The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-16
VACANT LOT FARMING PAYS
BIG PROFITS FROM THE VENTURE
IN THE BRONX. .
Bolton Hall Figures the Returns From a
Half Acre at SSOO-LOt Holders Quail.
flying for Farms --PhIIanthrOplc Sid
OF the observation-disclosures Lots Needed,

Tying for Farms -"PhIIanthrOplc Sid
OF the Experiment-Mo Lots Needed
1t is possible to get $500 profit a year out
OF half an acre Of ground by working it for
all there is in il, says Bolton Hall. BY actual
experience he has never demonstrated the
proposition, but he has done the next thing
to it.
By observing the operations OF the ten
ants OF the Vacant Lot Gardening Associa
ton up in The Bronx and by compiling the
profit and loss figures on small parcels OF
ground worked for six months or so by
unskilled labor and under comparatively
disadvantageous coalitions he has OBJ
tanned a set of figures which he regards
as convincing. Small children, ~inexperi-
enced women, crippled or inflrm men, have
done much Of the work upon which his cal
culations are based.
1t was n little more than one year ago
that the John Jacob Aston estate consented
to lend thirty acres of land in Bronxville
to the Vacant lot Gardening Association,
OF which Howard Payson Wilds is president
and Bolton Hall treasurer. Fifteen acres
Of the tract consisted Of woods and rocks.
The other fifteen, except a very small area,
wat rough, nnploughed sod.
Twelve acres was put under the plough
late in April and divided into plots varying
in size from less han one-eighth of an acre
up to half an acre. 1t was May before
the first Of the throng Of applicants who
applied in answer to the offer of free gar
dens began seeding his plot and a week
later before the first tent was put up.
About sixteen Of the plot holders brought
their lares and penates along and went to
housekeeping on the grounds. The banner
family Of the new arrivals as to size con-
sisted OF a father, mother and seven chill
dren. The smallest consisted of a young
man in poor health.
In every case the head Of the family was
down on his luck and needed a helping hand.
A man out OF work five months, and his
wife who was in delicate health; a man who
was feeble, accompanied by his wife and
two small children: a man who had Just
got back to work after many weeks of idle
ness and with his wife and two little girls
was thankful to dodge rent day, are exam
Piles OF the tenters who camped beside their
plots and for the first time in their life had
a try at gardening.
Most Of the tenters stayed from May till
November, half a dozen Of them put up
INA hllhChH Illdut Oh DOdIut DOuRIt lOT n
song from the owners Of torn down build
ings near the r~acecourse, and decided TO
stay all winter.
Ten families are now occupying sha cks
and ten more are living in tents. and at
least half the number are holdoveTs !
from last summer. Among the newcomers !
there is an Italian family, a mother and
six children, that is taking TO farming
with an ~alacrity promising results which
will show up well in Mr.. Halls profit sched-
ule next fall. The father of this family
10 i'll in a hospital.
Another new arrival is a woman with a
disabled husband. The hardest work on
The quarter acre allotted to them will be
by the woman.
By the way, the superintendent of the
farm has shut down on the building OF
more shacks, for the reason that as
he loan Of the ground is only from year
% year and may not be continued very
ong it is not we'll TO encourage tenants
erect quarters with a view to being per-
nahent residents and also because as
enants prosper they will be encoura ged
o rent ground elsewhere and make room
'or others who need assistance.
OF the eighty odd plot holders of last
summer who did not live on the grounds
applied this spring for a renewal
II the privilege and got it. Some of the
ate comers last year had TO put up with
)lots in which the ground was 30 rough
hat big tor had to be removed before
he soil could be planted and yet their en-
did not evaporate.
Some Of the plot holders lived in the
yicinity. but more lived far down in Man
in the most congested dist riots,
nd could work in their plots only Saturday
..fternoons and Sunday. This, it seems,
vas sufficient TO get fairly good returns.
the superintendent when asked for
esults:
The time required for one quarter acre
Turing a season Of twenty-four weeks. say,
5 seventy-two hours, or three hours a week.
" course. to give more time is better.
The skill of the gardener. too, must be
onsidered. consequently the product OF
ne quarter acre varies considerably.
speaking generally our experience
asst summer showed a product of from
fly to one hundred dollars to a quarter
ere, the gardener therefore getting from
0 cents TO 81. 40 an hour for his work.
Ninety Of these amateur gardeners started
I the beginning OF lHe season ana less
nan 5 PER cent failed to carry on the work
} the autumn. Here is the record of one
ase, in which $40 worth OF produce was
lised and sold from half an acre, most of
he work being done by a woman and two
r three small children, the man of the
lmily being absent during the day.
Besides the amount sold, a family OF
Z had all the vegetables they could use
uring the summer. and they had a pile I
7 potatoes and other winter vegetables {
ored AWAY for the winter" {
'One old and feeble man on a plot Of I
by 100 feet raised unaided $50 worth Of '
agetables. At that rate he could have got !
100 worth Of products TO the acre. A con- |
who when he put In an appear {
ice in May could scarcely work was !
elped by his wife snd two small children :
I'd raised $50 worth Of products from a c
larter acre. /
"A Jewish woman and her six children, 7
Id a sailor broken down in health. were
70 most unlikely tenants, RS ! at first r
but they got as good results as v
ose ] rave quoted from very rough pieces a