he could use a hinder. Yet would 
he not run against worse conditions if 
he made the change? Some months ago 
Mr. Mortimer I*. Lee told how he was 
driven away from a Maryland farm be¬ 
cause the express companies gave such 
poor service that they smashed liis egg 
crates. A farmer ought to be satisfied 
with his home anl locality. If he is not. 
all the rest of life is more or less of a 
failure. L. L. and his wife should spend 
time and money enough to learn just how 
Maryland suits them—at its best and 
worst—and then go where they can be 
happy. 
“Do you remember,” said Mrs. Corn- 
tossel, “when we used to tell Josh, ‘Chil¬ 
dren should be seen and not heard’?” 
“Yes,” replied the farmer, “and now I get 
called down by everybody if I interrupt 
Josh while he’s tollin’ about his experi¬ 
ences at the front.”—Washington Star. 
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