^HTR'Y H.6J2 
,, , T „„„ TTT Published Weekly by The Rural Publishing Co.. 
\ 01. I..W1 111. 333 \y. 30 th St.. New Torlt. Price One Dollar a Tear. 
NEW YORK, AUGUST 30, 1910 
Entered as Second-Class Matter. June 26. 1879. at the Post _ 
Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. TNO. -tD-tsf. 
Wkat 
in tke Granite 
Opportunities for Upper New England? 
Part I. 
State 
G ENERAL CONDITIONS.—New Hampshire has 
no monopoly on the best conditions for farming 
in the United States. Obviously the State has some 
sections affording relatively better possibilities than 
others. It is equally self-evident that in extent of 
territory the poorer localities predominate. Only 
about one-half the State's area can be classified as 
farm land, and only about one-fourth of that is ever 
cultivated. This article is not a plea for “back-to- 
th e-land” movement directed toward the White 
Mountains, nor does it advocate the wholesale re¬ 
population of the so-called abandoned farms. It is 
ieuce in newer regions of the West even now. New 
Hampshire's early settlers soon learned the difference 
between a hard-wood and a pine soil, just as science 
has since told us some of the main differences be¬ 
tween a clay and a sand—but this is not all. The 
final measure of a soil for agricultural purposes is 
its ability to produce good crops under given climatic 
conditions. No man had this experience when New 
England was first settled. The poorer soils can no 
longer be farmed in competition with the better that 
may be found in this State as well as in others. 
SOCIAL CHANGES—Again, social and economic 
the rugged hills, or the wood and timber grow there 
to be marketed in Winter, when necessary roads 
can easily be made for temporary transportation. 
ECONOMIC VARIATIONS.—In the days of the 
sickle and the hand scythe it made little difference 
whether land was smooth and level or rocky and 
nearly perpendicular. Then the fanner was self- 
sufficient in the sense that he was interested 
in producing small amounts of everything that 
might contribute clothing, food or shelter to himself 
and his family; today he must be concerned with a 
very few products, but in sufficient quantities to 
A Profitable Crop of Strawberries on a New England Farm. Fig. 898 
simply the statement of a few facts as a warning 
against wrong conceptions and a possible guide- 
board to him who questions the cross-roads leading 
to the city or to the country, to this State or some 
other. 
ABANDONED FARMS.—What are abandoned 
farms, and why are we cultivating less ai’ea than 
formerly? In the first place, abandoned farms are 
mostly correlated with rough topography or poor 
soils, often with both. There are two reasons why 
these farms were originally cleared and for many 
years used. First, the early settlers knew no better. 
Their knowledge of soils was largely at fault, just 
as ours would be today if we were to settle in a 
strange country. In fact, this is a common exper- 
coiulitions lack stability. The farmer, or the farm 
community, if not responsive to change, must fail. 
It was an advantage to live on the brow of a hill 
when the surrounding woods harbored Indians of 
uncertain or antagonistic attitude. One could better 
signal his neighbor or fire on the intruders. Roads 
were then of little importance. People were not 
concerned with shipping milk to Boston, nor with 
the problem of getting high-priced grain hauled 
several miles to their farms. With automobiles to 
help instead of Indians to hinder, it is just as 
logical to argue for the construction of garrison 
houses today as for the rehabitation of some of these 
hill farms. Better live in the valley or on adjacent 
rolling land. Let the herds and flocks graze over 
supply many families. In one case he could do the 
hand work between the rocks with comparatively 
little inconvenience; in the other, he must remove 
the imperfections and use machines that develop 
large areas of labor at a serious disadvantage. 
Every new invention in agricultural machinery makes 
farming harder for the man who cannot use it. Year’s 
ago the farmer had little use for rupney: his meagre 
trading was by barter. Now the farmer expects his 
business to be on a par with other businesses, and 
justly so. lie plans to produce on his farm for sale 
those things which he can raise or manufacture 
better or cheaper than can anyone else, and to buy 
from others the chairs, the sheets, the cloth, the 
flour and other similar necessities for his present 
