Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1917-07-20
WHEN A GREAT CITY GOES
ALARMING.

BY ELIZABETH VAN 5ENTHUYsEN.
There Is something intensely inter-
esting to the farmer of the districts
where fields are considered in terms
of acres, In the picture of the city
man, under stress of war necessity, or
fear, dropping the stock ticker for the
spade. One involuntarily closes the
eyes and visualizes Edwin Markham's
great picture Of "The Man With the
Hoe" The figure is not bowed by
the weight Of centuries. A silk hat
takes the place of the wool sombrero,
a frock coat the place of the overalls.
And vet the underlying motive is all
the same.
1t is the necessity of getting Old
Mother Earth to yield food for her
children.
have frequently told my readers of
the wonderful flower gardens that skirt
the palaces Of Long Island and of the
Jersey coast. Surely nothing half so
costly and artistic can be found either
In fairy lore or actual development.
Now the garden is being deserted for
the truck patch, and the potato is of
more import than the rose.
All Of the fashionable world, its
wife and its son and its daughter, have
gone a-farming. From the pathetic
little window box, In which city dwell
lers are experimenting with seeds on
windowledges high above the surging
street throngs, to the most scien-
tifc and elaborate truck patches in the
Long Island and Jersey districts. the
cabbage has come to attract more at
tention than the prize chrysanthemum,
and the prospect for onions is more al
Turing than the hope of making q tu-
lip bed that will be the jealous pride
Of the owner.
Prominent In the movement to teach
the residents of the metropolitan dis
trict how to farm is Mrs. William X.
Vanderbilt. Jr. She is working
through the suburban districts at the
head Of a Committee of rich women,
EEIfg 4 special train. They Siir are teach
ing the T5ffsn along the line to pre-
serve and can and save food products
to relieve the war-made conditions.
What the men and women Of the
West and of the South have been learn
Ing for 30 years in the state-supported
agricultural colleges is now being
taught TO the city dwellers and the
suburbanite, and they are taking to
the study with a Eest that would lead
one to believe that scientific farming
was a discovery OF the last -four
months. True, they haven't got along
far enough to consider the chemical
analysis of the soil and the scientific
determination Of the elements needed
10 make 1t fruitful, but they are learn
ing the elementary points rapidly.
New York city requires every day
an endless procession of freight train,
TO supply II with food. Most of the
supply has In the past come from
farms comparatively remote from tn,
city. Now the newly promoted move
ment Is resulting in planting truck a
the back door, with the automobile TO
speedy transportation along the excel
lent roads to the great market centers
There is coming from this activit,
one great national benefit that is no
generally considered. Political leader
from the congested districts, who hav
large voice in congressional and legis
lative matters, are getting new ligh
upon the dignity and the Importance o
agriculture that will send valuable all
behind the coming legislation for tn
protection of the gardener and tn
farmer, and will put behind the de
pertment of agriculture represents
tives of great wealth, with a newl
born sympathy and understanding tha
have never existed in this country b.
fore.
Many a statesman who used to wOr
der why an appropriation for the d,
velopment of potatoes, or the lik
was necessary In a billion-dollar but