VoL. LX. No. 2664. 
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 16, 1901. 
PER YEAR. 
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NEW YORK CITY FARMS AND FARMERS. 
SQUATTERS ON MANHATTAN ISLAND. 
The Land of the Goat, 
OLD NEW YORK.—There are people now living 
who can remember when New York was comparative¬ 
ly a small town, with cows pasturing below Canal 
Street. There was good hunting in the vicinity of 
Central Park, and one real estate man who bought 
land for building lots near where Fifty-third Street 
now Is, was considered as taking a short cut to the 
lunatic asylum. His partner grumbled at such fool¬ 
ishness, stating that the town could not by any pos¬ 
sibility grow so far out into the wilderness as that. 
Gold Street is said to follow an old cow path, and 
anyone who walks its whole crooked length will not 
doubt the statement. A man who owned a small farm 
in the vicinity of Park Row, where land is now so ex¬ 
pensive that the aim in 
building is to take but 
little space for founda¬ 
tion, and as much sky 
room as possible, traded 
it for land on Long Isl¬ 
and, that was less rocky 
and better adapted to 
farming. His grandchil¬ 
dren are still raising ve¬ 
getables on the Long Isl¬ 
and farm, and thinking 
hard things because of 
their grandfather’s lack 
of foresight in disposing 
of what proved to be 
most valuable property. 
SURFACE CHANGES. 
—Manhattan Island was 
originally hilly, swampy, 
rough and rocky. As the 
city grew, the hills were 
scraped into the low 
ground, and, with the ex¬ 
ception of a strip along 
the upper west side, the 
Island is comparatively 
level now. Where new 
streets are laid out, an 
effort is made to avoid 
all sharp pitches, and 
make the grade from one 
point to a higher one as 
nearly uniform as pos¬ 
sible. Because of this, 
people who live on old 
roads toward which the 
city has been gradually 
growing, find themselves 
in awkward positions, 
some on high ground, be¬ 
ing left on the top of a pinnacle, from which it is 
necessary to have a series of steps to get to the street, 
and others whose houses are on low ground are shut 
out from the rest of the world because the streets on 
all sides have been filled in, in some instances so 
high as to be on a level with the chimney tops. These 
results are ridiculous to look at, if rather embarrass¬ 
ing to the owner. In any case he has no remedy ex¬ 
cept to rebuild, either filling in or lowering the foun¬ 
dation as the case requires. 
A SQUATTER is a person who, finding a piece of 
land unoccupied, takes possession of it, either with 
the consent of the owner, or because of his indiffer¬ 
ence. Vacant lots on the edges of a city are not of 
much account to the owner until used for building 
purposes, and there is no loss to him in having some 
one put up a little shanty and live there temporarily. 
Some of the problems of the owners of lots in grow¬ 
ing cities are to know when to sell or what to build, 
and some of this land is held for years, being taken 
by children as playgrounds, or occupied by squatters, 
while the owner is waiting to see from the way that 
the city is growing, what is the limit of price he 
may expect to get, or what sort of buildings may most 
profitably be put up on the land. The squatter style 
of living in many particulars is like that of the patri¬ 
archs. It might be considered romantic by some, but 
the sharp edges of the romance must be considerably 
ground off when a contractor comes along with his 
gang of men, tears down the shanty, and starts to 
blast the rocks and dig for a foundation. 
SHANTIES.—The illustration on this page shows 
a variety of tumble-down buildings. Probably 40 or 
50 similar shanties could be found on the upper west 
side of Manhattan Island, above 110th Street. A 
large part of this strip of high ground overlooking 
the Hudson River is owned by educational institu¬ 
tions, asylums, hospitals, and homes for unfortu¬ 
nates of various kinds. Within sight of Columbia 
College, St. Luke’s Hospital, and the Sacred 
Heart Convent, are many of these shanties, making a 
striking contrast. Part of them are on land owned 
by the institutions, the authorities of which allow the 
squatters to remain pending the extension of the 
buildings or the sale of the lots. Some of these shan¬ 
ties have been very small on the start, and increased 
by additions until they cover as much ground as a 
fair-sized house. One of these is shown in the upper 
right-hand corner of the picture. In the background 
to the left is a large church. The outside of the 
shanty is a crazy patchwork of old boards, tin, tarred 
paper, etc., and half a dozen or more people live there. 
The picture in the center shows a most dilapidated 
state of affairs, and one would hardly expect to find 
it inhabited except by rats, mice and bugs, yet an old 
man keeps house in this primitive fashion, and lives 
quite comfortably with his two dogs, I have talked 
with him at times. He takes things philosophically, 
and seems to be thankful for even such a humble 
place that he may call home, something of a lesson 
to discontented brownstone-front dwellers. These 
squatters represent a variety of classes, some the 
roughest kind of tramps and do-nothings, begging or 
stealing their living, and loafing around out of doors 
in the warm weather; and others with regular em¬ 
ployment, who prefer freedom from the responsibili¬ 
ties of renters and landowners, with the uncertainties 
of life of this kind, to the certainty of paying rent. 
None of them is a desirable citizen, and such a shift¬ 
less mode of living should not be encouraged. 
ANIMALS IN THE FAMILY.—Most of these people 
have one or more dogs, and often a few goats. 
The dog easily adjusts 
himself to all kinds of 
circumstances. He likes 
a square meal as well as 
anyone, and his ability to 
consume food resembles 
that of an old-fashioned 
fire-place for eating up 
wood; yet he can live on 
very little, and miserably 
poor stuff at that. The 
goat ought to be an au¬ 
thority on the food prob¬ 
lem, for he has investi¬ 
gated it from the sides of 
poverty and plenty, and 
of all qualities from good 
to wretched. No doubt 
he prefers good pasture, 
and some vegetables and 
grain, with a few bushes 
as an appetizer, but he 
will exist on paper, ban¬ 
ana peel, weeds and rub¬ 
bish of various kinds. 
One point in his favor is 
that he is a healthy ani¬ 
mal. He takes plenty of 
exercise, believes in pure 
air, and the pinnacle on 
which he stands in the 
picture is typical of his 
nature. Who ever heard 
of a goat having con¬ 
sumption? It is claimed 
that he is immune 
against tuberculosis 
germs. Goat’s milk is 
said to be excellent for 
consumptives, and the 
flesh is recommended for 
those who are afraid of getting disease germs in beef 
or other meat. The goat population of New York 
County, according to the last census, is 226, and that 
of Kings and Queens counties, covering the suburbs 
of Brooklyn, 1,134. Of course most of these goats are 
on the outskirts of the city, but a few are kept in 
stables in the tenement districts, and last year one 
of these was running around on St. Patrick’s Day 
with his horns painted green in honor of the occasion. 
FARMING UNDER DIFFICULTIES.—Many of 
these squatters try to cultivate a little ground near 
their shanties. I remember one who, on a piece of 
rough land 100 feet squai’e, with the ledge cropping 
out here and there, raised sweet corn, cabbages, pota¬ 
toes, beets and other vegetables, which he peddled out 
ar. good prices, picking up quite a number of dollars 
in this way. During dry weather he had to carry 
water some distance to save the plants, and probably 
SOME FARMHOUSES AND FARM SCENES ON MANIIA'TTAN ISLAND. Fio. 37. 
