CHAPTER IV 



VACANT CITY LOT CULTIVATION 



IN this book, necessarily, we have to take much upon 

 the reports of others, checking them by our own judgment 

 and experience. The startling accounts of what has been 

 done and is being done on plots of about a quarter acre to 

 each family, however, can be easily re-verified by any one 

 who will go or write to Philadelphia, or examine any present 

 experiment or model gardens. These show what can be done 

 even by unskilled labor, with hardly any capital, on small 

 plots where the soil was poor, but which are well situated. 



The directors say : "The first Vacant Lot Cultivation As- 

 sociations were organized when relief agencies were vainly 

 striving to provide adequate assistance for the host of un- 

 employed. The cultivation of vacant city lots by the unem- 

 ployed had already been tried successfully in other cities. 

 The first year we provided gardens, seeds, tools, and instruc- 

 tion only, for about one hundred families on twenty-seven 

 acres of ground. At a total cost to contributors of about 

 $1800, our gardeners produced $46,000 worth of crops." 



The applicant is allowed a garden on the sole condition that 

 he cultivate it well through the season, and that he do not 

 trespass upon his neighbors. He must respect their right 

 to what their labor produces. A failure to observe these 

 rules forfeits his privilege. 



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