WHAT WAS DONE WITH IT. 11 



-f heir expenses for the same time reached $2,760.39 — 

 an average loss for each family of about six dollars. 



Income, $2 a day ; expenses, $1.98 — happiness. 



Income, $2 a day ; expenses, $2.01 — misery. 



There is a fine flavor of the Casianea vesca about this 

 ancient joke, yet under its humor is a grim truth. 

 May not the truth about these Connecticut families 

 and many another in like unhappy plight be found— in 

 the garden? The report does not say that these forty- 

 six families had gardens, yet it must be observed that 

 Connecticut is a State of small towns, and that a very 

 large part of the population live in houses having 

 more or less ground. The report does state, on the 

 other hand, that one of the large items in the expenses 

 of these families was for vegetables. These people lost 

 $1.50 a week for each household. Could not that 

 amount have been taken out of their gardens? 



It will be said that even if the people had a bit of 

 ground it would not pay to cultivate it, that there was 

 no time for the work in the garden, and that the in- 

 terest or rent of the land would be too high to admit 

 of profit. Is that so ? No. It is just the other way. 

 In small towns where a house and ground are leased 

 the rent is for the house, and the land is practically 

 free, because if the value of the land becomes too high 

 the houses cover the entire ground or a large part of 

 it, as in a city block. Besides this every house must 

 have space for light and air, and this space is or ought 

 to be a garden. Certainly if a man has space round 

 his house, and he suffers it to go to waste when it 

 might produce food, he is morally responsible for the 

 less he puts on other men by reason of his unpaid 

 debts. As for the time, it is only a question of get- 

 ting up earlier or dropping the paper to tickle the 

 ground with a hoe — and better business any day. 

 Seeds, tools and fertilizers are cheap, and if there be a 



