The Washington herald., 1922-12-02
BACK TO FARM
K]EARECE|VES
kEWsT|MULUS
Expect Community Home Plan
to attract Host Of City
Dwekers to the Country
EXPERIMENT IS WATCHED
Economist and Welfare Experts
Studyia] Organization Under
Way in State of New Jersey

A new dep Wture in real estate
development is being started at
Berkeley Heighrs, N. J., by which
people of ordinary means may OBJ
tain a small fausm and home on the
eost-plus basis, paying in monthly
fnstallments the deferred payments,
the same as renr, thus making the
hnd furnish tha increment with
which to meet the payments and
eventually pay for itself.
II is being watched with interest
BY those concerned in real estate,
o. well as by economists and well
fare workers The cry Of back
to the land has bsS'n heard often.
No one has successfully solved the
problem. but now corN'es a plan that
is being put to test Ny man who
has made 4 study of it for years.
He forms communities of small
farmers who will engage in market
gardening, small fruit culture, poul-
try raising and other agricultural
pursuits. The farms will be in
units of five acres and located near
large cities, where the settler can
find all modern HvinE. conditions
and his family may odmmute to
business or work if necAsary. He
calls them one-man farms because
they do away with the HIbor prob
lem, which makes farmi Ag so un-
profitable: in other werES, when
crops are produced they are not
burdened with labor cost, as the
work will be done at home.
COMMUNITY FARMING.
Webster defines the word com
munity" as "a body of persSfns hav-
ing common rights. interests and
privileges" Community farming,
then. Is a body Of farmers. having
common interests, each work ing for
himself. but uniting for the, COM
mon good Of all 1t is semi, coop
srative in the sense that each farm
o. n an independent unit, bat by
working with the community i1e Is
one of the units that makes up the
whole and by unity he Aains
strength.
As q single unit he must inEest
personally in horses, implemts ITS,
etc. which require an investnt ent
o. IT least a fe- hundred doll RS.
Ag1.n. when his crops are ready
for market. he must either pediile
them or send hem to mark ct
through some other agency. whiGh
usually Is quite expensive, so that
when he balances his accounts he
finds very little profit. if any.
El'nination of the horse and in
PRODUCTION of modern machinery is
one Of the mary advantages of.
community farming. The COM
munity will own in common i'm
proved motor machinery with which
the plowing, cultivatinE and trans
porting the crops to market will
ha af
means business methods not gen.
orally employed and efficiency not
usually obtained by the individual
farmer. The saving Of lost power
and waste energy is an item.
The crops when ready will be
taken to market with community
owned trucks and sold by the COM
munitX agent for the individual ac-
count VI each farmer. He will be
Q paid agent of the community and
receive no commission.
HOMES AT COST.
But now comes the most inter
estins feature of the plan. The
Associated Agriculturists, as the
community members will be called
teach settler will automatically be-
come a member and the community
interest kept alive by meetings and
conventions which will be nation
wide in its scope) viii be able to
secure one of these five-acre farm
homes at net cost, plus a small fee
to cover expenses That is. he will
get the five acres and a small cot
tage with all improvements for
about $4,000 part CASH.. according
to location, the price of land and
labor being the controlling factors.
This eliminates the profit of the
land developer. who usually adds
zoo to 300 per cent profit for SUBJ
division.
The cardinal principle of the as