seventeen] conclusion 



even the State of New York has under tillage less 

 than one-half of its acres. 



It was the fashion of forty years ago for pro- 

 gressive economists to discuss a reform village, 

 built in squares, one house on each corner, and a 

 community boarding-hall and kitchen in the center 

 of each square. Some experiments were made 

 along such lines, but they fell to pieces over the 

 table question. It is not easy for four families to 

 agree on a menu three times a day, and on the 

 qualities of the cooking. As a rule, every woman 

 must be mistress of her own kitchen. 



A more satisfactory cooperation lays out a few 

 acres in garden form, with houses occupying advan- 

 tageous points. This park home should have a 

 single tidy barn, where the few families interested 

 may have a cow, a horse, and hens, owned in com- 

 mon. In charge of such a place, a man, or possi- 

 bly a family, can be hired by the commune. In 

 this case each family owns and controls its own 

 house, orchard, and garden, while the drives and 

 the park and the driven well and the barn are kept 

 by common funds. By such a system the cost of 

 hired help may be greatly reduced, and the servant- 

 girl question almost, if not entirely, solved. 



[375] 



