Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a prison infirmary; thus fetch the farm v., to have oneself admitted to the infirmary.

1879		‘Ticket-Of-Leave Man’ Convict Life 167: After his conviction [...] he can ‘fetch the farm’, which is thieves’ language for obtaining admission to the infirmary.
1885		M. Davitt Leaves from a Prison Diary I 142: ‘Fetching the farm’ (obtaining infirmary treatment) is the one thing in the lagging which the worst type of these men will strain every nerve and resort to every possible device [...] to get.
1888		R. Barnett Police Sergeant C 21 246: The convict shook his head. ‘’Tain’t the farm (it is by this name that most prisoners designate the infirmary) as would cure me. What I want is fresh air.’.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 28: Fetching the Farm, feigning sickness in gaol.
1934		L. Berg Prison Nurse (1964) 68: Get him transferred to the prison ‘farm’ up at Greenkill for convalescence.

2. a clinic for alcoholics or drug addicts to take ‘the cure’.

1958		A. King Mine Enemy Grows Older (1959) 88: Manny, down at the narcotics farm, would be enmeshed in his own private nightmares.
1968		J.Q. Wilson Police Behavior 123: [T]he nearby county farm where persons sentenced on drunk charges serve their time.
1974		G.V. Higgins Cogan’s Trade (1975) 18: He’s up at the farm [...] I checked him in and he was as bombed as you can get.
1993		E. Liebow Tell Then Who I Am 257: Betty then goes through two separate alcohol treatment cycles from the state hospital to a farm for homeless alcoholics.
2001		A. Schulman 23rd Precinct 180: ‘If they know someone is going to get jammed up [for drinking], the first thing the PBA [Police Benevolent Association] says is, “Go to the farm”’.