The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-02-02
A JEWISH COLONY.
1t Appears to Be in Very Flourish
ing Condition.

New ork sun.
The reports which have been from time
to time received from the Hrsch agricul-
tural colony in New jersey have been
nearly as conflicting and quite AS unsatIs-
factory and unsubStantlal as certain war
bulletins which engaged the attention OF
humorous writers during the progress Of
military naneuvers in Madagascar some
years ago. On one hand the Russian col
onsts in Cape May County were repre-
sented as being in a flourishing condition
and In possession of lands teeming with
fertility. On the other they were pathetic
ally described as lacking needful rament
and decent shelter. without means or hope,
restricted TO uncOngenial and Improbable
toll In a strange land, and utterly wretched,
respondent and dependent. Under these
circumstances any conclusion as TO the sue
to arrive AT, but IL need be so no longer II
the report made TO the New Jersey Board
of Agriculture Wednesday be accepted as
trustwol thy. 1t is certainly explicit
Mr.. Lee, who submitted the report,
showed that the town Of W0odbine, under
Superintendent Jabsoyitch of the fund,
consists OF 1886 lots, around which are
thirty-acre farms, and the outlying iOwands
are reserved Tor pasturage. upon the plan
of medieval English communities. In a
year $50 acres Of farm land, twelve miles of
driveway. and 10 acres of town lots have
been wrested from natural wilderness.
The town houses built by the company
composed of the trustees OF the American
Hirsch fund cost from $3.50 to $500 each,
and are models OF neatnesS and adaptablllty
for coltaists' needs. Active work is eX-
pected TO give Woodbne $50 houses by
spring. A hotel, a railway station, a syna-
gogue and a public school are completed,
or are in the course of erection park
has been laid out, with side streets and
avenue lined with pnplars and naples. On
the farms each agriculturst has $50 fruit
trees, planted in 1891, with an acre of grapes
and small fruits. Early vegetables. growing
as readily in Cane May as In Norfolk, were
also successfully raised.
This is certainly an encouraging howing.
and IL. as MIR. Lee declares in his report, the
soil OF South Jersey generally is susceptible
of such improved cultivation. the hopes of
The trustees Of the HirSch fund may be
realized more especially if, As is stated. the
griculturai conditions of South Jersey
much resemble those found in that part of
Russia from which most Of these colonists
come. At the same time IL appears that,
great as has been the progress made in
farming in the South Jersey colony, ii has
not kept pace with other pursuits less care
fully fostered-clOakmak knitting and
cigar-makng. 1t was the fear Of such
preference for mercantile and manual pur-
suits and the consequent neglect of farming
which led many TO doubt at the outset the
success of the Hirsch experiment. Their
apprehensl0ns, even according to MIR. Lee s
encouraging report, do not seem to have
been entirely groundleSS; but it is probably
too soon TO determine definitely whether
this natural preference of the colonists will
initiate seriously against the success OF the
South Jersey colony. Meanwhile no one
appears to be starving; quite the reverse.