Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1904-05-28
GARDENING IN TOWNS
THE CULTIVATION OF VACANT LOTS
AND WASTE LAND.

Provides Profitable Work For the
Unemployed and Helps Deautify
the Town-HOw the Plan Has Sue
ceeded In Philadelphia.
THE Cultivation Of Vacant Lots
was the title of a lecture delivered in
Washington recently by Il. G. Powell,
superintendent of the Philadelphia Va
cant Lots association. Mr.. Powell said
that flower gardening and the growing
of vegetables by children and older
persons, thus utilizing waste and va
cant city land, have become one of the
most hopeful movements looking to-
ward social betterment and uplift, says
the Washington Star. He said that
last year in Philadelphia 700 families
working on 1S6 acres of vacant lots,
raised $4,000 worth of vegetables, and
that Detroit, Toledo and other cities
and towns have undertaken similar
schemes conceded to be of the greatest
advantage from an industrial rs well
as an educational point of view.
Mr. Powcll'S scheme is to obtain the
use of every vacant lot in the city and
ldl llclS anu 'iN vi ti'
city's poor. y little pamphlet which
he distributed recently bears the sig
niticant caption, self Help For Those
Who Can't Work In Usual BUSINESS
He believes the project Il boon to old
men and women who have outlivcd
their usefulness in their respective
trades or Industrial callinGS and for
invalids and cripples who but for the
gardens would be dependent upon the
city's charity. The scheme might be
adopted by towns and villages and is
n splendid way to beautify them.
"The small beginning made seven
years ago in Philadelphia in the cult
walton of vacant lot gardens as
means of aiding the unemployed said
Mr.. Powell, has passed beyond the
fad or experimental stage. 1t has be
come quite an important factor In that
great citys life, especially important
to the more than 5000 families whose
members have sought and obtained
employment through its good offices.
The belief that it is better to show
men how and where they can find
pleasant and profitable employment
and If necessary properly direct their
energies while engaged therein than
it Is to give aims. even through per-
fectly conducted channels, has become
so thoroughly established rs to require
no argument in its favor.
"The vacant lot gardening has al
ready become Il most important branch
of the public schools in many sections
Of this country. The last annual gath
ering of the American Park and Out
door association devoted one full Scs-
sion to the discussion of school gar
dens and their Importance as part Of
our industrial school work. Mr.. d. ].
Crosby, in charge Of experiment sta
lions, department Of agriculture, says
that school gardens do for the children
out of doors what the chemical lab
Oratory, the carpenter shop and the
kitchen laboratory do indoors.
1.-THE incalculable benefits Of fresh
air and moderate exercise to the physic-
al health of every one are we'll known.
How immensely important it must be
to shop and mill workers! How ele
waiting to the moral health. which de-
ponds so much upon physical cOndi-
lions, no one can tell. But sure 1t Is that
men have come to work these gardens
in the spring who had become poor,
partly or wholly through drink. and by
the end of the season have left us So
Der and Industrious citizens.
what made this great change? In
stead Of hanging around they have had
pleasant and profitable employment
wherein they We're their own bosses.
Parents bring little ones along to help
weed and pick vegetables. Through
this healthfulness of the work, which
Is in no sense toll, the pale, hollow
checked little ones become ruddy,
bright eyed, laughing joys, filled with
vigor and happiness before the season
is over The country week becomes a
summers outing while the play
ground becomes also a workshop. TO
compare this natural relief with other
ways of helping the unemployed may
be rather odiOus to those employed in
the other ways, especially to city gov
ernments that are spending millions Of
poor funds every year, while poverty
and squalOr are growing deeper and