Then to cultivate these
farms they adopted children and young people. Twenty years ago the
Legislature of New York had before it a bill to limit the quantity of
land the Shakers should be allowed to hold, and the number of
apprentices they should take. It was introduced, he said, by their
enemies, but they at once agreed to it, and thereupon it was dropped;
but since then the society had come generally to favor a law limiting
the quantity of land which any citizen should own to not more than one
hundred acres.
[Illustration: SHAKER OFFICE AND STORE AT MOUNT LEBANON]
He thought it a mistake in his people to own farms outside of their
family limits, as now they often do. This necessitates the employment of
persons not members, and this he thought impolitic. "If every out-farm
were sold, the society would be better off. They are of no real
advantage to us, and I believe of no pecuniary advantage either. They
give us a prosperous look, because we improve them well, and they do
return usually a fair percentage upon the investment; but, on the other
hand, this success depends upon the assiduous labor of some of our
ablest men, whose services would have been worth more at home. We ought
to get on without the use of outside labor.
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