The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-08-09
By KARL II. Won wIEGAND.

- SCHMIDT, Frau Ma Ster Butcher
Mueller and Frau Master Cabi-
net Maker Schulz are not patron
izing the vegetable markets to any great
extent these days in Berlin. Frau Schulz
indeed is buying no vegetables at all
and her neighburs are spending their
husbands hard earned money only for
certain exotic green stuff that cannot be
grown in the latitude of Berlin. De-
spite this all three are eating more fresh
vegetables than at other times and they
have the pleasant assurance that the
vegetables are fresh because they have
gathered them from their own gardens.
Gardens in capital city of 1900 GOO
Inhabitants? And gardens for WORKING
people who live crowded into tenement
houses. with asphalt in front and brick
walls behind? Gardens for families
whose yearly income does not exceed
$3.50. n indeed it even approNmates
that sum?
People OF the same station in life in
the larger American cities will not he
able to realize It. In Detroi;. perhaps.
where the memory of the late Mayor
Pingree has not vanished it will be un-
derstood. for what Berlin offers to its
jewellers is the PinGrce potato patch
developed to its fun possibilities. The
gardens from which Frau Schulz and
the others gather their own vegetables
are on unbuilt city blocks. which Ger
man practicahilty and thrift. instead Of
using as a dumping ground for ashes,
broken bottles and empty tin cans, have
compelled to do their part in feeding
the population of a great city.
The stranger passing through Berlin
or any other of the greater German cit
les notices from time to time miniature
cities. filed with tiny houses and with
countless flags floating above them. The
houses, none of which Is more than tif-
teen feet square. range from rude
shacks TO dainty structures looking like
small editions of imposing villas. He
asks what they are, and is told that
they are the "Laubenkolonlen," literally
"arhor colonies"
Those colonies play an important part
in the life of the jewellers in the great
cities. The idea came from South Ger
many. Years ago some owner of a big
plot of vacant city lots, casting about
for some means of making his property
pay interest and taxes hit upon the
plan of fencing the plot, subdivding II
into lots perhaps 100 feet long by 81
feet wide. and leasing these small lots
to those persons, who, surrounded by
stone and brick walls and pavements
still retained mans primitive yearninP
TO dig in the earth, to see things grow
from seed planted by them, to hoe TO
weed and to water.
The idea sprang into instant popu-
larity, and its development has been
almost prodigious. There Is no way
OF knowing how many Of such co,onists
there are in Berlin alone, but the num-
Der must run into the tens of thou
sands, if one includes all members of
the families.
1t Is by no means only the poorer
people who make up the number OF
these city gardeners. great many
OF them are. as might be supposed. re-
tired farmers, who. having sold their
farms and moved into the city to live
on the interest Of their money. are I'M
able to resist the call of the soil. In
America the retired farmer in the city
dies Of apopleXy after a few years.
In Germany he experiments with new
methods of vegetable and fruit culture
and thus acquires at the same time both
an intellectual interest and n suitable
amount of bodily exercise that preserves
him to a vigorous old age The bank
cashier, who waits for the inferior pos
tai employee to take off his hat first
when he meets him in other places
leans over the common fence and dis
cusses with him the best methods for
killing moles and the burning question
of how often a strawberry bed should be
renewed one sees that the Lauben-
kolonien are not only garden places, but
also democratzers.
II is hardly necessary to say that, in
ordinary circumstances, the first step
toward the formation of one Of these
colonies Is the organization OF q EYER
elm" or association. When the normal
German wants to do anything he first
establishes a verein. In this case. the
association proceeds by renting for as
long a term as possible as many con-
tiguous lots as it can secure. The
leases run from three to six or even
more years, according 10 the section OF
the city and provide that, in case the
land shall be sold before the expiration
of the lease, the association shall hav,
sufficient notice To enable II and It's
lessees to avoid any actual loss.
The next step--and this. again, 1.
quite In the natural order of things
Is the erection in the centre Of the from
one to five acre piece of land of tn,
canteen, which serves both as plac,
OF refreshment and as an office for tn,
business OF the association. \ tall flag
stan Is erected a pennant bearing tn,
name of brewery Is hosted, and then
with this important preliminary attend
ed to, the work Of laying out the Ian,
Is begun.
Inc lessons pattern the colony alon
the lines Of the miniature city which
VIII become, They lay out regua
s'reets' make roadbed OF Stag an
sraNeN ana along these roads bull
fences of woven wire on each sid,
The land is then surveyed and marke