The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-04-28


unemployed persons in the city Of De
tfoit was unusually large. Besides
others Detroit has at all times some
10000 Poles. They earn low wages
have large families. and when out o.
work are almost Immediately thrown
upon charity.
Being able bodied. it was presumed
that these persons would gladly avail
themselves of an opportunity to cult
vate a small piece of ground. and by
raising potatoes. beans. and other vege-
tables. be able to tide themselves
through the summer and raise enough
potatoes to last them through the win
ter. There are within the limits of De-
troit. lying unoccupied and held for
speculative and other purposes. over
5000 acres Of land. The Brush estate,
a farm lying transversely through the
most populous portions of the city. and
consisting of over 100 acres. is large We
cant land. ana has been vacant since
the founding of the city. Much of the
land Immediately outside OF the city
limits has been withdrawn from Guilt
walton and has been plated into sub
and the people together. a committee
was appointed at a meeting of citizens
called to consider the project.
Lands for cultivation in almost all
portions Of the city were offered for the
purpose. free Of cost. by charitable per-
sons owning them. in single lots or
blocks. containing in some cases over
one hundred acres. The committee
Generally accepted the larger blocks
and those lying in close proximity to
the poor quarters" of the city: in all.
about 450 acres, IN over twenty-five
different pieces. Subscriptions of money
and donations of seed, for the project,
were also received. The committee an
nounced. through the daily papers, that
applications for land could be made
either at its headquarters. or at the
Office of the city poor commission. Some
5000 applications were received, out Of
which number the committee was able.
for want of funds, to provide for but
975. these being all deserving persons
and heads of families, either out Of
work or very poor: among them being
thirty widows, who. having half grown
boys. were able to properly attend to
the cultivation of the land.
As it was late. nearly the middle of
June. before the project was begun,
prompt action was required. The land
was plowed. narrowed. rolled. and then
staked off into portions of about a half
acre each Assignments to parcels of
land were made SO as to be as near as
possible to the home of the applicant.
The applicant was given a ticket bear
ing his name and residence: this ticket.
" ASn presented to the committee S
eman, at d designated time upon
The ground. entitled him to a lot The
applicants name and address were
then written upon the stake and he
was told TO be there at a certain hour.
two or three days thereafter. in order
=. plant. Under direction Of the fore
ma, such seed potatoes, 5eans and
other seeds, as the committee would
supply. As fast as pieces of ground
We're plNWed, narrowed and rolled, they
were assigned in this manner. Pota-
toes. enough to plant about one-half of
each PAL reel, beans and other seeds and
ground to such as could not supply
themselves. and planted under the di-
rectior Of the foreman. a printed
sheet. in three languages. directing how
each seed supplied should be planted.
was given to each applicant. Several
acres, plowed. but not suited for pota-
toes. and hence not assigned. were af-
committees expense: the product, some
1000 bushels. was given to the poor
people and to the city poor commission.
The past summer was one of unusual
drought, which lasted nearly nine
weeks In spite of this. probably be-
cause the potatoes were planted so
very late in the season. the yield was
quite good. a majority of the families
being in great restitution. began to dig
their potatoes in small lots daily, be-
fore they had attained proper size and
during the season. to a great extent,
lived on the other vegetables, such as
beans. beets. cabbage, etc. which they
were raising.
The pieces of ground yielded from s
TO 50 bushels of potatoes each, the
average for the whole being l51a bush
els. Large quantities of green corn,
squash. tomatoes. turnips. and other
Vegeta bles were raised and consumed.
1t is safe to say that from coo to 10000
bushels Of potatoes alone were raised.
ard probably no less than soc bushels
of white beans were harvested.
A conservative estimate of the value
of a. ,icles raised. is about $4,000. The
cost of the entire experiment was
So. $50; deducting from this the cost OF
plOws and harroWS purchased and now
on hand. the cost per piece of ground, |
including seeds. was S3.45. Although |
this experiment was somewhat OF the |
nature Of q charity, yet each person /
obtained the results of his own labor |
and it is certain that no expenditure of /
a like amount of relief money in
any other way would have accom- !
phshed such good results. This expert |
1nent has advantages over what is /
commonly known as poor farms. in ?
that the person cultivating the land (
does not become known as pauper, /
but by being assisted" in the true !
meaning cf the word, can provide for |
himself. The pieces of ;and were !
largely cultivated by women and chill |
dren. in cases where the husband had |
work. and had the summer /
been one of seasonable rains. the re-
times as great as they were, as all !
people who know how much food can
be raised from half an acre. will appre-
ciate. Seeing that. in truck raising.
the greatest item of expense is labor,
and that this was supplied by the per-
sons benefited. much help can be eX-
tended in this manner at a small cost
The great demand for land next year
is evidence that the people who were
appreciate the project.
Even in those cities which would be
obliged to rent land for this purpose,
at a reasonable figure, it would Zoe
"a wing investment. II seems unnat-
lral and unjust that near or within
many Of our western cities there are
thousands of acres of land lying idle
and uncultivated, and serving no good
purpose TO any one, and at the same
5Ir1e thousands of people in want who
f l.eur-itted would gladly raise some
hing on these lanos dor tnelENSuoslst-
snce.
A project of the nature tried III the
.itv of Detroit can be carried out in
,tiher cities with very little expense,
md needs but few paid employees.
!. c1,r,,l1 he ktaT,tad carly in f91a sea-