STATE INSTITUTION FARMS IN NEW YORK[1]
Reading edition
STATE INSTITUTION FARMS IN NEW YORK[1]
By H. B. Winters, Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture
The State of New York now owns 41 farms. Twenty of these are connected with the charitable institutions, 14 with the State hospitals and 7 with the prisons.
The total area of these farms is 22,981 acres, divided as follows:
Charitable institutions9,690 acres
State hospitals10,587 acres
Prisons2,704 acres
The acreage per capita of population, which is a very important item, is as follows:
Charitable farms.81 acres
Hospital farms.29 acres
Prison farms.45 acres
The total farm investment is $2,331,285.00. The total profits for the year ending September 30, 1912, were $305,006. The total profits for the year ending September 30, 1910, were $202,826. This shows a gain of $102,180 in 1912 over 1910.
The rate of profit made by the farms as a whole, in the year ending September 30, 1912, was 13.1 per cent. The rate of profit made by all the farms for the year ending September 30, 1910, was 9.4 per cent. The greatest rate of profit made by any form increased from 23.2 per cent. to 37.5 per cent. during this period.
The State has 30 profitable farms and 2 farms that are losing money. It should be noted that the 2 farms which were losing money two years ago are now making a profit. One of the farms that lost money last year is a new place, which is not yet under good headway; the other farm is considering moving to a new location.
These figures are certainly very gratifying and they prove that farming at our institutions is very profitable to the State of New York. This splendid increase shows what interest in farm work has done. It shows that this land is a most valuable investment to the State of New York, both from a financial standpoint and for the general good of the inmates of the institutions.
We read that only forty per cent. of the consumers’ dollar goes to the farmer. On institution farms this is not true. Our people are stirred up from one end of the country to the other on account of co-operation. Our institution farm work is the best possible type of co-operation. We hear our farmers complain of overproduction. On the carefully run institution farm this is practically overcome.
Various cold storage laws have been passed to protect our people. If the institution farms produce their own food, the cold storage problem is reduced to its minimum. I am unable to secure in Albany for my own table as good vegetables as I eat at the different institution farms.
While the above may be, and is, gratifying, I cannot resist pointing out to you some of the opportunities that are ahead of us. We are still buying $258,711.00 worth of milk per year. The freight and dealers’ profit on this milk is certainly $50,000. If we should take up all the items purchased by our institutions that could be produced on their own farms, it would total a very large sum.
I believe that a great prison like Auburn should have its own farm, and it should be conveniently located. The quality of food would be greatly improved, and I feel perfectly sure that out of that great body of 1,500 prisoners I could select enough men who could be trusted to do the work on this farm under reasonable supervision. The farm would be an ornament to that part of the country, a profit to the State and of great benefit to the prisoners.
There is a serious problem ahead of us in regard to institutions, or institution sites already purchased, that are not making satisfactory progress. I refer to the State Training School for Boys at Yorktown Heights; Wingdale Prison Site, Wingdale; Mohansic State Hospital, Yorktown; Letchworth Village, Thiells, and the State Industrial Farm Colony at Stormville. There should be a decided effort to develop these institutions along proper lines. Some of us have heard a great deal against these properties that is not true. It is high time that the different officials interested in these institutions co-operate in order that they may be finished as rapidly as possible.
If any of the above sites are not suitable for institutions, they certainly would make excellent colony farms. By colony farms, I mean a farm that is separated from the main institution by a greater or less distance, a farm where we may send inmates as a reward of merit, where they can live the simple life of a comfortable farmer.
These colonies should be provided with good plumbing, sufficient heat, electric lights and all comforts of up-to-date country life. They are not necessarily expensive, and farms of this sort are found in many cases to be more than self-supporting.
The possibilities in farm work are very large. Two years ago the garden products at the Ward’s Island State Hospital for the Insane amounted to $17,299. The profits were $9,360. The profit, after deducting 5 per cent. on the investment of $83,809, was $5,170.
Then we thought the high water mark was reached, but this year Ward’s Island’s garden products amount to $18,867; the profit was $14,219; the profit, after deducting 5 per cent. on the investment, was $10,211. Last year Ward’s Island made a profit of 17.7 per cent. on land valued at $1,289 per acre. What Ward’s Island is doing can be repeated on many institution farms.
The ideal institution farm in the future will grow its own vegetables and fruit, canning enough for winter use; it will raise its own pork, make its own sausage and smoke its own ham and bacon. It will produce its milk, butter, eggs, poultry, veal and a large part of its beef.
This home production will not only furnish fresher and better food, but will save large amounts of money in freight, cost of handling, and dealers’ profits.
Institution farms should be large enough to use improved machinery, properly rotate crops so as to add fertility to the soil, and unlock fertility that is already in the land. These farms will then become more fertile year by year, and therefore more profitable.