New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-04-30
SLIIM-DWELLING FARMERS.
PIGS POULTRY AND RABBITS IN THE
TENEMENTS.
From Casselps Saturday Journal.


There Is a hoary tradition in certain SUM
that for a peculiar reason. hawker once Isit
a tenement house in the deepest oissust VI"
man occupied two rooms on the second moor ..
the dwelling and because the stairs were not
strong enough to allow his donkey 10 asceho dil"
take his rest with the other members OF the IAN
lily he removed elsewhere. some people Cel
tainy have extraordinary ideas as 10 the uSes
to which houses should be put. one OF Ihese
days A number of cows will be found In garre'
rented by man who supplies milk direct from
the farm ,,
"Ah, there is a deal of culture In the Sums,
remarked sanitary inspector TO the wr1'sr.
Il knew man who. although, nina you, ne
lived in a densely populated quarter ial'eheo
pigs for years. He kept small grocers shop.
under which was cellar whose front door ana
window were boarded up Access to 1t could De
obtained only at the back wen, ne usea ~
buy a couple Of young pigs and smuggle thetn
into this cellar at night He bedded down MS
stock on the straw from his egg cases. ana re-
moved the litter after dark: ami can tell you
ne made a rare good thing of it.. All the young
sters in the neighborhood brought him bread
potatoes and such like leavings, for which he
cost him very little. In fact, he made lot OK
money out Of his pigs, which, when fattened:
were always bought by the same bltcher;
once had TO deal with stranger thing IMAM
this a man kept pigs in back bedroom They
talk about learned pigs. Now, this man could
always make his get up and down stairs. W ASH
ing them. you know helps them TO, 10 put ,,t On IN
the small back yard for Tubing, and ne
could do this quite easily. The animals were
trained to it, We should never have found him
out if of his neighbors hadh conPiaiheu
about him. -
slums especially just before Christmas. know
one little street where nearly every cellar Is oc-
cunied with fowls ducks geese, etc. at that
time Goslings are sometimes kept till they are
ready for market. Then. in some cases, bros
are bought about month Detore ChristHds.
At other times they will be on hand for only
about week. Chickens are hatched In the
slums in the most surprising ways man once
showed me a very ordinary-looking rooster ara
boasted that there wasn't another like * IN
the world. | asked him what he took me for
and then he said that the egg from when II
came had been kept warm partly by cat that
had had it's leg broken-it was obliged TO lie
still-and for the rest Of the time by human
body. But man used to run a poultry
farm in his house. He had an incubator OF his
own make. and he put lots Of chickens out
What is funner still is that another SUM,
dweller had a rabbit farm in his backyard ard
cellar. In the yard he'd load OF SOIL some
roots of trees and what not. and the Dummies
actually burrowed among these. The man sald
he wanted to get as near to natur as may be,
and so he did. There was plenty or artificial
shelter for the bunnes though. l believe the
man raised hundreds Of rabbits year, making
a very good profit out of them. Another funny
thing that just occurs to me is that a mana
wretched old fellow he was-used to breed
guinea pigs white mice and other animals in
the room he lived in. He was well known to the
rising generation. for he stood in certain mar
ket for years. offering his stock for sale. what
his room-he had only One-was like need not
tell you. l should not like my dog to have slept
in it.
some people. though know what can be done
in this way, the existence OF remarkable
market garden that once came across proves.
Five or six houses. being in an unsantary con-
ditOn. were condemned They were fearful
dens. they were closed by order OF the cor
poraton. Well, after they'd been empty for
years and the owner had shown sign of
pulling them down and putting up new houses,
| heard that a nice little business was being
quietly carried in them. There was, too.
Somebody had rented them from the landlord
for an old song for growing mushrooms. There
were beds, old and new. in every house. and the
gardener was making a good thing Of it, To
show you that mushroom growing in cellar
may be profitable. l was once offered a SOW
ereign not to report that 1 discovered
You would have thought the contents of the
whole house not worth that. / did not
jump at the bait and then the occupier of the
place raised the proffered bride to Sos. How
ever. he had to discontinue farminS-at all
events in the Sums"