New Britain herald., 1917-08-03
CITY IS DOING ITS BIT RAISING CROPS Estimates Show Upwards Of 500
 Acres Under Cultivation POTATOES APPROXIMATE

Food Committees Visit to Eastern and Northern Section of the City Shows Over 500 Acres in Gardens and Farms.
 Incomplete and conservative es-
 inmates compiled by the New Britain food committee of the State Council of Defense indicate that the city of New Britain has under cultivation at the present time upwards of 500 acres, of which Is planted with pota- toes, corn, cabbages. beans beets and other staple articles of food. What the crop production will ultimately be is mere conjecture, but that the citi- zens have turned to with a vim in a patriotic attempt to increase the food supply is evident. This morning Mayor G. A. Quigley, City Engineer William H. Hall and members of the food committee inspected the eastern and northern sections of the city and found that conservative figures showed a total of 132 acres of land under cultivation for domes- tic purposes. This does not include field corn. which is also planted in considerable quantities. Added to this 132 acres. Is 3O3 acres which have been previously reported to the food committee by the Chamber of Com merce, the factory gardens, the Boy Scouts. the Boys club and other organized agricultural attempts. As vet the special survey committee has not visited the southern or western sec- tion of the city, so no estimates of the gardens there have been ob- tained. AS soon as this information is secured the food committee will submit a detailed, report on New Brit aims acreage and the probable crop production here. .s
 Where the Big Gardens Are.
 Reports given the food committee indicate that there are over 300 acres being cultivated under expert super vision. The report includes the fol- lowing acreage: Landers, F'rary & Clark gardens, 20 acres; Stanley Works gardens, 22 acres; Stanley Rule & Level company gardens, 35 acres: United Electric Light and Water company gardens, 1 1-2 acres; Boy Scouts, 10 acres; Chamber of Commerce or city gardens, 120 acres;
 
 43 acres, including 10000 head of cabbage; park commission, ii acres; Boys club, acres; Hart & Hutc11in- son gardens. 4 1-2 acres; Skinner Chuck company gardens 1 acre; P. F. McDonough, acres; Goleck farm, acres: total 303 acres. The above figures are the ones submitted to the committee by the individuals in charge of the respective farms.
 This morning the committee close 1y examined all properties east of Stanley street to the New1ngton town line and north of West Main street to the Pennington and West Hart ford town lines, and various tracts found to be under cultivation wero senservatively estimated at 1s2 acres by both the mayor and city engineer.
 In addition to these larger garden tracts, 1t is a, we'll known fact that g. majority of the dwelling houses in the city have some sort of back yard garden where fresh vegetables for table consumption are raised. In some places the lots are smaller. In ad- dition, in many districts there Is con- siderable waste land in the rear of buildings that has been cultivated. To arrive at what is considered a fair esti- mate the committee learned from the assessors office that there are 4,972 houses in New Britain. Figuring low, acre in area Thus the total esti-
 2,0OO of these houses are little back yard gardens. Likewise, figuring low it is estimated that these gardens will average about one-eighteenth of an
 acre in area Thus the total esti- mate of back yard gardens is about 100 acres.
 The information thus far obtained, exclusive of what the western and
 southern sections of the city may
 show, gives a total of 535 acres under cultivation.
 Observation of the hundreds of gar dens shows that about seventy-fiv per cent of the land under cultivation Is planted to potatoes. There is also
 much corn, estimated at about O per cent There will also undoubtedly be much sauerkraut and corn beef and l cabbage may be a staple article this winter and there are large quantities of cabbage being raised. Beans have been planted in profusion and beets arc also frequently seen.
 Estimate on Potato Crop. It is absolutely impossible at this time to form any accurate idea of what the crop production locally will be for it is feared, the potato blghts have ruined vast acreage in this city. However, for the purpose of estima-
 tion the following may interest some who have a liking for figures The United States departm of agricul-