The Monticellonian. [volume] (Monticello, Ark.) 1870-1920, 1917-07-12
WHEN A GREAT CITY GOES
ALARMING.
BY ELIZABETH VAN ssNTHuYsEN

by C1lZAbC n VAN Ben HUYSEk.
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 tnvoluntarily closes the
eyes and visuaiizes 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 sombrera.
al frock coat the place of the overalls.
And yet the underlying motive is all
the same.
It i 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 md 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. lis
wife and its son and its daughter have
gone affirming. From the pathetic
little window box, in which city dwell
lers are experimenting with seeds on
acknowledges high above the surging
street throngs, To the most scien-
tifie and elaborate truck pitches in the
Long Island and Jersey districts. the
cabbage has come to attract more at-
tentien than the prize chrysanthemum,
and the prospect for onions is more al
Turing than the hope of making tn
lip bed that will b. the jealous pride
OF the owner.
Prominent in the movement 10 teach
the residents of the metropolitan dis
triet how to farm * Mrs William X
Vanderbilt Jr. She is working
through the suburban districts Ill the
head Of committee of rich women,
using special train. They are teach
Ing the women along the line To pre-
serve and can and save food products
10 relieve the warmade 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 HOW being
taught to the city dWellerS and the
Suburbanite. and they are taking To
the study with IL zest that would lead
one 10 believe that scientific farming
WAS 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
tekmnation of The elements needed
to mike it fruitful, but they are learn
ing the elementary points rapidly.
New York city requires every day
IN endless procession of freight trains
To supply it with food. Most of the
supply has in the past come from
farms comparatively remote from the
city. Now the newly promoted move
fnent is resulting in planting truck at
the back door. with the automobile for
speedy transportation along the excel
lent roads to the great market centers.
There is coming from this activity
one great national benefit that is not
generally considered. foittcdt REUTERS
from the congested districts, who have
large voice in congressional and legis-
lative matters, are getting new light
upon the dignity and the Importance of
agriculture that will send valuable aid
behind the coming legislation for the
protection of the gardener and the
farmer, and viii put behind the de-
partinent of agriculture representa-
lives of great wealth, with newly
born sympathy and understanding that
have never existed in this country be-
fore.
Many statesman who used to won
der why an appropriation for the de-
velopment of potatoes, or the like,
was necessary in Il billion-dollar bud