Roanoke Rapids herald. [volume] (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) 1914-192?, 1917-07-13
WHEN A GREAT CITY GOES
ALARMING.
BY ELIZABETH VAN sENrHuYsgN.

BY ELIZABETH VAN BENTHUYSEN
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 lnvoluntarily closes the
eyes and yisuallzes Edwin Mnrkham's
great picture Of "The Man With the
Hoe" The figure is not bowed by
the weight OF centuries. A silk hut
takes the place Of the wool sombrcro,
frock coat the place Of the overals.
And yet 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 Tor
the truck patch, and the potato is of
more import than the rose
All Of the fashionable world. It's
wife and its son and It's daughter. have
gone affirming. From the pathetic
little window box. in which city dwell.
lers are experimenting with seeds on
windowledgeS high above the Sureing
street throngs, to the most scicn.
tific and elaborate truck patches in the
Long Island and Jersey districts. the
cabbage has come to attract more at
tention than the prize chrysauthemum.
and the prospect for onions is more al. .
Turing than the hope Of making 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. I
Vanderbilt, Jr. She is working
through the suburban districts at the
mead 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
to relieve the war-made conditions
What the men and women Of the
West and of the South have been learn
Ing for 80 years in the state-supported
agricultural colleges is now being
taught to the city dwellers ana Tie
suburbanitc, aad they are taking 10
the study with a zest that would lead
one to believe that scientific farming
was u discovery Of the last four
months. True. they haven't got along
far enough 10 consider the chemical
analysis Of the soil and the scientific
determination Of the elements needed
to make it fruitful, but they are learn.
ing the elementary points rapidly.
New York city requires every day
an endless procession Of freight trains
TO supply 1t with food. Most of the
supply has in the past come from
farms comparatively remote from the
city. Now the newly promoted move
ment 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. Political leaders
from the congested districts, who have
large voice In congressional and legiS-
Iatiye 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 t
farmer, and will put behind the de- ,
Dartment Of agriculture representa- /
ives of great wealth. with a newly /
BORN sympathy and understanding that |
nave never existed In this country be- {
ore. +
Many a statesman who used to Won |
Ter why an appropriation for the de-
'elopment Of potatoes, or the like,
vas necessary in a bllllon-dollar bud |