VACANT LOT GARDENING 13 



" hard times," when other forms of employment were difficult 

 to find. In still other cities the plan has been to supply the 

 tracts to those in most need of this form of help. Poor fami- 

 lies, or persons having poor health, or families where a num- 

 ber of children are most in need of employment, are furnished 

 with tracts to cultivate. 



The Philadelphia Vacant Lots Cultivation Association in 

 1913 reported 544 families using gardens assigned to them, 

 averaging about one-sixth of an acre. This used practically 

 all of the idle land available for the purpose. In one year 

 the expense was $4000 and $85,000 worth of vegetables was 

 produced. In Baltimore, the committee required gardeners 

 to pay a fee of one dollar a year each for their plots. There, 

 as elsewhere, a trained person is employed to oversee the 

 gardening operations. 



A few of the things accomplished by the Minneapolis 

 Garden Club in 1911 were: " Every vacant lot for two miles 

 along one of the principal arteries of the city was beautiful. 

 The first census of dirty vacant lots ever taken in the city was 

 made and with the cooperation of the Improvement Society 

 600 acres were cleaned of rubbish. Ash heaps and dump 

 piles disappeared; bill. board lots were cleaned, levelled and 

 sown to rye. Former vacant lots become productive gardens: 

 As many as 1800 persons had home gardens, and it is estimated 

 that 1000 homes were improved through enthusiasm created 

 by gardening activities on school property and vacant lots. 

 The gardening fever spread like a contagion all over the city 

 — not only the gardeneng fever but the cleaning-up fever. In 

 fact, cleanliness was the keynote of the Garden Club scheme." 



Plan of Work. — An association or club is first organized 

 for the purpose of starting the vacant lot gardening. Some 

 public interest must be aroused by articles in local papers 

 and by leotilres given by persons from cities where the work 

 has been done. 



The ownership of vacant tracts must be found and the 



