196 HOW TO GET A FARM, 



of one of his acquaintances, who proved, in the 

 most practical manner, that a poor man could settle 

 upon these so-called poor Long Island lands, and 

 make a good support for his family, and gain prop 

 erty at the same time. He thought it a disgrace to 

 the country and the age we live in to say that these 

 lands were incapable of improvement, except by an 

 expenditure of money so far beyond the reach of all 

 ordinary cultivators that none would be found to 

 undertake the work of improvement. 



How some of this land within a few miles of New 

 York is used, and what a variety of products it is 

 capable of yielding, is related in the following live 

 ly article from the Tribune for July, 1858 : 



&amp;lt;k Long Island is to New York city just what is, or should 

 be, the little inclosure picketed in at the back of every 

 farm-house the garden-spot furnishing a great abundance 

 of fruits and fresh vegetables to the residents of the man 

 sion in front. Unfortunately, the simile holds good in 

 several respects, for this great garden spot is, like a great 

 many kitchen gardens, run to weeds and waste for lack of 

 care and cultivation. Like the garden divided off in plats, 

 parterres and little nooks, it shows one of lovely flowers 

 and another of weeds a third is filled with choice fruit, 

 and the next is a nest of wild vines, crabs and brambles 

 a fourth is waving corn, growing in all the luxuriance of 

 the wonderful soil, while right alongside is a spot that only 

 affords a scant pasture to a stray cow. Instead of being 

 one great garden, unsurpassed by all the world, it is a sad 

 evidence of what neglect and careless cultivation can do to 

 such a spot. 



&quot; In the course of our ramble we became satisfied that 

 the soil is capable of furnishing this great city with all its 



