The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1895-06-22
Free Farming For the Poor.
Harper's Weekly. June Is, 1885.

! conversion to the beneficial use of the
idle poor of the vacant lands lying in
and about our large cities. Since the
hard times set in, two years ago, the
problem of how best to care for the
ever growing army Of the unemployed
has been a strenuous and pressing one
| Detroit has some 10, 900 unskilled labor
ers, mOstley foreigners with large famI-
lies, and when in the spring of 1894
work failed and the situation became
J serious, it occurred to Mayor Pingree to
utilize the idle lands in the outskirts of
his city for cultivation by the poor in
raising food for themselves.
The public appeal for support was
! promptly met, and a committee, head
! ed by Captain c. A. Gardner, L. S. A,
was appointed to carry out the project.
! About 40 acres were accepted from
several thousand offered, plough
! ed, narrowed, and staked off by the
committee into lots of one-quarter to
| One-half an acre each. Some 5000 APP
! pilcatOns We're made for these lots, but
owing to lack of funds, provision
! could be made for only 80 families.
| Each application was subject to rigid
scrutiny, and only worthy persons with
! families We're given aid. To these,
i seed-potatOes, beans and other seeds
! were furnished, and the crops were
| planted, cultivated, and harvested by
the people themselves, under the
! supervision of the committee, includ-
ing some thirty lots assigned to widows,
whose dependent hall-grown boys cult
waited the land.
With few exceptions, the lots were
well cared for, the potato crop averag-
ing about fifteen bushels per lot, or a
! total of some IA, 900 bushels, while large
| quantities OF beans, turnips and other
vegetables were raised and daily con-
sumed, but of which no record was
kept-the total prodcut being sufficient
to keep the people from want and idle
| ness. The value of the crops produced
was from Sl2,0 to $1,000, and this
result was secured at net cash Outly
! of less than $500, raised by popular
! subscription. II was found that one
! third of an acre of land is amply suffic-
lent for a family to raise enough pota-
toes to last them through the winter
and furnish vegetables for the summer,
and majority of the applicants were
! enabled, with what they could earn in
! other ways, to pass through the winter
without having recourse to the poor
authorities, and a large sum was also
! saved to the taxpayer.
The success Of the experiment"
! says the supervising committee in their
/ final report, ''silenccd the croakers,
and they were numerous. Poor people
almost fought for chance to get a piece
of land to till, and those who were sue
cesslul used their best efforts to obtain
a full crop. The loss by theft was prac-
! ucally nothing certainly not more
| than that of the average market gard
ner. The experiment has clearly
demonstrated that many of the desti-
tute are ready and willing to work; that
a large number of these people can be
supported by utilizing the vacant lands
| IN the outskirts of the CITY; that a
very small space Of ground is sufficient
to raise enough vegetables to support a
family through the winter; that a
majority of those who own vacant lots
would rather allow them to be cult
waited by the poor than to pay a big tax
| for their support; and that the needy
are thereby assisted without creating
the Generalization in the habits of the
people that gratuitous aid in other
places always entails"
This seasons operations at Detroit are
| being conducted on much more eX-
tensiye scale, aud already 800 acres
have been offered, subdivided, and
placed under cultivation As was ex-
pceted the experiment commanded i'm
mediate and general action. A dozen
committees visited Detroit to inve sti-
gate the report upon it, and this sum
mer similar plans have been put in
operation, in New York, Brooklyn,
Chicago, Boston, Buffalo, Toledo, st.
Louis, St. Paul, Minneapolis and other
cities. At a meeting of the Conference
of Charities of New York city, held
February 10Th, the Association for I'm
proving the Condition of the Poor was
requested and agreed to undertake the
work in this city. Mr.. William Stein
way placed at the disposal of the com
mIttec having the matter in charge 500
acres in Long Island City; the Long
Island Land Improvement Company
gave the use of ii ty acres, and Messrs
\. ). Hewitt and Morris Tuska contrib
uted land in New York city Thus far
some forty-eight acres have been placed
under cultivation in Long Island CITY,
and quarter-acrc allotmcnts have been
made to some seventy worthy appli-
cants, all but two or three of whom are
heads of families.
Women and children work side by side
with the men in cultyating their plots,
and often display more energy and
enthusiasm than the latter. Seed-pota-
toes, onions, radishes, beans, peas, to-
matoes, and cabbages have already
been planted, and turnips will be put in
later the committees supplies the seed
: and the necessary fertilizers. Each
| allotment is numbered, and the hold
ers are informed by mail when their
/ plots need cultiyating. Practical de-
tails are in charge of Il superintendent,
1 J. W. kjel@aard, gentleman IN every
] way fitted for the task; and watchmen
are employed to look after the grounds
and give needed instructions to the
, laborers, 4 majority of whom are for
eigners. Many of them are absolutely
without means, and this has prompted
the adoption of cooperative system
by which each laborer is permitted to
E draw seventy-fve cents if married and