Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-03-15
Getty LOT FARMS"
A Valuable Suggestion Tint Comes
From Detroit.


From Detroit.
In June last year the mayor of Detroit,
Hazen S. Pingree, suggested that unoccupied
land within the city limits and adjacent
thereto should be utilized in order to pro-
vide opportunities for poor and unemployed
persons to cultivate it. He began by ap-
pointing committee of practical men who
were earnestly in sympathy with the move
ment. They accepted 49, acres from the
ial thousand offered. This land was
ploughed, narrowed and staked off into
lots OF one-quarter to one-half acre each.
About 1900 applications were made for lots.
but owing to lack of funds the committee
was able to provide for only 945 families.
All applicants were carefully investigated
and none but worthy persons with families
were helped. Seed potatoes. beans and
other seeds were furnished by the commit
tee to those unable to provide them, the
entire expenses of the committee being
$500 As it was the middle of June be-
fore the work was begun. there was not
sufficient time to obtain in every case the
best soil, and for the same reason, 1t being
necessary to expedite the ploughing, the
committee was obliged to purchase plows,
harrows, etc: The crops were planted. cul-
tivated and harvested by the people them
selves. under the supervision of the COM
mhttee. including some thirty lots assigned
to widows, whose dependent, haif-grown
boys cultivated the land 1t was not pos
lots near their homes. and in some cases
the distance was two miles. But that con-
dition did not deter them. The poor almost
fought for a chance TO get a patch of
ground to till. Nine-tenths of the pieces
were well taken care of. Each occupant
planted at least two-thirds of his piece in
potatoes. and the remainder with such
seeds as were preferable. All kinds of gar
den truck were raised. A mounted police
man and gentleman from the assessors
office supervised the work throughout the
summer by making daily rounds. A part
OF the land was so dry that afterward it
had to be sown in turnips.
The crops turned out so WELL in spite of
the lateness of the season, that an exhibit
at the state fair of vegetables grown upon
this soil was awarded a diploma by the
State Agricultural Society. Deducting the
value OF the ploUghs, etc, now on hand.
the cost per lot to the committee was about
S.io. The committee estimates that the
potato crop averaged about fifteen bushels
per lot, which would give 1i,115 bushels of
potatoes alone. Large quantities of beans,
turnips ana other vegetables We're raised
and daily consumed, of which the commit
tee is unable to furnish a record. The es-
timated total value of the crops produced
was Sl2,uU0 to $1,000, at cost to the COM
mittee of about 5000. This latter sum
was made up by subscriptions.
For short period of the time in Septem-
Der and October four inspectors of the
poor commission, in connection with other
duties, kept more or less watch over the
crop, and the loss by theft was practically
nothing-certainly not more than that of
the average market gardener. The COM
mission has received applications from
great many of these people for pieces of
land for next year. The commission thinks
that about one-third of an acre is sufficient
land for family to raise enough potatoes
on to last through the winter and furnish
vegetables through the summer.