HOUSE AND GARDEN 
I 526 
June, 1913 
E lives in New York’s stuffy tenement 
district, the most congested spot in 
America. 
In his sultry three-room home there is 
scarcely space to eat and sleep. His play¬ 
ground is the blistering pavement of the ill¬ 
smelling streets, hemmed in by scorching 
brick walls. 
No trees, no grass, not even a whiff of 
fresh air, — in the only world Tommy knows. 
Ash cans are his background, and the rattle 
and roar of traffic his environment. 
Tommy’s widowed mother is broken with 
worry ; his sisters and brothers are as pallid 
and frail as he. The winter struggle has 
sapped their vitality. They are starving for air. 
No medicine will help Tommy. What he, 
his mother and the other children need are: 
a chance to breathe something pure and 
fresh, — a taste of sunshine and outdoor 
freedom, — an outing in the country or at the seashore. 
But between Tommy and his needs stands poverty, 
the result of misfortune. He must suffer just as if it were 
all his fault. 
And that is why Tommy appeals for a square deal. 
Nor does he wish you to forget his mother, or his pals 
and their mothers, — all in the same plight. 
This Association every summer sends thousands of “Tenement 
Tommies ”, mothers and babies to the country and to Sea Breeze, its fresh 
air home at Coney Island. A dollar bill, a five dollar check, or any 
amount you care to contribute, will help us to answer Tommy’s appeal. School or Club. 
SUGGESTIONS 
A lawn sociable by 
your class, Sunday 
“Tenement Tommy” 
Asks for 
A Square Deal 
Send contributions to Robert Shaw Minturn, Treasurer, Room 204, 
105 East 22nd Street, New York City. 
A card party at your 
summer hotel or 
camp. 
NEW YORK ASSOCIATION FOR IMPROVING 
THE CONDITION OF THE POOR 
R. FULTON CUTTING, President 
A subscription among 
your friends. 
--- 
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(Continued from page 524) 
The work that is done by a growing 
crop is really very wonderful when we 
stop to consider it. The roots, if they are 
extensive, are reaching into the lower 
strata of soil and bringing up fertility to 
the layers above. With the leguminous 
plants, the peas, beans and clovers, some 
of the nitrogen from the air is being stored 
in the roots, all for the plants’ use later on. 
Now, if the life of these plants is suddenly 
cut short, the decay of their parts will 
yield a quantity of these rich plant foods 
which some of our garden crops can use. 
By plowing such crops into the soil a quan¬ 
tity of green manure is obtained with less 
labor and expense than where one must buy 
and haul stable manure or other fertilizers. 
Now, in order to bring about the right 
condition for next year’s garden it is nec¬ 
essary to begin at once, in the summer, by 
planting each vacant place in the garden 
with clover or some other cover crop. Of 
course, the whole garden cannot be given 
over to this recuperative work so early, 
but there are the rows where the early 
cabbage, turnips, spinach, lettuce and early 
potatoes grew, the radish plot and the 
vacancy left by early beets and peas—all 
these spaces become available before July 
is over. Even the asparagus is helped by 
planting a cover crop between its rows. 
There is little work about it. Have the 
soil free of weeds, of course, then loosen 
it with a steel-toothed rake, scatter the 
seed, rake over it and firm the soil. 
The clovers, cow peas, beans and vetches 
are the most valuable green manuring 
crops that can be planted before Septem¬ 
ber first. After that do not try any of the 
legumes, but use wheat or rye, though they 
will gather no nitrogen. 
Scarlet clover is very satisfactory for 
this midsummer planting. It is an annual 
and hardy enough to live over in the 
vicinity of New York, unless the winter 
is very severe. It does a lot of good work 
anyway before winter, so one doer not lose 
if it winter-kills. This can be sown be¬ 
tween all the rows of vegetables about 
August first, and will survive the walking 
over that vegetable gathering requires. 
As soon as the ground can be worked in 
the spring the clover should be plowed 
under and some burned shell or stone lime 
scattered over the ground to sweeten it if 
it is heavy and sour. 
Where there is room and time, white 
lupins will gather the heaviest stores of 
nitrogen for the garden soil, but this crop 
requires four months for growth, and 
should be plowed under when in bloom. 
If there is a plot of ground in prospect for 
a garden it can be planted with white 
lupins in July, plowing them under in 
October and sowing again with rye. This 
will give an abundance of fertility and 
humus the next spring. 
For very light, sandy plots, kidney vetch 
or sand clover will grow more readily. 
Spurry sown in July is good on soils like 
this, as it grows readily and gathers nitro¬ 
gen. rooting deep enough to distribute 
fertility. 
In writing :o cuh-ertiscrs please mention House & Garden. 
