Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-14
By Sweat Of Brow.

Ds TIC sweat OF lny brow shalt thou
eat bread, is the motto which Mr.. Pow
ell mas followed in his work. That means,
he said, that every one shall do some
work, honest work that returns to them an
honest living. To every man. the speaker
declared, was owed the opportunity to
make living. In Philadelphia there had
been formed the Philadelphia Vacant Lots
Cultivation Association, which obtains the
right 10 cultivate gardens on vacant lots
throughout the city. These lots are divided
among the poorer people of the city. The
work started with only about TWENTY-FIVE
families making use of the lots, but last
year more than LOCO families had little
garden plots provided for them by the as
ISOLATION.
One of the chief benefits derived from the
plan is the teaching of people how to plant
gardens and how to raise vegetables Mr.
Powell maintains that one-half of the peo-
pie of the United States must be engaged
in agricultural pursuits, on account of the
paslc character of the industry, and, there
fore, 1t ought to be one of the pros porous
industries of the country. Further he sees
a danger in the present tendency of teach
ing the boy and girl on the farm that they
must get an education and get into the life
of the cities, and in the consequent decrease
in the farm interest. This danger is obvi-
ated to a certain extent by the, garden plan
1t is stated, as it stimulates an interest in
agricultural work.
In putting out the plots of land to the
families in Philadelphia there were only
two rules made, 1t was explained, first
that the family must make good use of
the land, and, secondly, that they must
not treSpaSs their neighbors The op-
portunity has been grasped by all kinds
and conditions of men, the speaker went
on to say. In a picture which was shown
several men, each more than sixty years
old, were shown at work. One picture dealt
with an old man, vino had been con-
firmed drunkard when he took the plot
His interest in the land led him to So
briefly, and now he is sober and one OF
the most expert market gardeners in the
city. Whole families have turned out to
work on the plots, the children thus be-
ing given a day in the park" taken away
from the slum quarters in which they
otherwise would have to stay. These chill
dren often do much of the work especially
in disposing of the product.
Cooperative Farm.
An outgrowth Of the work has been the
formation of a cooperative farm by several
families who first took plots under the
vacant lots association. The manager or
that farm was formerly the manager of a
Philadelphia paper. who lost his money in
panic and was afflicted severely by dis
ease. During his work in the open air hts
physical condition improved SO much that
he was elected as the manager of the farm.
The latter includes twenty-four acres,
rented by the members, and there are forty
families now in the plan. Off of that farm
last year they obtained not only sufficient
vegetables for their own use but gold
about $4,000 worth OF 1t from their own
sales wagons.
Another branch of the work which has re-
Gently been taken UP in Philadelphia is the
provision of gardens for school children. A
school garden for every school in the city
Is an expectation of the near future. Plots
or land near schools, that formerly were
USED as dumps were cleaned off and
worked by the children so successfully that
profits were made from them. The vacant
lot association provided the land and the
Civic Club of the city and the board of edu-
cation provided the teachers. One of the
results of the school garden movement
was the formation in one of the poor sec
lions of the city of the Civic Betterment
Association, which has objects similar to
that of the parent organization, and that
association, In order to enlarge the work,
offered to raise money to pay half the sala-
ries of the teachers.
The latest experiment in that line was at
tempted near one of the largest schools OF
the city, where l 400 children attended.
Plots were laid out for LOCO children. The
children enthused over that garden during
the summer SO much that they waited
around the entrance for hours waiting for
their turn to receive instruction in the gar