City homes on country lanes; philosophy and practice of the home-in-a-garden

From the collection of the

Prelinger
v JJibrary
t P

San Francisco, California
2006

'

CITY HOMES ON COUNTRY LANES

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO

MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN CO. OP CANADA. LTD.

TORONTO

HER HOME-IN-A-GARDEX

CITY HOMES
ON COUNTRY LANES

PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF THE
HOME-IN-A-GARDEN

BY

WILLIAM E. SMYTHE

AUTHOR OF

"THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA,'*

ETC

H3eto gotfe

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1921

All rights reserved

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

COPYRIGHT, 1921,
BT THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up and printed. Published October, 1921.

Press of

J. J. Little is Ives Companj
New York, U. S. A,

TO MEMORY
'ANNISQUAM'

FOREWORD

I am an optimist.

I believe the world is going to be a better world for
our common humanity in the next decade — the next
generation — the next century — than ever before in the
long history of the race. And I believe the next passion
of mankind will be for the soil — that there we shall
"take Occasion by the hand and make the bounds of
freedom wider yet." But, if there is to be a transition
in the life of the land — if new forms of industry and
society are to emerge — then this will be due to the fact
that the old life on the land has failed, is breaking down,
and is doomed to pass away.

That is what I believe to be true. In saying so, I
sound no note of pessimism, but rather the note of hope,
of confidence, of boundless faith in what the future is
to bring forth. I know the land is to be the healing
and the saving of the people — of our people and of all
the peoples.

There is no other refuge.

But before we can build the new life we must clearly
understand that the old life has failed, and why it has
failed. Then we must proceed to discover the principles
upon which the new and better life is to be founded.
In doing so, must we not inevitably draw nearer to the

vii

viii Foreword

Divine Purpose in making the goodly earth and setting
man in the midst of it ? And shall we not thereby evolve
the Spiritual Man of the Soil, who, conscious of his
partnership with God, enters at last into his true
dominion ?

Cosmos Club,

Washington, D. C.

CONTENTS

FAGB

FOREWORD . . . • . . * * * vii
PROLOGUE: THE INSPIRATION 1

PART ONE

THE WAY OF LIFE

CHAPTER

I. DIGGING TO THE ROOTS OF A DYING TREE 11

II. THE LEADING OF THE FALSE GOD, PRO-
DUCTION . '. . . * ' . » . . 43

III. "A PLAGUE ON BOTH YOUR HOUSES" . . 53

IV. GETTING THE RURAL SAVOR INTO CITY

LIFE . ... .... . . . 57

V. THE INVISIBLE CITY OF HOMES ... 65

VI. GARDEN INSTINCT REVEALED BY WAR. . 75

VII. "THE MOST VALUABLE OF ALL ARTS" . , 83

VIII. THE DAWNING OF THE NEW ART . . . 96

IX. LUTHER BURBANK AND THE NEW EARTH . 103

X. THE SPIRIT OF CREATIVE GARDENING . . 116

XI. THE OLD HEN IN A NEW ENVIRONMENT . 123

XII. THE RABBIT IN THE GARDEN ECONOMY . 133

XIII. BROILED SQUAB, AND THAT SORT OF THING 142

ix

: Contents

CHAPTER PAflB

XIV. "AND THOU SHALT HAVE GOAT'S MILK" 149

XV. THE HONEYBEE AND THE SUGAR-BOWL . 157

XVI. THE ELUSIVE MUSHROOM 162

XVII. THE LUXURIOUS TABLE IN REVIEW . . 167

XVIII. SOCIAL LIFE OF THE GARDEN CITY . . 171

XIX. THE PERSONAL EQUATION 181

PART TWO

THE CONSTRUCTIVE PROGRAMME

I. THE AGE OF THE ENGINEER .... 195

II. WHAT THE GOVERNMENT OWES THE

PEOPLE . . . . . . . . .201

III. THE ORGANIZATION OF A GARDEN CITY . 211

IV. THE GARDEN CITY AND THE FARM CITY . 219

PART THREE

MECHANICS OF THE GARDEN HOME

I. MAKING THE SOIL OVER . . . . . 227

II. How TO HAVE A GOOD GARDEN . . . 232

III. THE WINTER FOOD SUPPLY . , •', . V 240

IV. LIVE STOCK OF THE GARDEN HOME . .; 256
V. THE BEST TEACHERS — EXAMPLE AND EX-
PERIENCE . . . , . . . . • V 263

INDEX , 269

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Her Home-in-a-Garden , . * V . . Frontispiece

PAGE

Franklin K. Lane . . « , . . * . . . 26

Charles Lathrop Pack 78

A Prize- Winning War Garden . . . .... 86

Intensive Use of a City Lot .. . 98

Luther Burbank -.*'•'. V 106

Intensive Poultry Culture . . . . .... . 126

Rabbits for Meat and Fur . .'. !|l?£f? . .' . 134

Two Favorite Breeds and Their Housing . . . 140

Intensive Cultivation of the Market Squab . . . 146

Popular Breeds of Swiss Goats . . . . ... 150

The Milk Goat Is Ideal for the Garden Home . . 154

The Common Hearthstone * 176

Living Usefully at Eighty-One ..... . 184

Serving Her Country at Over Ninety . . . V 188

The Cooperative Department Store 216

'Envoi . . . 268

PROLOGUE

Of what avail
Are plow, or sail,

Or land, or life,
If Freedom fail?

Emerson.

PART ONE
THE WAY OF LIFE

CITY HOMES ON COUNTRY
LANES

PROLOGUE

THE INSPIRATION

"True dignity abides with her alone,
Who in the silent hour of inward thought,
Can still respect, can still revere, herself,
In lowliness of heart."

Wordsworth.

THERE once lived a very noble woman who shared
with me the dream of a new and better life to be
realized on the soil, and who, in her own sphere
of action, did what she could to bring the ideal to pass.
For many years she was vicariously associated with
a great public movement that transformed deserts into
gardens and filled the waste places with homes. But
usually she came first, and, after her, the homes and
gardens. Hers was the era of the unbuilt house, of
the unplanted ivy and roses, of the untamed soil, of the
new hopes that struggled up toward the light through
thickets of sagebrush and mesquite and cactus.

Often she found herself in poor frail cabins on the
desert claims, and often she mingled her tears with
the tears of lonely pioneer women who could not see

1

2 City Homes on Country Lanes

the glory that was to be — perhaps because of the clouds
of dust that came swirling from the treeless land. So
she wept with the women, laughed with the children, and
shared with the sturdy, ambitious men the hope of
independence that sustained them in their struggle with
the grim old desert. But these experiences always left
her sad. "It is fine for the men," she would say ; "they
see their chance for achievement. But it is hard for the
women — hard." And she felt there must be a way to
soften, to ameliorate, the lot of the pioneer woman.

Fate made her at length a pioneer woman herself —
the First Lady of a settlement embarked upon the most
daring adventure of all, dedicated to the proposition
of "a little land and a living" with the smallest unit
ever adopted by any considerable number of families at
one time and place. She did not shrink from her duty,
ner opportunity, but met it more than half-way with
outstretched hand. "Now," she said, "we shall see if it
is possible to bring a little sunshine into the lives of the
women, while the men are showing us what they can do
on the land."

The amount of money available for the building of
her home was small ; the hope of a clubhouse, suited to
her plan, remote. In this dilemma, she put nine-tenths
of her building fund into a single beautiful room,
ideally adapted to social purposes. For the rest of
her home — tents ; nice, roomy tents, connected by cov-
ered passages, and supplied with floors, windows and
doors; so that in a benign climate, where shelter is
almost negligible, it made a livable and attractive
"camp." Even so, it represented a sacrifice of personal
comfort in the interest of her numerous neighbors.

The Inspiration 3

Festivities began with the "house-warming," which oc-
curred even before the roads were made, though twenty
or thirty homes were built, and others under way. It
happened to be a Fourth of July — the flag had been
broken out on the tall staff for the first time at dawn —
and fireworks lighted the way for the settlers as they
came through the sagebrush, or new-plowed fields. In
spite of the season, it was cool enough, in that land of
divine nights, to justify a modest blaze in the great
cobblestone chimney, in token of hospitality. Every-
body came in the best they had. Even dress-suits were
worn by those who had them.

The affair was more than a "house-warming," more
than a social function. It sounded a new note — a note
of absolute democratic fellowship, for everybody was
formally invited and everybody came; a note, too, of
distinction, for it was then and there understood that
the social and intellectual life of the community was
to be placed on the highest possible plane, and stead-
fastly maintained at that level. Moreover, it was an-
nounced that on the following Thursday afternoon, and
every Thursday thereafter, the hostess would receive
the ladies of the community in her big reception room ;
that every lady was cordially invited ; that these affairs
were designed to be as fine in all respects as they would
be in any town or city of the land; and that in that
spirit each person was urged to do her part.

And the ladies responded with alacrity and the utmost
good will. There were no absentees; no one was ever
tardy; no one ever wore less than her best. Among
them were wives of professional and business men of
liberal culture and wide social experience. There were

4 City Homes on Cowntry Lanes

others who were strangers to such functions. All met
the same warm hand-clasp and gracious smile at the
wide-flung door; all were soon equally at ease. The
flowers, the music, the games, the refreshments, the
favors, were precisely what the hostess would provide
if she lived in town, or on a lordly country estate, in-
stead of in a humble "camp" on the side of a sagebrush
hill. And she made those pioneer women happy — filled
their cup to the brim. One of them remarked: "It's
worth all the work and worry of the week, just to be
here on Thursday afternoon." It was not simply the
good times — it was the leveling of all social barriers,
the striving for the very best there is in life.

The influence thus projected did not stop with one
afternoon in the week, nor with the women alone. It
spiritualized the whole community. It elevated the
public meetings in the rude town hall, setting a high
standard for all entertainments, and all meetings of an
intellectual or social character. It overflowed into the
front gardens and beautified them with flowers, some
of them still fragrant with roses and tender with vines
given by the gracious lady on the hillside. For, as
her own love was perennial, so she loved to give her
friends perennial plants that should fill the air with
fragrance year after year. Yes, some of them are
blooming yet ; and they do not forget her. They have
long memories — those roses !

I tell this story of the beginnings of our New Earth
— the New Earth that is to bring security and content-
ment to millions — because it illustrates a deep social
principle, the absence of which has had its part in the
decadence of American rural life; also, for another

The Inspiration 5

reason of equal importance — the fact that it brought
forth a noble phrase that immensely widens our hori-
zons.

The first experience in social upbuilding was fol-
lowed in two other communities under the same leader-
ship ; then came a period devoted to the intensive culti-
vation of the ideal by other means. One day near the
close of her mortal life — the Pale Horse and his Rider
were even then on the road and rapidly approaching —
she walked into my library and laid a slip of paper on
the desk with the smiling request : "Some time when you
feel just like it, please write something for me with
that title." I looked and read the cryptic words:

"The Dignity of the New Earth"

It was a revelation, and to me a startling revelation
— not only of the depth of her own thought, but of the
broad metaphysical basis of our work and our ideals.

This, then, is her chapter, as nearly as it is possible
to approximate her thought and language:

I was reared in an old New England town. As a
child, I loved a certain street which was filled with fine
old homes setting well back from the rows of stately
elms. These were the homes of our old families. They
seemed enviable to me, not because of their luxury, for
most of them were not at all palatial, but because of
their dignity — a dignity attaching to their age .and
permanence.

In these homes children were born and grew up.
And in these homes the children's children were born
and grew up. So it had been for generations ; and, in
a few cases at least, for two centuries. To my childish

6 City Homes on Cowntry Lanes

mind there was no dignity like the dignity of a perma-
nent family home from which all members of the house-
hold went forth into the world, and to which they
might all come back on occasion.

To me the contrast between the repose of that street
of old family homes and the restlessness of newer sec-
tions was always very striking. It was an industrial
town that grew rapidly. As factories multiplied, new
population flowed in; at first from the surrounding
country and then from foreign parts, until the number
of languages spoken was amazing. This new popula-
tion was mostly of floating character. It was housed
in crowded tenements. The part of the town where it
lived tended toward slum conditions. It was, of course,
the very opposite of the street of old family homes.
The gulf between them was not wealth and poverty.
It was a far deeper gulf. It was dignity and the lack
of dignity, and that is a matter of character, not of
worldly possessions. But environment and training
have everything to do with character.

The lesson borne in upon me was that ownership
and permanence of the home are essential to the highest
dignity of life. Now it oddly happened that I was
never to know these advantages in my own experience.
While we owned more than one home in the course of
our lives, they were only temporary, because it was of
the nature of our work that we should be constantly
on the move. This work had to do with the making of
homes for thousands of people in many States. I have
always thought of it as evangelical work, and of my
husband as an evangelist of the Peter-the-Hermit sort.

My longing was for a home that might become a

The Inspiration 7

family shrine, where my children and grandchildren
might come after me. In the defeat of my own hopes I
became passionately attached to this hope for others —
for our country and the world. To make such a hope
possible of realization, I came to see that there must be
a New Earth, or rather a new conception of the earth
in its relation to the home.

As our work unfolded over a period of more than a
quarter of a century, I thought I saw the dawning of
the New Earth in the very humblest way in a pioneer
settlement where we went to live and work with the
people who shared our hopes. Everything was very
crude, my own home with the rest, yet, I could see in the
little homes all about me that street of my childhood's
fancy in the old New England town; and I could look
beyond the crude beginnings to the time when the same
quality of dignity, growing out of the same laws, would
become the possession of the many.

The New Earth, as I think of it, begins with the
recognition that it is God's gracious provision for man,
and as such too sacred for any purpose except to serve
the needs of humanity. That conception rules out
speculation. To put a price on land beyond fair com-
pensation is unjust and really nothing less than an at-
tempt to repeal a great law of God, and defeat His
ends. This, too, from so low a motive as selfishness — a
selfishness to be paid for by woman's toil and tears
and by innocent children deprived of their heritage.

When we comprehend the ideals of the New Earth in
all their purity and beauty we shall strive to make the
most of it in every way, and the measure of our success
will be the amount of human happiness thereby created.

§ City Homes on Country Lanes

To my mind, these hopes are inseparably bound up with
the dignity of mankind — its capacity for self-respect,
its worthiness in every sense, its elevation of thought,
bearing and conduct.

The next attribute of the New Earth is workmanship.
It is not to be like the slovenly industry I have often
seen on many farms that so evidently belonged to the
Old Earth where pride of workmanship was wholly
absent.

Pride and Dignity — these are twin sisters. I mean
the kind of pride that springs from worthiness, that
scorns things mean and low, and most of all scorns
them in ourselves.

The New Earth is to be the object of loving care
as much as our children. It begets a new spirit that is
born of ownership, of the thought that here on this
spot of land I will rear a family roof tree; that here
my children will come in future years, and after them
their children, and their children's children; and that
thus the generations that trace back to me will enjoy
the shade of my planting, the shelter raised by my
thoughtful care for the future. Could anything so
elevate, so dignify, the labor of the pioneer? Could
anything so invest it with a skill and a forethought sur-
passing all human skill and forethought and reflecting
the Divine Intelligence?

Beyond the individual and family life lies the life
of the community. It is here I see the widest possibili-
ties of the New Earth. It is here that the manifestation
of Love will be highest because it loses much of its
selfishness in the thought of the Common Good.

In my own experience I was often disappointed in

The Inspiration 9

the expression of our ideals at the hands of individuals,
but almost never disappointed by their expression at
the hands of the community. If ever in the midst of
our crude surroundings I have caught a glimpse of
"the Light that Never was on Sea or Land" it was
when a number of us were gathered together and giving
expression to the ideals of the New Earth. I think —
indeed, I know — that then for fleeting moments we lived
in the great life of the future, though of course we only
touched the hem of the garment.

The spiritual outgrowth of the conditions that the
New Earth provides for vast numbers will surpass all
the dreams of the dreamers. Christ will come again.
He will live in the lives of millions of consecrated souls,
and He will bring dignity in its true sense to common
things and the common experience.

Dignity as I see it in this connection is a form of
morality, because morality is the outward expression
of that self-respect which dwelleth within, and is, in-
deed, the highest form of self-respect. Hence, anything
that enhances the dignity of a man enhances his moral-
ity, and it was ever clear to me that this was the great
office of the New Earth — to lay deep and true the foun-
dations of dignity in the common life of our people,
which is equivalent to saying the foundations of self-
respect and the highest morality.

And here again, we pass from the individual to the
community, and ultimately to the nation and the world.
The New Earth so becomes in the course of time the
Redeemer of mankind. It erects his life and roots his
influence — his all-conquering Thought — in the fertile
soil of ownership, but of ownership limited by conscience

10 City Homes on Country Lanes

to his needs — those needs measured by the excellence of
his workmanship and, hence enabling him to do well
with a little land. Into that workmanship goes all the
love of his family, even of the family that is to come
into being in the far future. From these conditions
spring growth of dignity and self-respect, and with it
elevation of thought and bearing. This becomes the
habit of the man, the habit of the community. It
spreads with the spread of the New Earth and its
ideals until it becomes in fact the New Heaven.

CHAPTER I

DIGGING TO THE ROOTS OF A DYING TEEE

IT was generally assumed that the world would
never be the same after the Great War, and that
among the results of the mighty upheaval would
be new forms of life on the land. In some countries,
it was plain, this transformation would chiefly relate
to ownership and distribution of the soil; in others, to
the manner of its use ; but it was generally anticipated
that everywhere the influence of the cataclysm would
be registered upon the land — in the character of its
homes and institutions — quite as clearly as in any
other department of civilization.

British statesmanship took stock of these possibili-
ties while the War was still at its height, and began
to brace itself against the impact of conditions that
must assuredly follow the ending of the conflict. Not
only in the Mother Country, but in the oversea colonies
— in Canada, in Australia, in New Zealand, in South
Africa — expert minds gave careful forethought to pre-
paredness for peace. They believed their weary peoples
would turn to the land, as to the shadow of a great
rock.

In the United States there were men who sensed the
same situation. Long before the Battle of Chateau
Thierry, Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior,

11

1£ City Homes on Cowitry Lanes

began to ponder the problem of Reconstruction. He
anticipated that millions of men serving in the Army
and Navy would be more or less weaned from their
old occupations, and that a large proportion of those
formerly employed in the factories and workshops
would have fallen in love with outdoor life. He thought,
too, that many of the places vacated by the selective
draft would be filled by permanent occupants when
the soldier returned, so that they would find the old
familiar doors closed in their faces. It also seemed
probable that the cessation of the intense industrial
activities of the War would precipitate upon the coun-
try an Army of Unemployed, with consequent suffer-
ing, throughout a long period of readjustment.
Though busily engaged as a member of the Council
of National Defense in his part of the work of prose-
cuting the War to a successful finish, he yet found
time to look beyond that point, and consider what the
Government could, or ought, to do, in the way of
preparation.

"Every country has found itself face to face with
this situation at the close of a great war,'* he told
the President, in a letter that will be historic. "From
Rome under Csesar, to France under Napoleon, down
even to our Civil War, the problem arose as to what
could be done with the soldiers to be mustered out of
the military service."

He looked back to the close of our own Revolution,
and recalled how the veterans had threaded their way
through the forests of the Alleghenies to make homes
in the valley of the Ohio. He recalled the phenomenal
settlement in the Mississippi Valley, which followed

Digging to the Roots of a Dying Tree 13

close upon the cessation of the Civil War, when the
citizenship of whole States, like Kansas, Nebraska, and
the Dakotas, largely consisted of men who had worn
the blue. He realized, however, that conditions had
changed in 50 years ; that there was no longer a patri-
mony of fertile public lands available to homestead
entry, and requiring no preparation beyond the means
of the individual settler. Nevertheless, the problem
of the returning soldier remained to be dealt with. It
was not an easy problem, but Secretary Lane possessed
both the vision and the power to tackle its solution.

He summoned to Washington men whom he thought
especially equipped for the task by their knowledge,
their experience, and their sympathies. He was think-
ing primarily of the returning soldier, but soon dis-
covered that the problem was much broader; that it
concerned directly or indirectly, the country's entire
citizenship — indeed, the fate of our American civiliza-
tion— for it was found that America was dying on the
land ! It would be but a poor service to the returning
hero to invite him to take a share in a failing enter-
prise, and it would amount to just that to offer nothing
better than the old conditions of rural life.

Secretary Lane's counselors decided to dig down to
the roots of the subject, as one would dig down to the
roots of a dying tree, and find out what had happened
to the fabled "cornerstone of American democracy" —
the farm home. There was plenty of evidence that
something was wrong. Without harping upon the
dreary statistics regarding the marked tendency from
rural to urban life — a tendency that dates back to the
first national Census of 1830, and has been increasing

14 City Homes on Country Lanes

ever since — it is worth while to mention a few of the
latest revelations on the subject:

The abandonment of New England farms is a very
old story; nevertheless, it is startling to realize that
Massachusetts had three times as much land in culti-
vation 100 years ago as now, and that 92.8 per cent
of her entire population dwells in urban centers. Not-
withstanding the general increase in land values during
the past few years, there are still opportunities to ob-
tain good land, most favorably situated with respect
to great and growing markets, for one dollar to ten
dollars per acre. And that within a few miles of the
spot where the Pilgrims landed in 1620 !

It is only within recent years that the rural decline
has been noticeable in the Middle West, but in the past
ten years the number of farms decreased throughout
that fertile region in every State except Wisconsin and
Minnesota, while there the increase was slight. In the
country as a whole the number of new farms fell off
about 90 per cent; to be exact, from 10.9 per cent
between 1900 and 1910, to 1.4 per cent between 1910
and 1920.

In Ohio, the number of habitable vacant farmhouses
increased 61 per cent in a single year; from 18,000
to 29,000 between June, 1919, and June, 1920. The
number of men and boys on Ohio farms decreased 30
per cent in the same period of time.

In two years 46,000 men left the farms of Michi-
gan, and the vacant places grew from 11,831 to 18,232
• — making a total of 1,666,000 abandoned acres. In
April, 1920, there were left on the farms of Michigan

Digging to the Roots of a Dying Tree 15

an average of but eleven men and boys for each ten
farms.

In New York State, 22,540 farms were abandoned
in the last ten years. The State has a total popula-
tion in excess of 10,000,000, but the number directly
engaged in agricultural pursuits is only 380,000.

Another disturbing feature of the rural situation is
the increase of tenant farmers. Figures are not avail-
able for the country as a whole, but in many of the
richest agricultural States, more than half of the land
is in the hands of such tenants, who have no stake of
their own in the soil; hence, no interest in maintaining
its fertility, or improving the standard of rural life.

But all this bears only upon effects, not causes. The
easiest explanation is that men prefer the town, because
it pays big wages ; and that war-time wages were par-
ticularly alluring. Doubtless the War accelerated the
movement; but, since the movement preceded the War
by at least 80 years, the cause must be sought else-
where. So, at least, thought Secretary Lane and his
advisers; and they determined to investigate the fa-
vorite theme of poets and orators : the proposition that
the farm home is the cornerstone of American democ-
racy, and the source of all that is best in our national
life.

They started with the assumption that the drift
throughout the nation from the country to the city
was much greater than the tide in the opposite direc-
tion; and that the "Back-to-the-land" movement,
speaking in broad terms, had signally failed. They
then went on to consider another assumption, which

16 City Homes on Country Lanes

represents an almost universal conviction — that this
tendency is anti-social — and asked themselves the ques-
tion: Is it so? If it is actually unfortunate for in-
dividuals and society, then it must be such in lowered —

Health;

Physical development;
Mental development ;
Spiritual development;
Financial development;
Human kindness;
Social solidarity;
Civic ideals;
Patriotism;

Ability to think clearly on public and social ques-
tions ;

Initiative and ability to carry out convictions ;
Joy of living.

As a first logical step, they employed an expert to
make a study and analysis of such exact information,
bearing upon their problem, as could be found in the
great Library of Congress. The quest was not highly
successful. While much interesting information was
gathered, it was fragmentary, bearing upon typical
localities which had been selected for social surveys,
and not representative of the whole national field.
Hence, it was suggestive rather than conclusive. It
was necessary to supplement it by extensive studies,
drawing from many different sources of information,
much of it gathered from current newspapers and
magazines; and much obtained from interviews with

Digging to the Roots of a Dying Tree 17

public men, sociologists and economists throughout the
United States.

The study as a whole was at least eager and pains-
taking, and its conclusions so clearly in accord with
obvious social tendencies as they must appear to the
mind of any thoughtful observer, that there can be
little doubt of their general acceptance.

It is a natural and widespread belief that life in
the open country is far more healthful than life in
crowded towns. So it ought to be, and so it would be
if country life were properly organized, and kept pace
with modern scientific knowledge and thought. That,
however, is precisely what it has not done, and precisely
what it can not do, unless radically reformed. The
city, on the other hand, is marching to the music of
science, and keeping step with the Twentieth Century.
This fact bears distinctly on several of the questions
raised in Secretary Lane's inquiry; and especially on
the question of public health.

There are certain diseases indigenous to the old forms
of country life — -typhoid fever, for example, which is
transmitted by bad water and flies. The remedy is a
pure water supply and the abolition of flies — at least
from the homes. This is within the reach of science,
which modern cities faithfully invoke, but which the
old-fashioned farm generally ignores, together with
other sanitary precautions essential to health preserva-
tion. It follows, as a logical consequence that typhoid
fever is a greater menace in the country than in the
city.

Impure milk is another medium for the transmission
of certain diseases. To say that the milk supply is

18 City Homes on Country Lanes

generally purer in the city than in the country sounds
like a paradox ; yet, it is in the city that a rigid system
of inspection is applied ; it is there that science reaches
out its hands to provide the strongest possible safe-
guards for the public health in this respect.

Malaria and kindred troubles are mosquito-borne.
Their dominion is almost wholly confined to the rural
districts. City homes outlaw them — at least to a large
extent.

Sewerage is not an agreeable topic of polite conversa-
tion ; yet, it has a most intimate relation to health, and
it represents one of the most striking triumphs of
modern science. That triumph is largely confined to
cities. Indeed,- the lack of sanitary conditions in this
respect is quite appalling in a large proportion of
country homes; consequently, any form of disease that
is influenced in any degree by the method employed in
the disposal of sewage is more menacing in the country
than in the town.

Pneumonia often comes from poorly ventilated rooms
and uneven temperature; intestinal diseases, including
appendicitis, from badly-balanced food rations. Mod-
ern housing conditions, and the systematic propaganda
against preventable diseases, account for the fact that
these serious troubles are likely to be less prevalent and
less generally fatal in the town than in the country.

Hookworm is distinctly rural in origin and prevails*
in localities where a large part of the population has
unsanitary toilet accommodations. The Rockefeller
Foundation, in the course of social surveys in the
South, found places where 50 per cent of the people
had no facilities of the sort whatever; and one locality

Digging to the Roots of a Dying Tree 19

where 85 per cent was without them. Such instances
are, of course, extreme ; yet, they could not conceivably
occur at all under the health regulations of any city or
good-sized town in America.

In weighing the relative health conditions in urban
and rural life, it must be considered that a very large
part of the urban advantage in this respect is due to
the mere fact of dense population. This is due in part
to the element of "overhead expense"; in part to the
fact that the city naturally attracts the highest talent
in every profession.

In this classification comes everything that requires
the presence of hospitals, with prompt attendance of
good physicians, and the care of trained nurses. Such
institutions require conditions which the unorganized
life of a sparsely settled countryside could never en-
courage or support. There are, and there can be no
exact data to show the drawback of country life in this
respect ; but none are needed. The case is plain enough
on its face. Fine hospitals, with the latest scientific
equipment, can only exist in the midst of a considerable
population. Whatever gain they represent in the mat-
ter of human comfort and welfare is the gain of the
city; whatever loss their absence entails, is the loss of
the country. It is a matter that touches the health
problem at many points.

One of the sharpest points is that of maternity and
of infant mortality. According to the best available
statistics, one woman gives up her life for every 154
babies born in America. In other words, almost as
many women perished in giving birth to 4,800,000 ex-
service men of the great World War, as the total num-

20 City Homes on Country Lanes

ber of our men killed in battle and dying from wounds.
Except tuberculosis, it is the greatest single cause of
death to women between 25 and 50 years of age. It is,
therefore, a fundamental element of health. This is par-
ticularly true because the vast proportion of the 4,-
800,000 ex-service men were not injured at all ; whereas,
when these particular men were born, practically every
woman was confined to her bed from periods ranging
from a few days to several weeks. Of those permanently
crippled, either slightly or seriously, the number is far
less than the number of women who were permanently
injured in these 4,800,000 confinements. Many more
women than service men were completely disabled.

What has been said about hospitals, and the care of
mothers immediately before and after childbirth, has a
direct bearing on the subject of infant mortality. An-
other item to be recorded on the side of city advantages,
is the work of popular education concerning mother-
hood which is constantly carried on. Among the poorer
mothers in large cities, the city health department, Red
Cross and other agencies, render a degree of help and
advice that is not available to country mothers ; and in
the large cities there are little mothers' leagues to which
girls between the ages of 12 and 14 belong, and in which
they receive instruction in the care and feeding of
their little sisters and brothers, and pass it on to their
mothers.

The excessive infant mortality discovered in one sur-
vey was summed up as being due to "the mother's
ignorance of proper feeding, of proper care, of the
simplest requirements of hygiene. To this all the other
causes must be regarded as secondary." Surely this

Digging to the Roots of a Dying Tree 21

must be so, if there is anything at all in education re-
garding the common duties of life, and any hope of
raising the standard of efficiency in that respect. And
it is the city that can do it — is doing it — far more than
the country. It is a part of the organized life of the
town which contrasts so sharply with the over-individ-
ualistic life of the countryside.

We see it again in the matter of nurses. In times of
illness, it is usually difficult even to obtain household
help, and nursing is often left to the unskilled hands
of the older children, or of the neighbors and their
children. Five millions of the best men and women have
come into the world under these conditions. Sturdy
mothers and noble children have survived the experi-
ence; yet this circumstance is no more an argument
against the modern scientific conditions now enjoyed by
the city, and impossible to the old and discredited sys-
tem of rural life, than the fact that Abraham Lincoln
read his lessons by firelight is an argument against the
use of the electric lamp.

Not only has the city the advantage of fine and
abundant hospitals, with their complete staffs of highly-
trained physicians and nurses, as well as free clinics for
the needy, but they also attract the ablest specialists in
every line. Take dentistry (half our bodily ills are now
traced to the teeth) and ask yourself if there is any
comparison between the practitioners and facilities al-
ways available in the city and those usually found in
the country. Add to this the thorough inspection of
teeth now quite generally made in city schools, and
the laxity in that regard in many, if not most, country
schools; and it is apparent at a glance that so far as

22 City Homes on Coimtry Lanes

this department of health is concerned, the city is
far in advance. So with the oculist, and all other
fields of specialization, the city has absorbed and holds
in its firm grip the best of everything. And it scores
heavily on the side of health for the city-born and city-
reared against their brothers of the backward rural
districts.

It is popularly believed that rural life is most favor-
able to physical development, but athletic instructors
generally have come to the conclusion that it does not
develop the body symmetrically; that certain muscles
are exercised to fatigue, while other muscles are exer-
cised insufficiently. The report on athletic exercises
and organized play at the 1920 session of the National
Country Life Conference in Chicago favored special
types of athletic exercises in country schools on that
account.

The young of all animals, and particularly human
beings, attain symmetrical development through play.
City children now have their playgrounds and organized
play efforts, while country children really play little
and work a great deal. Probably there is more child
labor on the farm than in all other industries combined.
By that same token, there is less balanced physical de-
velopment.

It was hoped the record of physical rejections in
the World War would throw a strong light on the rela-
tive health of urban and rural communities. While the
record is marvelously complete, it does not help much
in this inquiry, for the reason that the Census unit of
2,500 as the dividing line between urban and rural

Digging to the Roots of a T>yvng Tree 23

population was not adopted, but the local draft board
unit of 25,000. Moreover, local districts often in-
cluded portions of rural territory which were, therefore,
rated urban. Such as it is, the record shows 528 de-
fects per thousand among rural soldiers, against 609
among the urban. A true division would almost cer-
tainly have been in favor of city life, as it was in the
Civil War. At that time, however, a vast majority of
the people lived in rural districts, while now the major
portion dwells in towns.

A somewhat clearer light was thrown upon the sub-
ject, when considered from another interesting stand-
point— that of comparative immunity from certain
diseases after entering the Army. In four out of five
instances the ultra-urban State of New York stood
first, with the rural States last in every instance. Penn-
sylvania and New England, preponderantly urban, also
made an exceedingly good showing. This is not entirely
conclusive, because of the racial element that enters
into the equation — more of the Eastern urban men
being of foreign blood than of those from largely rural
States.

So far as Secretary Lane's inquiry shed light on
those matters, it was strongly confirmatory of the city's
claim to superiority on the side of public health and
individual physical well-being. It is a superiority in-
herent in the fundamental conditions of modern urban
life. In a word, the drift from country to city is not
unfortunate for society, from the standpoint of health.

The initial point for every person who wants to
make the most of himself is, of course, the schoolroom.
Every worthy parent wishes his child to have the best

£4 City Homes on Country Lanet

possible education within the limits of his opportunity.
It is here we may appropriately begin our considera-
tion of the effect of the cityward movement on the
mental development of the American people.

The efficiency of the Little Red Schoolhouse is a leg-
end among us ; thence have come most of our statesmen,
poets, orators, captains of industry — the leaders of our
national life. This was certainly true of the day in
which a very large proportion of our population was
rural, and before the organization of city life arose to
the dignity of social science; but the slightest com-
parison of educational facilities in country and town,
as they exist to-day, will convince the reader that the
ancient legend is no longer based upon facts.

The rural child receives only about 65 per cent as
much schooling as the city child. This is due to the
slack attendance and shorter school session. The aver-
age daily attendance in the country is 67.6 per cent ;
in the city, 79.3 per cent. The school year in the
former is 137.7 days, and in the latter 184.3 days.
Conditions vary in different sections, but the rule runs
true throughout the United States. City children, of
course, usually live near the school building and have
abundant means of cheap transportation when it is
necessary to go any distance, while country children
are widely scattered, and often with no means of trans-
portation over poor roads. During long periods of bad
weather they can not go at all. These conditions are
perfectly obvious on the surface, and militate power-
fully against the best education for rural children. Re-
sults are reflected in the higher percentage of illiteracy
in country districts.

Digging to the Roots of a Dying Tree 25

Educational results are largely determined by the
quality of teaching. A study of urban and rural con-
ditions on this score is strongly in favor of the city
teacher. Country schoolma'ams serve, on an average,
only about one year, against the average of 12 years on
the part of the city schoolma'am. In the one case
school-teaching is treated as a temporary expedient — a
stepping-stone to higher education or some other pro-
fession, and often to marriage; in the other, it is re-
garded as a permanent career. It requires no argu-
ment whatever to demonstrate which condition is favor-
able to the child.

Salaries have something to do with the matter.
These are considerably higher in town than in the
country. This condition is governed somewhat by the
inexorable rule of overhead expenses. It is the large
school that can afford to pay the highest salaries be-
cause the expense is divided among many more individ-
uals ; consequently the higher rewards are held out by
the larger schools, which are invariably in centers of
population. Urban conditions are also much more
favorable to the careful and thorough grading of
schools, and the old-fashioned, one-room school can
not begin to offer so much to the child as the graded
school. Not only is the teacher overburdened with work
in the one-room school, but she has no opportunity to
specialize and become highly expert in any single de-
partment of her work. Here, as elsewhere, the whole
trend of our times favors the modern art of specializa-
tion ; and this is a forbidden art for the country teacher
in many instances.

For the same reason vocational training, which has

26 City Homes on Cowitry Lanes

become one of the most valuable features of modern
education, is difficult, or impossible, in all except the
highest types of country schools. On the other hand,
it is readily within the reach of the city school, with its
large attendance, good salaries, and opportunity for
careful grading.

Investigation has disclosed a pitiable lack of library
facilities in many rural schools throughout the United
States, including some of the most advanced and pros-
perous agricultural sections. Many instances were
found where the total library stock did not exceed 50
to 100 volumes, and where these were unchanged for so
long as two or three years. City school libraries are
far more adequate and enterprising, and they are sup-
plemented by great public libraries which are open to
the children.

The same influence necessarily governs the character
and extent of school buildings in the city and country.
The Little Red Schoolhouse is picturesque, but fre-
quently uncomfortable, inconvenient, unsanitary, and
at least a generation behind the times. City school
buildings, on the other hand, are generally the object
of the greatest pride — often of lavish expenditure, and
sometimes the last word in architecture, convenience,
beauty and sanitary arrangement.

One reason that great numbers of men and women
have left the country and gone to the big centers of
population is because they are thereby enabled to give
their children a far better education, and hence a
better start in the race of life. It is idle to deny the
facts, and equally idle to argue against the parental
instinct that demands the best for its offspring. The

Copyrignt by Harris and .t,wing, 1920, W ashington, D. C.

FRANKLIN K. LANE

Who fought for a great American Policy of Home-building on the Land, and whose
ideals — certain to prevail in time — will enrich the lives of Future Generations.

Digging to the Roots of a Dying Tree 27

remedy lies in frank recognition of the fact, followed by
fundamental and far-reaching changes on the side of
country life. If such changes can not be made — if
the child reared in the country must be denied his right-
ful chance for a good education and a fair start in life
— then country life is damned and doomed, and every-
body who can possibly get there will go to the city.
This is in full accord with the American spirit. Noth-
ing is more vital to democracy than that childhood shall
have its chance — the best chance that money and genius
can provide.

If mental development begins in the schools, it does
not end there. What are the comparative advantages
and facilities of urban and rural people for keeping on
with their education and abreast of the times? The
city, of course, offers superior opportunities of every
sort. And opportunity is all we can offer to any man.
There are no statistics of much value to show to what
extent the city man is disposed to avail himself of his
manifest advantages, as compared with his country
cousin. Whether the abundance and accessibility of
libraries and reading-rooms, lecture halls, art galleries,
clubs, and social organizations of all kinds broaden his
mind and enlarge his outlook on life is largely a matter
of speculation. It is certain, however, that it is far
easier for the average man and woman to make the most
of themselves in the way of mental development if living
in town than if living under rural conditions as they
average throughout the United States.

For one thing, the better class of daily newspapers
are great educators, and their circulation is overwhelm-
ingly urban.

28 City Homes on Country Lanes

A fairer test is the paid subscription list of popular
national periodicals — weekly and monthly — since these
are equally accessible to city and country subscribers.
A representative list makes the following exhibit :

General magazine (low price), 24 per cent rural; 76
per cent urban.

General magazine (high price), 2 per cent rural; 98
per cent urban.

Popular fashion magazine, 38 per cent rural; 62
per cent urban.

Religious weekly, 6 per cent rural; 94 per cent
urban.

A famous humorous weekly, 2 per cent rural ; 98 per
cent urban.

A woman's monthly, 26 per cent rural; 74 per cent
urban.

A well-known literary weekly, 25.1 per cent rural;
74.9 per cent urban.

An outdoor journal, 17.6 per cent rural; 82.4 per
cent urban.

Famous boys' fiction weekly, 51 per cent rural; 49
per cent urban.

Prominent farm journal, 63 per cent rural; 37 per
cent urban.

These figures are based on the Census of 1910, when
53.7 of the total population of the United States
was rural — a figure practically reversed by the Census
of 1920. Thus the relative discrepancy is larger than
the actual. It is worth while to add, as bearing on the
relation of big cities to mental activity, that seven of
the ten periodicals representing together a wide range
of human interest, have more circulation in cities of

Digging to the Roots of a Dying Tree 29

1 00,000 and over than in all rural America, though the
big cities had only 22.1 per cent of the nation's total
population, against 53.7 per cent for the country dis-
tricts.

Even in the absence of such a searching national
survey and analysis as might be desired, it is perfectly
safe to conclude that the cityward trend is not unfortu-
nate for society from the standpoint of mental develop-
ment.

When it comes to studying the relative spiritual de-
velopment in town and country the wise man walks
carefully. It is not a matter to be hastily determined
by the weight of the visible evidence, since the things
of the spirit are invisible. The highest spiritual ex-
pression of which the world has ever heard came from
the quiet places in Palestine. And we have the assur-
ance that we shall lose God neither in the desert nor in
the crowded thoroughfares of the great city.

"Whither shall I go from Thy spirit, or whither shall I flee
from Thy presence?

"If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost
parts of the sea,

"Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall
hold me."

But if the measure of spiritual development is or-
ganized religion there is no question about the superior-
ity of urban life. There is hardly anything more
pathetic than the state of the country church, viewing
the subject as a whole. This fact is nowhere more keen-
ly realized than in the councils of the great religious
denominations. They have made repeated surveys in
selected localities, all pointing the same way. One
such survey covering three counties in northeast Mis-

30 City Homes on Cowitry Lanes

souri showed that 92 per cent of the country churches
have pastors on one-fourth time; their average pay,
$108 a year. Nineteen churches had been abandoned —
"simply died out."

There is a record of one country church held in a
hall (not located in Missouri) that adopted the desper-
ate expedient of introducing one of "Fatty" Arbuckle's
slapstick comedies to draw the crowd. (They came,
too.) Half the comedy was presented between the
minister's "thirdly" and "fourthly," but to get the
other half the crowd had to remain until after the bene-
diction. Considered merely from the standpoint of at-
tendance, the j)lan was literally "a howling success."

City churches, of course, simply because of the con-
centration of wealth and population, attract the higher
pulpit talent; have the finest music, both instrumental
and vocal; house their activities in the largest, hand-
somest and most comfortable structures, often equipped
with the latest facilities for social as well as religious
functions. In all these respects their advantage over
rural conditions is so palpable, so painful, that it need
not be dwelt upon.

While the city church has not resorted to the roaring
farce to attract an audience, it has sometimes employed
moving pictures of sacred or purely educational char-
acter, and doubtless with pronounced gain on the side
of mental, if not of spiritual, progress.

If the good-sized town or urban center can claim no
conclusive superiority in a matter so clearly one of
individual personal experience, and if we admit the full
force of what Emerson said of his "sylvan dell,"
"When man in the bush with God may meet "

Digging to the Roots of a Dying Tree 31

it is still apparent that the cityward tendency is not un-
fortunate for society, in the sense of spiritual develop-
ment.

The question of relative financial development under
the conditions of rural and urban life, if considered
from the standpoint of average earning power and
apart from the increment in land values, presents no
such difficulties as we found in the matter of spiritual
development.

City earnings, at least where labor is organized, are
fairly high and tend upward; rural earnings are low
and tend downward. In both cases pre-war condi-
tions as to earnings and living costs should be the
basis of comparison, since the war precipitated ab-
normal wages and prices everywhere, and the process
of readjustment is not complete and may not be for
years.

Between 1900 and 1914 the Federal Government, as
well as various States and universities, conducted ex-
tensive investigations to ascertain the amount of the
farmer's income. One Federal investigation covered ten
of the most important agricultural States, including
the cotton sections of the South, the grain regions of

the Middle West, the dairy districts of Wisconsin, and

the diversified farms of Vermont. The official report

concluded in these words :

"Extensive investigations relative to the profits of

farming indicate that the average labor income of the

farmer probably differs little from ordinary farm

wages."

That is to say $25 a month or $300 a year. (Labor

income, of course, is apart from income on investment,

3£ City Homes on Country Lanes

but the latter is but 3 or 4 per cent in the best farming
regions.) Government investigations in three repre-
sentative areas — Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa — showed an
average labor income of $408. In Indiana it was $310 ;
in Illinois, $622; in Iowa, $291. Cornell University
studied some of the most thriving agricultural districts
in New York State, with this result:

"The average owner received $423 as pay for his
personal labor and management for a year; but there
were wide variations from this amount. The common
wages of a hired man in this region (pre-war) are $300
to $350, with house rent, garden, wood and milk.
Some of the men receive more. Roughly speaking, we
may say that one-third of the owners made less than
their hired men, one-third made about the same as the
hired men, and one-third more than hired men."

Practically the same results were found in the case of
tenants. Whether owner, tenant, or hireling, the man
on the land receives about the same pay for labor. The
average capital requirement for a 160-acre farm in
Indiana, Illinois and Iowa was found to be $30,606 —
more than most men possess, or will ever possess.

Diligent search has failed to reveal any figure as a
basis for comparison of average urban income with
average rural income. The income of urban people, of
course, taking all elements into account, covers an
immense range. Somewhere between the depths of pov-
erty and the heights of affluence lies the sea level that
one would wish to find on this side of the subject, as
we found it on the rural side.

There is very good reason for saying that the aver-

Digging to the Roots of a Dyvng Tree 33

age American income for 1917, taking every man,
woman and child engaged in gainful occupations, falls
somewhere around $1,250. This average means com-
paratively little for our purpose, which is to ascertain
the economic situation of the millions who left the
farm to engage in city life. If comparatively few of
them are in the millionaire class, probably hardly more
are among those receiving the poorest pay. They were
largely made up of the young, energetic and ambitious,
equipped with a fair degree of education. They deliber-
ately set out to improve their situation in life. To a
large extent they are skilled mechanics, trained office
people, small merchants, or professional men or women.

A careful survey of 2,000 families in Chicago, taken
at random from the city directory, gave $1,500 as the
commonest household income. My own guess (and it is
only a guess, from which the reader may dissent), is
that the income of the element we have especially in
mind averages somewhat above rather than below that
figure.

In the absence of such complete data as we would
wish, the best we can do is to say this: The farm
worker's labor income is $350 a year, plus rent, fuel,
milk and vegetables. Let the city reader add the cost
of those four items to $350, then subtract the sum from
his jtotal income, and he will be able to compare his own
economic lot with that of his rural brother. Probably
it would not be far wrong to say that the sum so ob-
tained would average about $1,000; nor to deduce the
conclusion that the average city man is ahead by any-
where from 50 to 100 per cent.

S4s City Homes on Country Lanes

If that be true, then it becomes quite clear that the
cityward tendency is not unfortunate for society, from
the standpoint of financial development.

Now we pass right out to sea, so far as any hope
of exact information is concerned. Of health, physical,
mental, spiritual and financial development something
may be learned from public records, though such data is
by no means as comprehensive as could be desired. It
is different when we come to consider the other elements
of our problem — the effect of the sweep of population
away from the land on the character of our people with
respect to human kindness, social solidarity, patriotism,
capacity to think clearly on public and social questions,
initiative and ability to carry out convictions, and,
finally, joy of living.

These are vital considerations. They go to the
heart of our future civilization. They are closely
related to the matter of education and economic pros-
perity, since there can not be much doubt that a more
general diffusion of knowledge and the comforts of
life must react favorably on the character of individuals
and communities. Then, too, there is the influence of
environment — of contact with large numbers and with
varied racial and social groups — to be taken into ac-
count.

The questions of human kindness and patriotism may
be considered practically as one. Like spiritual de-
velopment, they are largely matters of individual tem-
perament and personal experience. It would be a very
bold man who should undertake to say that rural life is
deficient in either of these fine qualities of human char-
acter. Indeed, on the side of kindness, there is a great

Digging to the Roots of a Dying Tree 35

deal to be said in favor of the neighborly relationship
that prevails in the countryside as compared with the
conditions of city life where a family scarcely knows the
people in the next house or the next apartment, while
those in the next block are as alien as the people of
San Francisco or London to the people of New York.

As we found with religion, the case is only clear as it
pertains to organized effort. If the city answered more
generously to Mr. Hoover's clarion call on behalf of the
starving children of Europe, and contributed more
largely to the needs of famine-stricken China, it was not
because its population is inherently more charitable,
but because it is far more readily "get-at-able" ; hence,
more responsive to the "drive." But —

What is the effect of such an influence upon the city
people? Do they, as a class, acquire the habit of giving
freely? Do they thereby become more tender toward
suffering humanity ? They hear great speakers appeal-
ing to their sympathies and exhorting them to noble
performance ; they absorb the same spirit through their
daily newspapers ; they breathe an atmosphere of or-
ganized mercy for the unfortunate; they are sur-
rounded by public institutions that make every helpful
provision for the weaker members of society. Do they
thereby develop the quality of human kindness? And
when the same potent influences are directed into pa-
triotic channels, do city people respond with increased
love of country ? On the other hand, does the lack of
such intensive cultivation tend to reduce benevolent and
patriotic impulses in rural districts?

This branch of our inquiry is purely speculative; in
the nature of the case, it provides no statistics. The

36 City Homes on Country Lanes

unquestioned fact that the city is the more liberal con-
tributor to popular funds of all kinds would be true,
if for no other reason, because wealth is concentrated
in urban centers. It is quite certain, however, that
there is nothing on the surface to indicate that the
cityward tendency is unfortunate for society from this
point of view.

The question of social solidarity almost answers
itself. If anything, the fabric of urban life is rather
too solid as a whole, and more so in its group segrega-
tion. If it is desirable, as often it is, to evoke the sense
of community interest and develop community action it
is more readily accomplished in the town of 2,500 and
up than in scattered rural districts.

Who think more clearly on public and social ques-
tions, city or country people ? And which environment
is more favorable to initiative and ability to carry out
convictions? These questions, while not precisely
similar, run on parallel lines. Both turn largely on
mental alertness and range of information. If town
folk live, on the whole, a larger and fuller life, coming
more closely into contact with public questions and
economic phenomena, is it not in them rather than in
rural folk that we should logically expect the greater
manifestation of intellectual activity, the clearer vision
of social progress, the freer play of human feeling, the
readier welcome to innovating thought of every kind?
A study of new progressive movements in all depart-
ments,— if records were available, as they are not —
would almost certainly show that they came, as a rule,
out of the ferment of city life.

As to individual initiative and the power to carry

Digging to the Roots of a Dying Tree 37

it out, I happen to have seen it put to the test in the
course of western development a number of times.
Great changes have come in western methods of life,
including life on the land, during the past forty years.
Old industries have been revolutionized; new industries
created. So, also with the institutions of social and
civic life. And almost without exception leadership has
come, if not from the city-born and bred, at least from
the city-trained. These men brought keen minds, sharp-
ened on the city grindstone. They brought a brood of
new ideas that, in the view of the resident rural popu-
lation, would "never work"; yet, they did "work,"
broadening the foundations of general prosperity, and
adding enormously to the sum of individual and com-
munity wealth.

Old methods of irrigation, old kinds of crops, old
ways of harvesting and marketing — these were not good
enough for the sharp-eyed, keen-brained men who had
turned from the fierce rivalries of urban life to seek
success on the soil. Neither were the old schools,
churches, homes and hotels good enough for them.
They craved better things. And, with a swiftness and
thoroughness that made the old rural folk gape with
amazement, they brought better things to pass. And,
along with their progressive horticulture, they took
large doses of progressive politics.

Without the support of statistics (dry at best, and
often misleading) but with faith founded on wide ob-
servation, I can say that human initiative loses nothing
from urban experience.

Finally, we come to the interesting and vital question :
Which is better for the average person, the country

38 City Homes on Country Lanes

or the good-sized town, from the standpoint of mere
joy of life? Apart from all other considerations, do
the millions who have left the countryside to make their
homes in towns, especially in the big modern cities to
which the larger portion have gone, get more satisfac-
tion for their social instincts, more downright enjoy-
ment out of the every-day experience of life, in conse-
quence of that change?

The mere fact of the steady and ever-growing trend
in that direction goes far in the way of an affirmative
answer, because, after all, happiness is the great desid-
eratum of human existence. All the other factors in
our problem — health, earning power, mental and spir-
itual development, and so on — are valuable as they
contribute to the one great end, which is the joy of
living.

From the standpoint of interest and variety, the
thrill of the great town is by no means imaginary.
More and more with every passing year civilization
masses its choicest things, along with its worst, in the
big centers of population. Its energies and capital are
bent upon making the life of the city an even more
irresistible magnet than now. There are no bounds to
the municipal ambition. Science and art and endless
millions of dollars minister to that aspiration, which
yearly becomes more real.

Consider the people's playgrounds, and, to make it
concrete, one of the most adorable creations of munici-
pal genius achieved from what once seemed the most
unpromising raw material — Golden Gate Park in San
Francisco.

Nature made it a desert of shifting sands ; man con-

Digging to the Roots of a Dying Tree 39

verted it into a paradise of beauty, comfort and utility.
To-day it is the joy of the multitude; the pride of a
great democracy ; the meeting ground where all social
distinctions disappear for one blessed day in an atmos-
phere of universal good will, for these lawns and flowers
and trees, these smiling lakes and winding roads, these
Dutch windmills, ponderously turning with the Trade
Wind, these effigies of the great, holding the precious
Past in firm hands of bronze, these wonders of the
world's zoology, these museums bursting with the treas-
ures of Art and Science assembled from the far corners
of the earth — these belong to all, to our common hu-
manity, as much as the sky that bends above them, as
much as the sunshine and the tonic air.

And this is wealth, spiritual wealth — the very bread
of life!

Go there for the band concert Sunday afternoon and
sit on the comfortable benches under the trees with ten
thousand enthralled music lovers about you — other
thousands within hearing on the wide lawns. The*
Municipal Band* backed by a massive sounding board,
faces the throng. Over them, two great flags unfold
in the breeze. You see them, and you are thrilled —
they mean so much ! One is the starry flag, planted on
the western border of the Republic ; the other, the glori-
ous Bear Flag of California. You think of the Argo-
nauts— yes, and of San Francisco, the city that rose on
stepping-stones of its dead past in three brief years,
meanwhile singing a song of "The Finest Ruins."

The golden hours pass in an atmosphere that may
only be described as one of genuine spiritual exaltation.
You are lifted out of yourself, out of the sordid things

40 City Homes on Country Lanes

of every-day life ; you are thrilled through and through.
Is it the music? The setting? Not wholly, though both
are fine. More than anything else, it is the presence of
the multitude, of massed humanity. It is the subtle ex-
pression of the gregarious instinct, colored with a con-
sciousness of the divine.

My point is that the experience is possible only to
urban life. It requires people, masses of people; it
requires money, millions of money; it requires lofty
idealism, based on deep concern for the common wel-
fare and happiness. And these impulses, I insist, are
the product of organized municipal life, rather than of
the unorganized and severely individualistic forms of
a rural life that is passing away. Let it go — the sooner
the better!

I have touched here, it is admitted, on a high point
of city life, which is by no means one long Sunday in a
park with band concerts. That, however, is but a
single feature of a way of life that is replete with at-
tractions appealing to the spirit; with deep satisfac-
tions for the hearts of average men and women.

The big department store is about equal to the old
county fair as an entertainment, and considerably more
up to date. Theaters, restaurants, lectures, movies,
occasional great pageants — even the frequent thrilling
passage of fire engines through crowded streets — add
to the zest and charm of life. Those who can spend
freely get the best of it, perhaps, yet everybody drinks
at the fountain of city life. Even to mingle with the
throng is somewhat satisfying, for we resemble "Helen's
Babies" and like to "see the wheels go 'round." The

Digging to tht Roots of a Dying Tree 41

poorest can see the swift revolutions of the city wheels.
As a penniless derelict remarked: "Anyhow, I can read
the billboards and see what's going on!"

There is, of course, a very charming side of rural
life, and one that must be preserved if civilization is to
remain sweet and wholesome. But millions have turned
away from it. "The proof of the pudding is the eating
thereof." Millions born to country pudding have
shown their marked preference for city desserts.

No man of our time has done so much to keep alive
true love of country life as Ray Stannard Baker, or
"David Grayson," as he delights to call himself in his
rural moods. He happens to be one of my most valued
friends, and I shall later make use of his actual experi-
ence to demonstrate my own philosophy of the coming
life on the land.

We have now examined the relative advantages of
urban and rural life from a number of different stand-
points. Our finding is in harmony with the obvious drift
of the times. From the Census of 1830 to that of 1920,
the race between country and town as rival claimants for
the favor of a majority of our people has gone cease-
lessly on. Decade after decade the city has rushed
ahead, the country fallen back, until by the latest
count the supremacy passes to the city. A majority
of our hundred million people now dwell in town.

Why? Because —

A man can make more of himself in the city than
in the country ; can earn more money ; do better for his
children ; live in better surroundings ; drink deeper from
the cup of human happiness. The city draws into its

42 City Homes on Country Lanes

insatiable maw the best of all the country produces —
men and food alike.

But let it be understood that in all I have said I am
speaking of rural life as it is, not as it might be — not,
please God, as it shall be.

CHAPTER II

THE LEADING OP THE FALSE GOD "PRODUCTION"

ANEW view of the decline in American rural
population, and the continued piling up of the
people in urban centers, has begun to gain
currency. It has found able spokesmen. One of the
most persuasive is Dr. Rudolph M. Binder, head of the
sociological department of the University of New York.
In a very notable interview, he said: "America only is
following other industrial countries in its tendency to
group the larger number of its inhabitants in the cities.

"In Belgium and in England this period was passed
long ago ; Germany knew it about 1910. It is the inevi-
table drift of all States undergoing transition from
agricultural to industrial conditions.

"Normally every country must keep a sufficient per-
centage of its population in the rural districts to pro-
vide enough food for the whole population. This per-
centage varies according to the state of civilization of
a country. In the province of Bengal, India, there TV as
until recently 90 per cent of the total population in
country districts.

"Those people, because of primitive implements and
transportation, were able to produce just about enough
food for themselves. England, at the other extreme, is
able to maintain approximately 8 per cent of her people
in urban districts.

43

44 City Homes on Country Lanes

"In our own country we have had a preponderantly
large percentage of population in the country districts
as long as means of production were comparatively
simple.

"With improvements of implements a smaller per-
centage of people was needed to produce food for the
whole population. This percentage has grown smaller
with development of implements, latest of which is the
tractor. It has been figured that whereas production
of a bushel of wheat once took two hours, the time in
1920 was reduced to eight minutes. I venture to say
that time now is shortened by half.

"It is interesting to note notwithstanding over 51
per cent of our people lived in urban districts, the
largest bumper crop in our history was produced last
year."

In his statement, which disposed of any "back to the
farm" movement as impossible, Dr. Binder said if those
thrown out of their jobs in the fields by highly devel-
oped machinery should attempt to remain in rural dis-
tricts, producing crops far above the demand, prices
would be forced so low that farming would cease to pay.

He went on :

"Our capacity for consuming food is limited. But
our capacity for consumption of manufactured articles,
such as erstwhile farmers turn out instead of vegetables
and fruits, is practically unlimited. Three or four
square meals a day is our limit, but we may change
our coats a dozen times ! We may eat only a dollar's
worth of food daily, yet we spend a thousand dollars
for a single table!"

The Leading of the False God — "Production" 45

About the physical aspect of the cityward movement,
Dr. Binder had this to say :

"Time was when the city seemed a regular graveyard
for her beings. But hygiene and sanitation have been
introduced ; statistics of the recent war proved that
our city boys are equal to the country product in
vitality, while surpassing them in mentality."

With his statement concerning the physical and men-
tal results of urban life I am, of course, in perfect
accord; it is precisely what we found in the preceding
chapter. But, with the rest of his statement — both as
to spirit and as to facts, but especially as to spirit —
I profoundly disagree.

First, the facts: Machinery is relied upon to make
good the deficiency of man-power on the farm. America
has long had the advantage of superior agricultural
implements and machinery ; and, as a consequence, leads
the world in production per man. But she lags far
behind in production per acre, possibly because the
machine can not quite take the place of the man in
getting the soil to do its best. In other words, we may
be dying on the land economically, as well as socially
and spiritually, because of an overdose of machinery.
At any rate, until labor-saving devices bring our per-
acre production much nearer the European standard
than it is now, we cannot safely disregard the constant
loss of man-power on the land and rely on machinery
to take its place in the vital matter of food production.

We saw that Michigan lost 46,000 men from her
farms in two recent years ; that she now has an average
of only eleven men and boys for each ten farms. Is
it certain — is it even conceivable — that machinery has

46 City Homes on Cowntry Lanes

been invented to perform all the varied farm tasks
formerly done by those vanished hands? Even if so,
are there men and boys enough left to run the machines ?
May not Michigan, like Massachusetts, soon have less
rural people than England, with the 8 per cent that
Dr. Binder regards as the hall-mark of her civilization?
And, by the way, England would soon starve with-
out the food that flows from her overseas dominions —
the flow of which Germany nearly stopped with her
submarines. The cost of her enormous Navy is part
of the price England pays for the glorious privilege
of agricultural isolation.

We saw that in one short year Ohio lost 30 per cent
of her men and boys from the farm, while the number
of habitable farmhouses increased 61 per cent. At
that rate, another two years would leave her farms
practically bare. Who will buy and operate the ma-
chinery when there is literally "nobody home"?

In three of the six years from 1914 to 1920, despite
the enormous stimulation of war prices and wages,
per-capita production fell below the pre-war period;
and we had more and better farm machinery in use
than ever before. The area of land in cultivation in
the entire country in 1921 is 5 per cent less than in
1920; a rate of decrease which would wipe out Ameri-
can agriculture in 20 years.

The average annual increase in population is 2
per cent; our total area of cultivated lands (1920
Census), 478,451,750 acres. On the basis of present
production per acre it would be necessary to increase
the area of cultivated lands 6,369,403.17 acres every
year; or, 17,450.41 acres every day, in order to main-

The Leading of the False God — "Production" 47

tain our total agricultural output at its present stand-
ard. If the nation is to go on growing, while the
farmers continue to abandon their fields for the crowded
streets of the city, it is obvious that the inventors and
manufacturers of machinery that is to supplant the
human race must work overtime.

The child-like faith of those who declare that ma-
chinery may safely be relied upon to feed our peo-
ple and sustain our export trade is buttressed by
no facts and figures. It is not thus with the friends
of reclamation and land settlement — the champions
of the three-century-old policy of continental con-
quest that made America what it is to-day. One of
the most enlightened of these champions, Douglas Wo
Ross, C. E., has recently said:

"Assuming a rate of increase of 15 per cent per
decade for the next 20 years, as against 16 per cent
for the one just ended, and 21 per cent for the one
next preceding, the population of the United States
will be about 140,000,000 by 1940; and assuming an
increase of 25 per cent per decade in our urban popu-
lation, which is considerably less than the average since
1900, about 60 per cent, or 85,000,000 of these people
will be living in towns and cities, with 55,000,000 in the
country — an increase of less than 4,000,000 in the pres-
ent rural population."

And Mr. Ross estimates that merely to maintain the
present balance of urban and rural population, as dis-
closed by the latest census, will demand 130,000,000
new acres of cultivated land in the next 20 years.

Mr. Sheldon S. Cline consulted the highest authorities
of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, in

48 City Homes on Cowntry Lanes

February, 1920, asking such searching questions as
the following:

"Is the great industrial structure which America is
erecting in danger of toppling over because there is
not beneath it the foundation of an adequate and as-
sured food supply?

"Must the cost of living mount higher and ever
higher because farm production is diminishing, while
the population of cities and industrial centers con-
stantly increases?

"Is the time approaching when the United States
must depend upon overseas imports of staple food-
stuffs, and, therefore, be at the possible mercy of an
enemy in war?

"Is it possible, in short, that this country may know
that fear of famine which always has Europe in its
grip, and which was one of the chief underlying causes
of the greatest of all wars?"

Never before were such questions asked in respect
to America. A few years ago they would have con-
victed any journalist of mental incompetency. To-day
they are seriously entertained by those whose fingers
are on the pulse of American agriculture, and who
have begun to count that pulse, as a physician counts
the pulse of a very sick man.

Mr. Cline was told that for the first time in history
"America sees the approach of a condition like that
which has kept Europe in agony for a century — the
pressure of population on food supplies; that while
we are yet unconscious of it, and still less of its causes,
it has started gnawing at our vitals, and in the absence
of a remedy, will spread rapidly."

The Leading of the False God — "Production" 49

The conclusion reached by the highest Government
authority is that, allowing for all the machinery and
improved methods we have or are likely to have, another
15 years will see America absolutely dependent upon
the outside world for food. To quote Mr. Cline:

"Fifteen years is the period of grace given us, un-
less conditions change materially, before we will become
dependent upon overseas imports of bread and meat
and other staple foodstuff s.

"Fifteen years before the peril of famine may hang
like a black shadow over the land!

"Fifteen years before keeping the ocean-ways open
to our food ships may be vital to our national life,
calling for armaments which would be an ever-increas-
ing burden !

"And it is fifteen years we have in which to evolve
and put in operation an agricultural policy which shall
save us from the fate of Europe."

Fifteen momentous years, big with the fate of Ameri-
can civilization !

So far as the "facts are concerned, the answer to the
new school of thought that sees nothing unfortunate
in the rotting away of our rural foundations, is that
they are not facts. Even from the standpoint of pro-
duction, machinery is not now making good the loss
of man-power on the farm; machinery is not now pro-
viding a barrier between our people and prohibitive
cost of living; machinery is not now preserving the
nation against the danger of dependence on foreign
food supplies within the next two decades. In the
judgment of those who are in the best position to form

50 City Homes on Cowitry Lanes

an intelligent opinion, the day is remote when ma-
chinery will be equal to these demands. Those who
hold the contrary view represent a mistaken and dan-
gerous philosophy. If it became prevailing public
opinion, it would speedily create a greater menace to
America's position in the world, a greater menace to
the continued independence of her people, than hostile
fleets lying without her ports, or hostile armies march-
ing across her soil. We should overwhelm the fleets
and defeat the armies, but an influence that undermines
the character of our citizenship is an influence which,
if permitted to work out to logical conclusions, would
destroy the basis of our free institutions. And that
would be the end of America as it exists to-day.

Those who feel otherwise are following a false god —
the god of Material Production. Wrong as to their
facts, they are infinitely more so in the spirit of their
contention, which would sacrifice all other good to a
single consideration. They would fill the nation's
stomach at the cost of the nation's soul; though not,
pf course, with conscious intent. They have convinced
themselves that the people can be fed by machinery,
while everybody lives in town, wearing "a dozen coats
a day," and dining from "$l,000-tables." How average
folks are to get the price of the coats and tables —
whether by socialism or not — they fail to state; but,
if the time shall ever come when we depend on machines
for food, it will also be time for the people to resume
the ownership of the land and to acquire the ownership
of the machines. On no other terms could democracy
survive in America.

Production is not the first, but the secondary con-

The Leading of the False God — "Production" 51

sideration in any properly conceived scheme of life.
The first consideration is the independent home on
the land, which may, or may not, be a farm home. The
point is that we want a landed citizenship, rooted in
the real proprietorship of the country, and bound to
it by the strongest ties of interest and affection. The
loss of the family hearthstone carries a deep menace to
the future of our institutions. Under the leadership
of the false god, Production, we are going fast and far
in that direction. This tendency should be reversed
rather than encouraged.

True, we must be fed; but man does not live by
bread alone. It is neither wise nor necessary that we
should be fed under a system of agriculture that de-
stroys the home on the land, abolishes popular pro-
prietorship, creates a nation of tenants, cripples indi-
vidual initiative, shackles the spirit of family inde-
pendence, and degrades the character of our citizen-
ship. These are the swift and sure consequences of
rural depopulation on one hand, and the growth of
congested cities on the other.

It by no means follows that machinery can be ignored
as a factor in agricultural production. Doubtless in-
ventive genius will go forward in that field, as in all
other departments of civilization. Whatever it can
do cheaper and better than human hands, machinery
will do in the future, as in the past, and on a constantly
expanding scale. But, at whatever cost, it must be
made subordinate to the higher good of humanity, as
we shall see in subsequent chapters.

We have entered upon a critical period in American
history, and in nothing more so than on the side of our

52 City Homes on Cowntry Lanes

rural civilization, to which the institutions of our urban
life are now closely related. We can follow no farther
the false god of materialism, as represented by the
complacent philosophy which subordinates all the other
interests of society to the one thought of production,
without imminent peril to the most precious ideals of
American life.

What profiteth a nation, any more than a man, to
gain the whole world and lose its soul ? And that is the
stake — the soul of America — embodied in the homes
of her people, with all the elements of human freedom,
of social welfare, of intellectual and spiritual growth,
that cluster about the family hearthstone.

CHAPTER III

"A PLAGUE ON BOTH YOUR HOUSES"

THE truth of the matter is that neither rural
nor urban life, as now organized, meets the test
of American ideals, as mentioned in the previous
chapter.

We have seen how rural life, speaking broadly of
average conditions throughout the nation, fails to meet
the test. It fails alike on the economic, the social,
the intellectual, and the spiritual sides. In all these
respects it must undergo a thorough, though doubtless
gradual, process of reorganization before it can meas-
ure up to the highest ideals of Twentieth Century
America.

City life, and especially the life of the great city —
again speaking in broad terms — supplies a more inter-
esting experience, and yields more satisfaction to aver-
age humanity. Yet, the city, too, falls very far short
of meeting the highest test. With all its advantages
in the way of scientific hygiene and sanitation, of
schools, hospitals, public parks, opportunities for rec-
reation and amusement of every sort — it yet fails,
when considered from the standpoint of ideal American
citizenship.

What we want is the largest measure of individual
freedom consistent with the general progress and wel-
fare of society. This high element of citizenship is

53

54 City Homes on Cowntry Lanes

more and more imperiled by the conditions of urban
life.

Almost everybody lives in rented premises, paying
tribute to a landlord, and becoming the victim rather
than the beneficiary of the increment in land values
their presence creates. The widest possible diffusion
of home-ownership is one of the essentials of a whole-
some national existence. City life, as now organized,
holds out no hope in this respect. Already, in some of
the greater cities, 95 per cent of the population is
utterly landless ; and, in the sense of any security of
tenure, utterly homeless. It is a condition that strikes
at the roots of human freedom.

Almost everybody works for wages, and is thus de-
pendent on the enterprise, the life, the fortune— even
the whim — of some one else, for a means of livelihood.
This also is a condition which makes against freedom,
even in the days of youth and strength. When middle
age is passed, and old age begins to loom upon the
horizon, the carking thought of uncertainty for the
future becomes like "the pestilence that walketh in dark-
ness ; the destruction that wasteth at noonday'* ; a
veritable "terror by night."

There can be no true freedom, no abiding happiness
and content, without some measure of security of life.
The family that does not own the roof over its head;
that has no control of the occupation, or employment
on which it depends for daily bread, is living in a state
of insecurity, and facing an unknown future. Such
is the condition of a very large proportion of all of the
millions that have been absorbed by the resistless forces
of city life. Let the cup of their daily enjoyment be

"A Plague on Both Your Houses" 55

never so full, these bitter dregs lie at the bottom of it.

The average urban family is entirely defenseless
against rising living costs in the matter of rent and
food. Rent is based on land values; land values rise
with increasing population. The price of food is closely
related to the growing disproportion between con-
sumers and producers, resulting from urban congestion.

Completely detached from the soil, with a long line
of transportation agencies and trafficking middlemen
between the farm and their own tables, the swarming
city populations stand as helpless before the cost of
living as an unarmed mob before an army of profes-
sional soldiers, trained and equipped to the minute.
They can only pay the price or go without. Every
element of the problem lies far beyond their reach.

These are not the only drawbacks of city life. It
tends to wither, if not to destroy, personal initiative,
just as it hampers and limits the spirit of individual
independence. While it is doubtless true that the city
offers many interesting tasks, and opens the door to
many channels of promotion, it is equally true that the
vast majority of workers in factories, department
stores and offices, feel the deadening effect of a merely
mechanical routine. They are cogs in a big machine,
often dealing with only a very small portion of the
process that goes on in the establishment as a whole.

To shake them out of this lethargy, born of the
steady tramp of factory, store and office drill; to re-
store their initiative, and with it their creative facul-
ties; to stir the passion for new adventure; to give
them a measure, at least, of individual independence,
a measure of control over their cost of living; to make

56 City Homes on Country Lanes

them proprietors of the ground on which they dwell,
instead of mere tenants at will — and thus the benefi-
ciaries, rather than the victim of land values created
by the presence, the labors and the investment of
society as a whole; to do all this, while enabling them
still to retain the unquestioned advantage of city life,
including their hold on the payroll — this is the inspir-
ing task that awaits the genius of American citizenship.
'This, too, is the logical beginning of a process which,
before the present century shall have passed into his-
tory, will effect a far-reaching transformation in the
whole rural life of the nation. For man's passion for
the soil is to be born again. He is to revive his primary
love of nature and all its works ; to renew his com-
panionship with Mother Earth, and thereby to renew,
to broaden, and to sweeten his own existence.

As in the past half-century the country has been the
nursery of the city, so in the next half-century, the
city will be the nursery of the country. The movement
will not be "Back to the Land," but Forward to better
things than men have ever known in the past. Pro-
duction, important as it is, will be merely incidental to
the evolution of higher forms of social and economic life,
with a great deal of emphasis on family life — its hearth-
stone restored ; its altars relighted.

These things will come to pass, because they are
essential to the preservation and continued development
of democracy in America.

CHAPTER IV

GETTING THE RURAL SAVOR INTO CITY LIFE

I wish you joy of this and that;

The new look from a path's quick turn,

The sunshine on the long home street,

The unexpected fern; —

I wish you power to draw delight

Because a bow blows so — or so; —

I wish you joy of everything —

Of all the living, singing lands,

And of the smiling, sleeping sky

That no one understands —

Zona Gale.

TURNING now from the negative to the positive
side of our subject — from the god-of-things-as-
they-are to the god-of-things-as-they-ought-to-
be — let us consider to what extent it is possible to put
country scents into city air. Our quest is for a way
of life that may be brought within reach of the multi-
tude, giving them a richer and fuller experience than
they now enjoy. It must be an experience compre-
hending more than creature comforts ; more, even, than
social satisfaction and intellectual opportunity. It
must square with the great ideals of American life.

Now, there are some people in this world so fortu-
nately circumstanced that they determine their own
way of life; they do as they please. Often they hap-
pen to be people of taste and refinement, blessed with
a liberal education, since those advantages naturally

57

58 City Homes on Country Lanes

go with large means. It will be interesting, and perhaps
illuminating, to inquire what such people have found
to be the ideal way of living.

Up to a generation ago, this element largely pre-
ferred the city, with a strong leaning toward brown-
stone fronts. Their summers were spent at great re-
sorts, in hotels or rented cottages. They were of the
town, townish; and almost wholly lacking in rural
affiliations of any sort. But, in the last two or three
decades, the mental attitude of the extremely well-to-do
has radically changed. It happened about the time we
began to build good roads, run automobiles, and de-
velop other means of rapid transit. These well-to-do
people then discovered a new love of rural life. To have
a country home then became the proper thing. In
many instances the city mansion has been disposed of,
or torn down to make room for a skyscraper or an
apartment house, and the place in the country has be-
come the real home of the family, which retains in
town only an option on desirable hotel rooms, or pos-
sibly an apartment among the cliff-dwellers.

These comfortable folk, who do as they please be-
cause they have the price, have decided that the way
to achieve the utmost satisfaction is to be of the city,
but not m the city. They are distinctly metropolitan
in their business interests, and in a part of their social
interests, as well; but they have learned that the way
to get the most out of the city is to come to it each
morning, after a restful night among the sights and
sounds of the country; and that the way to get the
most out of the country is to go to it each night after

Getting the Rural Savor into City Life 59

a strenuous day in town, to discover its beauties afresh,
with a little shock of joyful surprise.

My proposition is this: If that is a good thing for
some of the people, and particularly for those who
can have the best there is in life, then it is a good
thing for vastly more of the people who would do it
if they could. And to make it possible for them to
do it is a part, and a very urgent part, of the job
awaiting the builders of America.

It is perfectly true, of course, that there are many
who would not care for that sort of thing. Herbert
Quick has given us an exceedingly serviceable phrase,
when he speaks of the "city-minded" and then of the
"country-minded." I venture to say that few people
realize to what extent the country-minded predominate
among the dwellers in great cities. They are legion —
these men and women who turn wistful eyes from dens
in office buildings, from caves in apartment houses,
toward the open spaces — dreaming that some day they
will have a little home of their own. They send for
seed catalogues — and dream; attend poultry shows —
and dream; observe fat squabs in the market — and
dream; make furtive sketches in idle moments of un-
built cottages and unplanted gardens — and dream.
Some of them, but by no means all, came originally
from the country, and look back lovingly to the scenes
of their childhood. Whether country or city bred, they
all thrill to the thought of the vine and fig tree, of
the family hearthstone that survives the mutability of
the years. The thing is in the blood of the race. It is
primal instinct, of which men are daily reminded by

60 City Homes on Country Lanes

their metropolitan environment. To walk the pave-
ment is to think of pressing the turf. To get a glimpse
of sunrise, or of the reddening evening sky across the
waste of city roofs, is to dream of the place where the
whole glorious spectacle is unfurled to them who have
eyes to see.

Yes, the country-minded constitute an innumerable
caravan in all the big cities of the land. If, like the
people in easy circumstances, they could do as they
wish, they would take the cream of the city and the
cream of the country, leaving the skim-milk for those
who like that sort of thing; or, perhaps, can do no
better. They are withheld from the satisfaction of
this natural instinct almost entirely by economic con-
siderations. They are attached to the city payroll
and would not dare to let go. Neither have they the
capital nor the genius for organization requisite to
attain the better way of life.

Municipality, State and nation know there is an
unsolved "housing problem." They do not know that
there is latent in the hearts of men a desire and a
spirit that would cover the earth with genuine homes
if it could but find inspiring leadership. But this is
getting ahead of our story.

"David Grayson" — as I have hinted in earlier pages
— is the voice of the landless multitude pent up in city
quarters, converted into something approximating
human jam twice each day, as it goes to and from
its work on street-cars, yet ever dreaming of the joys
of the countryside. No man since Thoreau has done
so much to put spiritual vision into the common life
in relation to rural experience. He is, however, not a

Getting the Rural Savor into City Life 61

type of rural citizenship, but a luminous example of
that rich and satisfying blend of city and country life
that is the essence of what I am saying. He divides his
time between New York and Washington, London and
Paris, on the one hand, and, on the other, his dear
little farm in the Connecticut Valley of Massachusetts.

It is my theory, and also my conviction, that his
home in the valley would not seem half so sweet, nor
his senses half so keen, if he did not come there from
the noise and bustle of the town to hoe a row of corn
while listening to the music of the birds and breathing
the incense from the earth; to walk beneath the shade
of his trees; to smile, as he hears the cackle of the*
hens, or the cheerful munching of the old mare at her
meal ; to chat with Harriet on the porch, or drink
from the brook before he sits down to stretch his legs.
"There is a poem in stretched legs," he tells us. That
is a poem, I think, born of Broadway, as much as of
the corn-rows and the new ditch across the meadow.
I insist upon full credit for Broadway!

Let me drive it in, because it is a vital point : With-
out Broadway, the valley farm would not be the joy
it is; nor would Broadway be so interesting, so sig-
nificant, without the valley farm. This is the verdict
of the fortunate who may do as they choose. Is it not,
then, sound gospel for the rest of us?

To take another example : A big New York business
man wrote a magazine article that attracted wide at-
tention, though the theme, "Farming vs. Golf," seemed
simple enough. He had been in the habit of playing
golf (and naively insists that he was a pretty fair

68 City Homes on Cowitry Lanes

player, too), but when the War came on it suddenly
occurred to him that he might discover a form of
exercise of more creative character — possibly a more
valuable contribution to his country's need — than pok-
ing little white balls across a field.

He bought an abandoned farm in the hills of West-
ern Connecticut and proceeded to raise food for his
family and the public. He tells us that his entire in-
vestment was not much in excess of the entrance fee
required by one of the exclusive golf clubs near New
York; yet the abandoned farm turned out to be a
paying investment. That, however, was the smallest
of his satisfactions. He turned over a new page in
his experience. He was like the colored girl, who,
speaking of the dinners provided by her young man,
said: "He found an appetite on me I didn't know I
had."

The successful man of large affairs became an en-
thusiastic farmer. He went after the record as to
quality and quantity of his crops, and returned from
the county fair bedecked with blue ribbons. He found,
moreover, better exercise and more mental diversion in
reclaiming these abandoned acres than he had ever
known on the golf field. He discovered that there was
no such food as the food of his own raising; and while
he spends many months of the year in his city home,
even there he is followed by a stream of fresh eggs,
milk and fat chickens, vegetables, fruit and preserves,
from the farm. Listening to him as he talks, one would
think the home in the Connecticut hills the main object
of his existence, and the great business over which he

Getting the Rural Savor into City Life 63

presides, with its branch houses in several American
cities, as well as in London, Melbourne and Bombay,
only a secondary consideration.

His magazine article struck a responsive chord in
many hearts, and brought him many letters of ap-
preciation, one of which I wrote from my office in the
Department of the Interior at Washington. Probably
this book would not have been written at this time ex-
cept for that incident, which is my excuse for the fol-
lowing quotation:

"Your philosophy has a distinct bearing on the
garden city plans we are considering here. The num-
ber of persons who can purchase and improve aban-
doned farms, and give them the necessary attention,
is comparatively small, and I fear it always will be;
but the home-in-a-garden which we have in mind, where
the man will own an acre or two of ground and be
shown how to make the most of it by intensive means —
applying not only to the soil but to various kinds of
livestock — will enable multitudes to take your prescrip-
tion of good, useful and productive work instead of
play.

"The people to whom I refer are probably not golf-
players now, but they are in need of rural experience,
and hunger for some touch of the open spaces."

He thought it good philosophy and called for a
program. I answered: "It would take a book." He
retorted, "Then by all means write it."

Our problem, then, is to get the rural savor into
city life; to open the way to homes on the land for
the multitude of our country-minded now living within

64 City Homes on Country Lanes

city walls; to bring within reach of all who desire it,
the experience of David Grayson and of our New York
business man. The limitations as to capital and leisure
mentioned in my letter must be kept in mind. It is
clearly a job of social engineering.
But — it can be done! •

CHAPTER V

THE INVISIBLE CITY OF HOMES

These are the things I prize

And hold of dearest worth:
Light of the sapphire skies,

Peace of the silent hills,
Shelter of forests, comfort of the grass,

Music of birds, murmur of little rills,
Shadows of clouds that swiftly pass,

And after showers
The smell of flowers

And of the good brown earth:
And best of all, along the way,

Friendship and mirth.

Henry Van Dyke.

HOW does it happen that all of our cities are
surrounded by a wide belt of nearly vacant
land, which, if used at all, falls far short of
its best possibilities? True, the city must s^op some-
where, but why should it stop short of the genuine
rural district? Possibly it is an illustration of the
law laid down by Julius Seelye: "In truly living insti-
tutions, the instinct of development is wiser than the
wisdom of the wisest."

These vacant areas have been waiting for something
— for something more valuable than the old order of
rural life ; more valuable, too, than congested city life.
They have been waiting for the Era of the Garden
Home. Even now, those vacant spaces constitute the
City Invisible.

66 City Homes on Cowitry Lanes

The practical explanation is, of course, that such
lands have become too valuable for farming because
of their proximity to large population, and are held
out of use in anticipation of urban expansion. The
more their value diminishes for the one purpose, the
more it increases for the other. That there is an inter-
mediate use which in its practical outworking restores
their productive capacity, while still reserving them
for the possible future needs of city extension, is a
truth that has escaped the sharp-eyed real-estate fra-
ternity in most localities, though not in all, as we
shall presently see. As a means of reducing the matter
to the concrete, let us consider the situation at the
National Capital, our beautiful Washington.

Within a ten-mile circle drawn around the Capitol
Dome are thousands of acres of good agricultural
land, of which the merest fraction has been reduced
to intensive cultivation. Much of it is wastef ully used ;
much of it is not used at all. Conditions of soil,
climate and water-supply are good, and represent a
fair average for the United States. Suburban trans-
portation is a serious problem in some localities, and
less so in others, but is being rapidly simplified by
the extension of good roads and the increasing use
of motor vehicles, both bus and truck.

In his annual report to the President, dated No-
vember 21, 1919, Secretary Lane called attention to
this situation, and said:

"Somewhere and sometime, it seems to me, a new
system must be devised to disperse the people of great
cities on the vacant lands surrounding them, to give
the masses a real hold upon the soil, and to replace

The Invisible City of Homes 67

the apartment house with a home in a garden. Such
a system should enable the ambitious and thrifty fam-
ily not only to save the entire cost of rent, but possibly
half the cost of food, while at the same time enhanc-
ing its standard of living socially and spiritually, as
well as economically.

"It has been suggested that there is no better place
to demonstrate a new form of suburban life than here
at the National Capital, where we may freely draw
upon all the resources of the governmental departments
for expert knowledge and advice, and where the demon-
stration can readily command wide publicity, and come
under the observation of the Nation's law-makers.
And I am expecting that such an experiment will be
made. Such a plan of community life rather than
city life should be extended to every other large city
in the Nation."

And he added with profound conviction:

"I put first among the constructive things which
may be done by the exercise of the Government's power
of supervision and direction, this matter of providing
suburban homes for our millions of wage-earners."

In later pages we shall see precisely what is meant
by the term "Garden Home." We are going to stand
among our fruits and vegetables, listening to the cackle
of our fowl, and the hum of our bees, and observing
the sleek prosperity of our rabbits and fine Swiss
goats. We are going to enjoy the shade of our trees
and inhale the perfume of our roses. Still further
along, we are going to consider what constructive
machinery, as revealed by the inquiry set in motion
by Secretary Lane, society must provide in order to

68 City Homes on Country Lanes

achieve these blessings for the millions of our common
humanity — for those whose dream of a sweeter and
finer way of .life is destined to come true. But here
we are still dealing with general principles underlying
it all. Let us return to Washington for this purpose:

Here is a city of nearly 450,000 which goes on grow-
ing with each decade, and which in view of some ex-
pert minds may ultimately reach a total of a million
or even two millions. While it has few industries, it is
preeminently a payroll city. And of all payrolls in
the world, Uncle Sam's ranks first in point of depend-
ability.

Here are tens of thousands of people engaged in
a daily routine which, for much the larger part of
them, offers little variety, and not the slightest opportu-
nity to exercise their initiative faculties. As a class,
their positions are secure, and their income certain
beyond anything that is known in ordinary industrial
walks. They can look down the vista of the years and
plan for their future with better assurance of con-
summation than almost any other class of salaried
workers. And yet, there is an end to the road — old age.

This is not now the sheer drop it once was and is
yet for nearly all salaried workers except those em-
ployed by the United States. There is now an old-
age pension for Government people. But, while it
represents a progressive step in humanitarian legisla-
tion, and is particularly valuable because of the prin-
ciple established, it is almost entirely inadequate to
the needs of those living in the crowded city and hav-
ing no retreat in view. It breaks the fall, but provides
no comfortable resting place.

The Invisible City of Homes 69

With the exception of mechanics, letter-carriers, and
postal clerks, the old-age pension applies only to those
who have been on the Government payroll for periods
ranging from 15 to 30 years and reached 70 years
of age. It is divided into six classes, and the maximum
amount of the annuity ranges from $360 a year in the
lowest to $720 in the highest class.

Without indulging in ungracious criticism of an
act inspired by the finest spirit, it must be said that
even the maximum annuity, under the highest class,
spells hardly more than poverty for those who must
continue to pay city prices for rent and food. Prob-
ably the average annuity will not exceed $500, and
this is scarcely more than the single item of rent that
must be paid by the average family in Washington.
It would mean, perhaps, a sudden shrinkage to half or
two-thirds the average income received before retire-
ment. Not a pleasant prospect, surely, for old age!
We must do better, infinitely better than this, or our
civilization is, indeed, a sorry failure.

Let us turn now to a happier picture, that of the
Government clerk in full tide of health and strength,
with his assured income and years of usefulness before
him. To-day he is paying a good share of his salary
for rent, and that rent inevitably grows with the
growth of the city. Every dollar so paid is a futility
from the standpoint of investment or provision for the
future. Whether he gets his money's worth as he
goes along is beside the question. He might be paying
rent to himself instead of the landlord, and he ought
to do so. He might become a direct beneficiary of
the growing land values, instead of their hopeless vie-

70 City Homes on Country Lanes

tim; and he ought to do that. Savings-bank deposits
are strikingly less in Washington than in many indus-
trial communities ; a fact that signifies not less thrift,
but less pay. Nevertheless, it is possible to devise a
plan under which every family represented on the Gov-
ernment payroll might acquire a garden home of its
own within a reasonable number of years. Further-
more, if there is any prize that can be offered that
would evoke the last ounce of energy and ambition —
the utmost measure of thrift on the part of the average
family — it is the garden home and security for old age.

We are going to see, presently, that $720 a year,
or even $360 a year, for the man who owns his rent-
free home, produces a large part of his table supplies,
and enjoys his facilities of amusement, recreation and
intellectual enlargement at the minimum cost, is a very
different thing from the same amount of money for a
family paying the last cent of tribute to landlord,
merchant, middleman and transportation agencies.

The economic gain for those transplanted from the
city apartment to the home in a garden is important,
and naturally the first thing to claim our attention.
It is, however, when considered from the standpoint
of the character of our people and their institutions,
of less importance than the spiritual and social gains
to be scored to the credit of the process. If a man
goes up in his own estimation when he puts on a new
suit of clothes, as is generally conceded, how much
higher will he rise when he steps from rented quarters
into a home of his own? His own ground, his own
roof, his own fireside! It will not be quite so easy
to tell him how to vote on election day — not quite!

The Invisible City of Homes 71

His sovereignty is enhanced, his citizenship ennobled.
He may still work for wages, but he has won a stake
in the proprietorship of his country. He sings "My
Country "Tis of Thee" with a new emphasis. The old
flag, always beautiful to his eyes, is eloquent now.

So with his food : It is not merely that he has some-
thing to eat — he has always had that and always ex-
pected to — but it is the fact that it is the food of his
planting, nursing, raising, reaping. Never were there
such strawberries as he picks, warm with the sunshine
of his garden. Never were there peppers with such
a "kick" as those coming fresh from his vines. We
need not go through the list, we are going to fondle all
these precious things later; but at this point it is
essential that we should feel the thrill of the new ad-
venture, and understand that we are unlocking a spirit
that has almost perished between the drudgery and
loneliness of the old forms of rural life and the pressure
of urban congestion. It is a very precious spirit — one
that draws man close to God in the joy of co-creation.

The social metamorphosis to be wrought will bring
an immense accession of health and vigor into the lives
of families and communities. We have learned that
in the matter of social organization, as, perhaps, in
the matter of industrial organization, there is a unit
that is too large for efficiency, just as there is a unit
that is too small for efficiency. A recent instance has
come under my observation — the experience of a Cali-
fornia boy attending the largest high school in the
United States. The school is nobly housed; equipped
with every facility, even to its printing office, bank and
restaurants, and second to none in the ability and de-

72 City Homes on Country Lanes

votion of its faculty. And yet with all these advan-
tages and its 3,000 pupils, it offers less in a spiritual
sense than the school from which he came in California,
where there were only 150 pupils. It is assumed that
the reader knows that California schools are by no
means to be compared with average rural schools men-
tioned in an earlier chapter. California is in a class
by itself — not only with respect to climate and scenery,
but in the magnificence of its school fund, and the
progressive spirit of its people.

The point is that the Washington school suffers from
its bigness, while the California school gains by its
smallness. The loss and gain are wholly in the matter
of the spirit, not in physical or technical conditions.
It is really true that work outside of the prescribed
programme, and dependent upon the voluntary interest
of the students, as, for example, the debating society,
draws the larger attendance in the small school, the
lesser in the big one.

The principle applies to all departments of social
and intellectual life. While a community may be too
small for the successful cultivation of such interests,
it may also be so large as almost entirely to efface
them. The garden city offers ideal soil for the culti-
vation of the social plant. Not only is it right as to
the quantity, but also as to the quality, of its citizen-
ship. It is not so large as to suffocate the neighborly
instinct, nor is it likely to foster class distinctions
arising from differences of wealth and position. These
considerations have a deep significance with respect to
our national character.

The Invisible City of Homes 73

In considering this aspect of the subject the fact
should be borne in mind that the people of the garden
homes share all of the advantages of the metropolis.
They are by no means detached from its life. As in the
case of the extremely well-to-do referred to in earlier
pages, they are of the city, though not in the city.
To a very large extent they enjoy the benefits and
avoid the drawbacks of both city and country. The-
aters, libraries, art galleries, pageants, and spectacles
of every sort ; big department stores ; opportunities to
see and hear the great of every land as they go on
their rounds; newspapers at morning and evening,
even the midnight extra — all these, and much more,
are for the denizens of the garden homes, as much as
for the residents of the crowded towns.

Why has this new and better form of life lingered
so long in the coming? Awaiting its logical hour in
the process of social evolution, perhaps ; yet that is
not all, for many have seen the light and wished to
follow it. This could not usually be done, at least
in the best way, by an individual family acting alone.
It calls for planned development; for the purchase
and subdivision of land upon a large scale ; for scientific
preparation of the soil; for the installation of com-
munity facilities and utilities, such as water-supply,
sewerage, parks and public buildings. In a word, for
the genius of social engineering, supplemented by an
amount of capital and executive capacity that shall
be equal to a large constructive task. All this belongs
rather more to the programme than to the philosophy
of the subject, and will be considered in its proper

74 City Homes on Cowntry Lanes

place. First, let us make sure that the thing is worth
doing; then it will be proper to consider how it may
be done.

The opportunity lies there, out in the sunshine, in
the surroundings of every city in the land. And the
Invisible shall become the Visible, even to the material
sight, as now to the eyes of the Spirit.

CHAPTER VI

GARDEN INSTINCT REVEALED BY WAR

"The kiss of the sun for pardon;

The song of the birds for mirth;
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth."

THERE are those who deny that there is any
such thing as a latent love for the soil in the
hearts of our urban masses. They assert that
the last thing that would appeal to these people is a
patch of ground and a hoe; that they have turned
their back on the country with a sigh of relief and a
grim determination to have no more of it; that their
whole interest in life is bounded by the metropolitan
horizon; that within these limits are their livelihood,
their social, intellectual and religious interests; and,
beyond an occasional picnic in the woods, they care for
naught else.

Such criticism, of course, loses most of its force
when applied to the garden home, which simply en-
larges the city boundaries and sacrifices little or
nothing in the way of urban advantages. Apart from
that, however, the criticism rests on mistaken grounds.
Love for the soil has not gone out of men's hearts.
It is a primal instinct which may have been repressed,
or even paralyzed for the time, but can no more be
destroyed than love of family or love of country.
It is of divine substance — hence, indestructible.

75

76 City Homes on Cowntry Lanes

The world war, which illuminated many dark cor-
ners, revealed the gardening instinct in all its original
vigor, and mobilized it for the service of the country
without the formality of the selective draft. We raised
4,800,000 soldiers and trained them for battle with
marvelous celerity; but, at the same time, an army
of 5,250,000 war gardeners grasped rake and hoe and
proceeded to do their part without the inspiration of
martial music, without hope of glory or material re-
ward. It was a remarkable demonstration, showing
that our people have not only the instinct but the
aptitude for this adventure. It was a great light
thrown upon the character, the capacity, the aspira-
tions of the American people. It is one of the war
lessons which has not been appreciated at anything
like its true value.

The National War Garden Commission was not, as
most people suppose, a Government activity, though it
had its headquarters in Washington, and enjoyed the
moral support of Federal authority. It was the volun-
tary undertaking of a number of patriotic citizens,
headed by Charles Lathrop Pack, of Lakewood, N. J.,
President of the American Forestry Association. For
more than two years he turned over bodily the activities
of that organization to the war-garden work, at a
cost of about $1,000,000 a year, raised by himself
and associates, and consecrated to the work of popular
education., The task undertaken was so extraordinary
that most men would have regarded it as impossible
of accomplishment.

The problem was to bring about a vast increase in
the country's food supply: to do it very quickly, and

Garden Instinct Revealed by War 77

to do it without taking from existing farming opera-
tions either an acre of ground or the labor of a single
man, since both land and labor were already under
the fullest pressure. Not only so, but the railroads
were groaning under the heaviest demands and it was
essential that the vast increase of food supply should
be obtained without adding materially to the burden
of the railroads. How could the thing be done? Only
by inducing the people to utilize every piece of ground,
without remitting any of their regular work, which
was also in unusual demand.

The scheme was chimerical, of course. Any sensible
person would have known it! But Mr. Pack and his
friends did not know it. They believed that the great
spirit evoked by the war could do impossible things.
The event proved that they were right.

Millions of gardens — more than five millions —
sprung into almost immediate existence. These gardens
blossomed not only in the workingman's back yard,
but on the millionaire's front lawn. Italian gardens,
which had been the pride of their owners, were beauti-
fied by straight rows of common vegetables and min-
istered yet more to pride. Public parks, which had
been mere fields for popular recreation, were dedicated
to a more sacred public purpose — that of feeding the
people and winning the war. The total product of this
war-gardening scheme between May, 1917, and June,
1919, reached the impressive figure of $1,250,000,000.
The plan served its immediate purpose; but its deeper
significance has yet to enter the consciousness of our
people.

First, it revealed the affinity of our people for the

78 City Homes on Country Lanes

soil. Men rushed for the shipyards to work for $10
a day. While they were inspired by the depredations
of the German submarines, they also obtained substan-
tial material reward for their own pockets. When
these same men got up an hour earlier to cultivate their
gardens, and came home from the shipyard to labor
with the hoe until dark, they were working for some-
thing higher than dollars, in response to a finer im-
pulse than the desire for gain.

They were preserving their families and their coun-
try against the peril of possible famine. They were
exerting their initiative and creative faculties, and they
found that the process yielded a great sense of satis-
faction. They were adventuring upon the lost field
of individual independence, and while they did not
go far in that direction, they yet went far enough to
catch a fleeting glimpse of the promised land. They
demonstrated their aptitude for the thing. And that
was a comfort. If they had once known how, they
discovered that they had not forgotten. If they had
never known how, they discovered that they could
learn. And that was a joy.

This brings us to another hopeful aspect of the
matter: Of the 5,250,000 families who enlisted as war
gardeners, something like 3,000,000 really did not
know how to do it, or at least how to do it the best way.
To my mind, this is one of the most valuable lessons
of the experience — the teachability of our people; the
willingness to learn; their eagerness to respond to dis-
interested leadership. For, be it known, not less than
3,000,000 of these families entered into direct com-
munication with the National War Garden Commission

CHARLES LATHROP PACK

President of American Forestry Association, whose remarkable success as Chairman of the

National War Garden Commission (1918-19) revealed the latent love of the American

masses for the soil

Garden Instinct Revealed by War 79

at Washington, taking correspondence lessons at the
hands of the best experts money could employ, or
patriotic fervor command. These lessons included the
art of preserving vegetables for winter use.

The result was an extraordinary and almost imme-
diate stiffening of the battle-front. There was an
enormous gain in efficiency. War gardening became
a science in many instances. If the war had lasted
ten years longer, the nation would have learned the
greatest single fact in the world — that a man can
make a living from a very little land. And, when that
fact is finally learned, in the length and breadth of
America there will be neither a homeless man nor a
hungry child.

Was it Woodrow Wilson who intimated that if we
could have the same spirit in peace that we have in
war the world would speedily become a paradise?

The war-garden episode, great as it was in its im-
mediate results, was only an example of crude emer-
gency work. Its value for the present purpose is to
show that the country-minded millions in big cities can
garden, and will garden, if they have a chance; and
that these facts have a very intimate relation to cost
of living. To accomplish the best results, however,
they must have a better chance than they found in
vacant city plots. The city of the future should be
so organized that the work may be conducted on a
permanent basis and under the best conditions. Further-
more, it must be founded on the principle of home-
ownership, of landed proprietorship. While a man
will work with fierce energy on anybody's ground to help
his country under the stress of war, it is his own

80 City Homes on Cowitry Lanes

ground that evokes his abiding love, and with it all
of his resources of energy and skill in times of peace.

Neither is gardening, and especially the culture of
vegetables which come to maturity in a few weeks or
months, more than the beginning of industry in the
true garden home. The fruits of tree and vine lie
beyond the scope of the emergency garden or city
plots, requiring years for profitable production.
Then there is the matter of small livestock, with its
assurance of milk and meat, as well as fresh eggs for
breakfast. If to these considerations we add the need
of permanent demonstration plants and other forms
of popular instruction, together with the institutions
of social and intellectual life, we readily see how far
short the war garden necessarily falls of meeting the
need.

There are a number of American cities where the
war-garden idea has taken root and become a per-
manent institution, and where new subdivisions have
been laid out with this idea in view. In such cases
the lots are made unusually large, ranging from one-
fourth of an acre to an acre, and planned with special
reference to the accommodation of poultry-yards, rab-
bitries, and similar small livestock. The movement is
particularly advanced in California, especially in the
neighborhood of Los Angeles, where it has become a
genuine gospel. For example, how different from the
ordinary announcement of the new subdivision is the
following :

"The shadow of the coming economic reaction lies
across the path of every wage-earner.

Garden Instinct Revealed by War 81

"It clouds the future of every salary-earner.

"Why not lift that shadow

"And get out into the sunshine?

"Why not turn the tide so that

"You may float upstream instead of down?

"The Homecroft garden is the anchor within

"And it is within every man's reach.

"Every family seeking health and happiness should
think for itself and realize that it must solve its own
problem, instead of thoughtlessly marching in lock-
step with a multitude who do no thinking, and are
merely drifting toward the point of least resistance.
The only safe course for any family is to break away
from the unthinking mass ; and, as a family anchorage,
secure the ownership of a piece of land from which
their own efforts will produce the food for the family,
at a point nearby the commerce of the city."

These are the words of George H. Maxwell, one of
the strongest advocates of the garden home, and a man
of standing in American public life, who discovered
the truth many years ago. The fact that it has be-
come popular to depend on his philosophy instead of
the old-fashioned real estate arguments as a means of
winning favor for a new subdivision is a most hopeful
sign.

In England the garden-city idea has taken firm root,
and there have been several successful examples, notably
that of Letchworth. In the United States nothing
really adequate and worthy of the nation has yet
found expression on the soil; though there has been
much discussion, and the idea has many advocates.

82 City Homes on Country Lanes

There can be no doubt whatever that the people are
ready for it — millions of people — and that the garden
city should be as much a part of every municipal
equipment as the water-supply, schools, public libraries,
or street-railway systems.

CHAPTER VII

"THE MOST VALUABLE OF ALL ARTS"

I believe in a spade and an acre of ground. Whoso cuts a
straight path to his own living by the help of God, in the sun
and rain and sprouting grain, seems to be a universal working
man. He solves the problem of life.

Emerson.

ELSEWHERE I have ventured the prediction
that the next great passion of mankind will
be for the soil. Now let me add that the next
great popular science, the next great popular art, will
be the science and the art employed by millions of
ambitious, energetic folk in building the peace garden
on the foundation of the war-garden experience, thus
raising the American standard of living higher than
ever before, and establishing the institutions of our
common life upon the enduring basis of landed pro-
prietorship and individual independence.

Sixty-two years ago Abraham Lincoln, in a casual
speech, scarcely reported at the time, and the tre-
mendous import of which has not been sensed by the
people even now, used these prophetic words:

"The most valuable of all arts will be the art of
deriving a comfortable subsistence from the smallest
area of soil."

It is a good speaker who can put one big thought
into a single sentence of twenty-two words, but Lincoln
put three separate and distinct big thoughts into the

83

84 City Homes on Cowntry Lanes

sentence I have quoted. And in each of these there is
the germ of a great philosophy of every-day life. One
wonders if the orator himself realized all that he was
saying; or whether he simply followed Emerson's
counsel : "A man should learn to detect and watch that
gleam of light which flashes across his mind from
within, more than the luster of the firmament of bards
and sages." Consciously or unconsciously, he reflected
the Infinite Intelligence as surely in this as in the
famous speech at Gettysburg and the Second Inaug-
ural.

Consider the significance of the expression, "the most
valuable of all arts" as applied to the cultivation of
the soil. Who had thought of it as in any sense an
art — this matter of planting and digging potatoes?
An occasional poet or philosopher, perhaps ; but cer-
tainly this was not the idea entertained by the common
intelligence. Art, according to Noah Webster, is "the
skillful and systematic adaptability of means for the
attainment of some desired end; skill in accomplishing
a purpose." Science, according to the same authority,
is "knowledge gained and verified by exact observation,
and correct thinking especially as methodically formu-
lated and arranged in a rational system."

During the past half century, and especially the
past two or three decades, thanks to Government and
university activities, American agriculture has ad-
vanced far along these lines. But Lincoln was speak-
ing to the pioneer settlers in a new State barely emerg-
ing from the wilderness — Wisconsin in 1859. There
was very little science or system in the farming method
then and there in vogue. And in coupling "art" with

"The Most Valuable of All Arts" 85

the prosaic work of planting the new clearing, the
orator must have spoken over the heads of most of
his audience. But Lincoln was right. We shall never
make the most of our resources — the most of man's
innate love for the soil — until the farmer and gardener
imbibe the spirit of the artist.

Lincoln spoke of deriving "a comfortable subsist-
ence from the land." And this was his second big
thought. He was speaking, doubtless, to men who had
gone into the wilderness thinking more of getting rich
than of getting a living. They had taken up free
land — all they could possibly obtain under the law —
with the expectation that it would become of high value
with the passing of the years and the growth of popu-
lation— an expectation that was by no means disap-
pointed. But Lincoln did not laud this purpose. He
was blind to the possibilities of speculation; deaf to
the call of sudden riches. Himself the child of poverty,
hardship and struggle, his prayer for his countrymen
was that they might achieve "a comfortable subsist-
ence," which to his mind meant security of life, even
unto old age.

Greatest of all was his final thought: "The smallest
area of soil." The very crux of our rural civilization,
the very hope of our rural democracy, lies in that
phrase. It represents the antithesis of land monopoly
and exalts the hope of a well-provided life as the
dearest goal of our citizenship. When men shall come
to regard the use of the soil as an art, based on scientific
knowledge and pursued by scientific methods ; when
they accept the thought of a "comfortable subsist-
ence" rather than unearned speculative profits as the

86 City Homes on Cowntry Lanes

object of their efforts; and when they learn to satisfy
these needs from "the smallest area of soil," then we
shall solve our rural problem in a way that will bring
real satisfaction to the soul of America.

The smaller the holding, the more intensive — hence
the more artistic and scientific — its cultivation must
necessarily be. The smaller the holding, the nearer
and more numerous the neighbors — hence the finer the
institutions of civic and social and intellectual and
spiritual life will inevitably become.

Lincoln said it all !

The time has come to apply this wisdom in the prac-
tical life of our people. It points directly to the home
in a garden for millions of our country-minded city peo-
ple. It extends, however, beyond them and reaches out
into the true rural life of the nation, now awaiting some
new and mighty impulse that shall effect a basic reor-
ganization and reconstruction. Here, as well as in the
garden home, there is need of art and science; of the
adoption of a "comfortable subsistence" as an economic
ideal, and the realization of all the social, intellectual
and spiritual possibilities inherent in the smallest area
of soil. This branch of the subject will be considered
later. Just now we are thinking of the garden home;
and the place to go for our inspiration along practical
lines is that part of the United States where the new
mental attitude toward the soil has found the best ex-
pression. This leads us to Southern California.

There are certain apparent drawbacks in life that
turn out to be mysterious providences, or blessings in
disguise. For example, the movement toward the land
is always a part of the phenomena of hard times. It

"The Most Valuable of Att Arts" 87

is at such times that men see clearly the insecurity of
employment, with abject dependence on some one else
for food and shelter. It is then they think of the
earth as the real mother who never intended her chil-
dren to suffer the pangs of hunger.

Sometimes there is a blessing concealed in high land
values. The more land costs, the less of it the average
man can afford to buy. It is a case of "the less the
better," down to a certain necessary minimum, which,
of course, depends upon personal circumstances, in-
cluding the size of the family. This is so because a
man makes better use of the land and acquires neigh-
borhood advantages that would otherwise be beyond
his reach.

Another fortunate "drawback" is deficient rainfall,
and consequent need of irrigation. Irrigation is a
scientific thing in itself, and the application of it in
the best way a genuine art. Furthermore, it usually
invokes the necessity of close cooperation among many
using water from a common source. And the irrigation
system in the West — like the dykes in Holland — has
been the prolific mother of cooperative institutions of
various kinds.

Possibly this condition accounts for the priority and
preeminence of Southern California in the matter of
garden homes, though doubtless something must be
credited to the caressing climate and the irresistible
call of its mountain-guarded valleys. Whatever the
explanation, it is there that the largest number of
people have seen the light and gone farthest along the
new path.

"Feed yourself." This is the first maxim of the new

88 City Homes on Country Lanes

way of life, as preached in the garden homes of South-
ern California. The idea is not only a sure but a
luxurious living. Mr. Marshall V. Hartranft — both
prophet and practitioner of the art — has declared:

"You can take the menu program for the past year
from twenty of the most affluent homes in Los Angeles,
and find nothing but what is duplicated or served
better in the acre-garden homes in Southern Cali-
fornia."

This is a very strong statement indeed ; but is it not
splendid idealism — the thought that the average family
in the United States with income ranging from $500
to $1,000 a year shall be assured of a table as generous,
even as luxurious, as the table of a millionaire? The
dreamer can go no further in the matter of creature
comforts ; but is the thing within the range of practical
possibility?

Not surely by methods commonly pursued. The
man who steps into the corner grocery and buys a few
packages of seeds, plants them in ground not well pre-
pared, has little or no comprehension of the relation
between the amount of his planting and the amount
of his family needs, takes no thought of what he is
going to have for dinner a few weeks or months hence,
but knows only in a general way that he is fond of
this, that, or the other — this man will not dine like the
millionaire. Science must be enlisted, art employed,
forethought used, if any such result is to be obtained.
That is what Mr. Hartranft meant when he said "Pro-
gramme, Method and Schedule are the watchwords of
acre efficiency."

The first thing on the programme is a bill of fare

"The Most Valuable of All Arts'9 89

mapped out long in advance. In fact, they call it
"Housekeeping by the Year."

It is obvious that if one is to have certain vegetables
for dinner — on June 22, for example — the planting
must be done some time in advance, or it will be neces-
sary to run to the corner grocery and buy the vege-
tables. That will do for the millionaire, but not for
the home gardener. And, by the way, this is a good
place to remark that the home gardener has the ad-
vantage of the millionaire in this respect, since his
vegetables will be fresh from the garden, and stamped
with that ineffable something that attaches to his
own creation. There is an element of love in it that
ones does not get in the more or less wilted vegetables
bought at the store after passing through many alien
hands ; nor even in vegetables raised in one's own garden
by hired men.

The menu goes up on the kitchen wall, accompanied
by tables of maturity, so that the housekeeper can
look ahead and see just what material she will have
at her disposal on a certain date. The planting is
done, of course, in accordance with the bill-of-fare.
This brings us to another step in the new and valuable
art. This step is successional planting — planting a
little of everything in the way of perishable vegetables
one day in each week. In the case I have in mind,
Tuesday is planting day, and the rest of the week is
given to cultural days. Usually the work is done in
the early morning hours, "when the wild life of the
country tunes up and ushers in the shafts of sunshine
that break over the canyon walls." This method is
guaranteed to produce a good appetite for breakfast.

90 City Homes on Country Lanes

One of the interesting aims of the new science is to
find a true per-capita basis for planting. It is the
common experience of those who have gardens that
they plant far more of certain varieties than they can
consume, sell to the neighbors, or even give away.
There is a profound economic fallacy in this. Mr.
Hartranf t puts it strikingly when he says :

"We find that one tomato plant will supply the
needs of one person. On that one plant we make a
million per cent of profit; but if we raise a second
tomato plant without a profitable market for the sur-
plus, we lose a billion per cent on that one."

The bill-of-fare, of course, includes much besides
vegetables. There are the fruits of the tree and vine;
milk and eggs ; a variety of meat. These are matters
which will be discussed in detail farther on, but just
here it is desirable to concentrate the reader's attention
upon the importance of ordered production to a de-
sired end, that end being a good living according to
a prearranged bill-of-fare. There is, perhaps, no bet-
ter way than to follow Mr. Hartranft's description
of the home gardener, as he sees him in one of the
beautiful valleys among the Sierra Madre Mountains,
not far from Los Angeles. While details must be
adjusted to the requirements of the climate in different
regions, the principles are similar in all localities. He
says:

"He has a chart of his ground and begins the winter
garden. If rows can be made 100 feet long it is best,
but it is planted only part at a time. The manuring,
the watering and the plowing of the new plot being

"The Most Valuable of All Arts" 91

ready, on a certain Tuesday he starts a mixed row
of plantings about like this :

"Kind Amount per person

Lettuce 7 plants, 6 inches apart

Beans 3 seeds, 4 inches apart

Beets 6 inches, sown thickly

Carrots 4 inches, sown thickly

Kale 3 inches, sown thickly

Spinach 3 to 5 inches, sown thickly

Turnips 6 inches

Corn 6 grains Bantam variety

Mustard 1 plant for whole season

Onion 8 sets, two inches apart

Peas 10-ft. row, inoculate and lime

Egg-plant 1 plant for whole season

Tomato 1 plant for whole season

Cabbage 1 plant weekly, constant moisture

Radishes Sow thickly between last four

Celery Plant a solid row, 8 feet per person

"The following Tuesday he will use the same list,
except egg-plant and tomato, and then will have two
of his thirty-foot rows coming along. These small
rows he must ardently care for every morning after the
few chickens and rabbits are fed.

"Acreculture of this character must be allied with
two walnut, olive and ahuacate trees, several raisin
grapevines, prunes, figs, peaches, apricots, enough for
drying and canning, chickens, pigeons and rabbits (in-
stead of a pup) and a hive for the honeybee.

"It is a notable fact, and lamentable, that the ten-

92 City Homes on Country Lanes

dency is to overplant all the berries. One loganberry
bush, one mammoth blackberry and one Himalaya berry
per individual are as much or more than can be used
if the vines are carefully attended."

The varieties of fruit trees would naturally vary
with the climate. Of the housekeeping side of the
matter, he speaks as follows :

"Just as the programme of life is figured on a card
system, so is the housekeeping calculated from the
maturities column shown above in the planting chart
for each month of the year. A menu made up from
the maturities column for every day is then shown;
and then, in the 'advance-work' column, can be counted
and set forth exactly the number of glasses of jelly
and preserved fruits and vegetables contained in the
whole year's menu. These itemized figures are carried
to the proper month when they should be prepared, and
the whole month's work is on the kitchen wall, right
at the time the crops are available for using. These
also demonstrate how much less is required of each
variety than is usually attempted. Only those who
have lived from an orchard and garden can appreciate
the true luxury of the annual menu. Taking November
1, as a specimen, it reads this way:

"Breakfast: Sliced salway peaches, corn fritters,
comb honey, toast, coffee.

"Lunch: String-bean salad, fried tomatoes, milk
gravy, boiled potatoes, tea.

"Dinner: Tomato soup, ripe olives, lettuce, boiled
squab, baked sweet potatoes, lemon pie, coffee."

In many places some other kind of pickles would
be substituted for olives, and some other kind of fruit

"The Most Valuable of All Arts" 93

pie for lemon, so that nothing except a little flour,
coffee and spices would represent cash expenditure in
the preparation of these three meals. Of course they
are capable of almost infinite variation.

I can not refrain from giving a glimpse of the goats
and the bees, since milk and honey are important fea-
tures of the menu, as they figure in Mr. Hartranft's
philosophy.

"Back East, in the village where I grew up, we had
the herd boy, who came in summer and took our cow
to the pasture. It will be so with our Swiss Toggen-
burg goats in the foothills. In our town we have not
enough of the high breeds to employ a herder yet, but
it will come, and Nellie will go to the wild lands with
the neighbors' goats and come back at evening to her
accustomed stall. On this line we already have the
bee factor who manages our hives on shares, keeps
the bees in good health, and to-day he brought over
300 pounds of fine honey. If you like honey you con-
sider sugar a poor substitute in coffee and in baking
and cooking. Did the Mission Fathers have sugar?
Is not sugar only a part of the careless habit of run-
ning to the grocery store and buying dinner from tin
cans?"

He runs joyously on:

"Since getting my hands into the honey business I
feel so stuck up that I am going to send East and get
a couple of those rustic-looking straw hives that you
see in the pictures of English gardens — those thatched-
roof affairs. Any Southern Calif ornian who does not
have honey when all of these flowers are abloom, is the
one who is stung. He is living a counterfeit life in the

94 City Homes on Country Lanes

midst of plenty. He is one of the great mass of people
who are huddled into apartment flats, innocently as-
suming that 'you can't eat honey if you don't have
money !' '

The art of living well from a little land that shall
be worthy of Abraham Lincoln's prophecy must include
not only the systematic production of all the elements
of the bill-of-fare, but also the art of utilizing these
materials by means of the best cooking, and the art
of serving them on the daintiest of tables. The whole
scheme of luxurious living must hang together, for we
are going to boost our common standard of living to
the level of the millionaire! God must have intended
we should do so when He made the green earth. He
provided a land of plenty. If we have lost the way
perhaps we shall rediscover it in time to avert the
worst consequences of our folly and ignorance.

I can not leave that garden city among the hills
without quoting its most distinguished citizen concern-
ing the new way of life. John S. McGroarty, Cal-
ifornia's poet laureate, and author of the classic
"Mission Play," writes of the only Millionaires' Club
in the world that prides itself on its broad in-
clusiveness.

"The club holds its meetings at least once a day on
the steps of the postoffice," he tells us. "The only
qualification for membership is that you must be a
millionaire.

"When the neighbors told us about it first we said
it couldn't be, because there are no millionaires in these
hills. And the neighbors answered back and said yes,
there are lots of them here. They said they were mil-

"The Most Valuable of All Arts9' 95

lionaires of happiness. And they said we could join
if we were in that class.

"And we said we saw the point, and it meant that
Rockefeller and Morgan and the Jap potato king, and
those kind of fellows, were barred out. But the neigh-
bors said that this did not necessarily follow. That
if a man had $1,000,000 he could join just the same,
provided he were also a millionaire of happiness. And,
if he did not have ten cents, but were a millionaire of
happiness — which he could well be if he wanted to —
why, he could join, too. So we put in our application
and we hope that we will not be blackballed.

"For, dearly beloved, a man is a millionaire if he be
happy. More than that, he is the heir of all the ages.
He is son of the morning star and brother of the dawn.
To him has been handed down the heart of the dancers
of Babylon, and the souls of them who laughed in Eden.

"When God made you, He gave you the gift of
happiness at your birth. If, since then, you have lost
it, go back and find the road where you left the sun
to wander in the shadow."

Valuable indeed is the art, and precious the way of
life, that makes everybody eligible to membership in
the kind of millionaire's club whose entrance fee and
annual dues are payable in the golden coin of happi-
ness!

CHAPTER VIII

THE DAWNING OF THE NEW ART

What these strong masters wrote at large in miles

I followed in small copy in my acre ;

For there's no rood has not a star above it;

The cordial quality of pear or plum

Ascends as gladly in a single tree

As in broad orchards resonant with bees;

And every atom poises for itself,

And for the whole.

Emerson.

THERE is visible as yet only the gray dawn of
the new art sketched in the previous chapter.
The effulgence of the fully-risen sun is reserved
for the future, but apparently for the early future.
A few lonely pioneers — thousands in the aggregate,
yet relatively few out of our total population — have
beheld this vision of a well-provided life and a secure
old age to be won by the scientific use of a little land.
So the seeds of the new art have been planted. They
must be nourished in the passion of millions for landed
independence and self-expression.

The work of the National War Garden Commission
extended much further than a temporary increase in
the food supply. It was rapidly expanding along
scientific lines of development when the War came to a
sudden end. For example, it put out many bills-of-
fare to show the war gardeners how to make the most
of their produce on the family table. In the latter part

96

The Dawning of the New Art 97

of its existence, it gave much attention to the matter
of canning vegetables for winter use. If it had been
conceived and carried forward as a permanent institu-
tion, it might have developed Lincoln's thought of "a
comfortable subsistence from the smallest area of soil"
to its full proportions. But many things ended with
the War; and much that was readily done under the
exaltation of the war spirit can only be accomplished
now by an appeal to the deeper instincts of human na-
ture. This appeal is being successfully made in many
localities, especially in Southern California, as we have
seen.

One of the large contributors to the new art is Prof.
C. L. Schufeldt of Los Angeles. First as the garden
teacher in the public schools, and then as the garden
editor of daily and weekly newspapers, he has probably
inspired and directed more enlightened home gardening
than any other man in the United States. A concrete
illustration of his teachings is the accompanying dia-
gram of a home and grounds occupying a lot 50x145
feet, or 7,250 square feet. This is about one-sixth of
an acre — scarcely enough to do the thing quite com-
fortably, even in California. Yet, a careful study of
this plan will reveal delightful possibilities, both of
family independence and social arrangements.

On this small space of ground there is room' for a
five-room bungalow, with bath and screened porch ; for
a garage, and accommodations for three kinds of small
livestock — chickens, rabbits, and two fine Swiss goats,
since two are necessary to keep the family in milk
throughout the year. Then there are the vegetable
plots, a dozen varieties of fruit trees, three kinds of

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The Dawning of the New Art 99

small fruits raised on bushes, grapevines on the per-
gola, a rose garden and an abundance of other flowers.
There is even the lath house for propagating tender
plants. And with all this there is still room for a
front lawn. The house itself, of course, is covered with
flowering vines.

Isn't it a dear, — such a home within reach of the
city payroll and in the midst of all urban advantages?

Too small? Of course it is. It was made to fit the
standard-sized lot in Los Angeles, which was not laid
out with full comprehension of the economic plan under-
lying this home. The lot should be twice the size — a
third of an acre; or, still better, three times as large,
which would make half an acre. Yet, Professor Shu-
feldt says "one-half the living expenses for a family
of five persons may be obtained" even from so small
a lot organized in this way. It saves, of course, all
the rent, and probably half the cost of the food, after
allowing for purchase of supplies, including feed for
chickens, rabbits and goats, though they are fed in
part from the garden.

True, he is dealing with the gentle climate of Cali-
fornia. It will be said: "There, perhaps, but not in
Massachusetts or New York." The comment is very
natural, yet essentially fallacious. It is perfectly true
that the range of production is narrower and the season
shorter in most parts of the United States. This is a
consideration that does not affect livestock at all. It
implies different varieties of trees, but not less fruit;
more canning of small fruits and vegetables, but not
less of these things to eat. In fact, so far as funda-
mentals are concerned, all that can be done in Cali-
fornia can be done elsewhere. Intensive cultivation of

100 City Homes on Country Lanes

garden farms pays as much, acre for acre, in the Cape
Cod District of Massachusetts as in Southern Cali-
fornia. In the present case, however, we are not talk-
ing of raising food for market, but only for the family
table. And it can be done on a small holding in any
part of the United States. I have never seen more
wonderful vegetables than I found in Alaska.

There is a fallacy, too, in thinking that only Cali-
fornia can supply the floral setting provided in the
garden scheme. I was born and raised in New England
in a generous home that, among plenty of everything
else, had plenty of flowers, including the old-fashioned
varieties. I have spent most of my life among the
semi-tropical productions of California. I trust I am
loyal to both — the old home and the new — when I say
that the one is as attractive and satisfying as the other
in this respect. They are different — that is all.

I dwell upon these things because they are really
quite vital to the way of life we are considering. Jf
God had made a whole world and placed all its bless-
ings in a single corner, we should witness a greater con-
gestion of population than has yet occurred to vex
the sociologist.

It is quite true that a winter season of four or five
months will have its effect on the routine of the garden
home and the social life of the garden city. But the
law of compensation still works, and if there is loss,
there is also gain. The vacation from garden work
will not be wholly unwelcome. The appetite for out-
doors will be sharpened when spring comes around.
The social life of the community should brighten with
the fires on the hearthstone. The opportunity for

The Dawning of the New Art 101

certain cottage industries should be enhanced. I have
no hesitation in predicting that, given the same spirit
and industry, the principles of the garden home pre-
sented in Professor Schufeldt's diagram will work with
equal profit and satisfaction in all parts 9f the coun-
try. But it is, perhaps, not unnatural that Cali-
fornia should take the lead. Her golden heart is set
on homes !

The new art has advanced much in the past few
years, by means of the planting table, now quite gen-
erally appearing in newspapers and magazines. The
best of these show what to plant (which of different
varieties and different vegetables), how deep, how often
and how much; how to plant, cultivate and care for,
and this is supplemented by notes on cooking. We shall
see something of this in subsequent pages; just here
the point is that very important steps have been taken
in the development of the art of getting much food
from little land, and that thousands have been assisted
to practical knowledge by means of these planting
charts.

In the equally essential matter of getting meat, milk
and eggs from very small holdings, there has been even
more progress along the lines of scientific and intensive
development, and nearly as much has been accomplished
in popular education. This is a fascinating branch of
the new art, as we shall see.

Few people have as yet realized anything approach-
ing the true art of living well from a little land, in the
sense of "Housekeeping by the Year," with programmed
bills-of-fare, successional planting, scientific diet, high-
ly-skilled cookery and artistic serving. Nevertheless, it

102 City Homes on Country Lanes

is amazing to observe how much comfort and even
luxury has been obtained in thousands of instances,
even by a crude approximation to the ideal. As to this,
no one is better able to testify than I, who have so often
been the guest in little homes where the thing is done,
and where it has become a matter of genuine religion.

Dear, dear, such dinners, compounded no more of ma-
terial products than of spiritual ingredients — the meat,
vegetables and fruit liberally mixed with love and pride !
I recall one memorable Thanksgiving when away from
home, where all the elements of the sumptuous annual
dinner reached me by express. The turkey was a twen-
ty-pounder; and that lordly bird, together with the
vegetables, fruits and preserves, had all come from
"farms" not exceeding an acre in dimensions — nearly
all from a single acre. Better even than the food was
the letter tied to the turkey's leg — a letter that tri-
umphantly acclaimed our new way of life.

Is it not inspiring to realize that the very best things
in the world, even on the material side, are within reach
of us all, when we shall command the genius to make
the most of our environment? And this genius, I insist,
will prove to be the genius of democracy — the expres-
sion of a divine aspiration for a better, freer and ampler
life on the part of the masses of men and women who
bear our burdens in war and peace. Even so, there
must be leaders and prophets, men of vision who see
clearly a little ahead of their time; tall men who hear
the whispers of the Infinite. Of such men, in this line
of work, the incomparable leader and prophet is my
friend and comrade, Luther Burbank.

CHAPTER IX

LUTHER BURBANK AND THE NEW EARTH

And he gave it for his opinion that whoever could make two
ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of
ground where only one grew before would deserve better of man-
kind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole
race of politicians put together.

Jonathan Swift.

OF all the persons mentioned in these pages, Mr.
Burbank is the most significant; and this not
merely because of his worldwide fame, but much
more because he is dealing at first hand with the very
elements that enter into the daily life of the home-in-a-
garden. I spent a never-to-be-forgotten day with him
at Santa Rosa, going over the theme of this book with
considerable care, and quite needlessly reassuring myself
of his sympathy and support. He is, of course, the
foremost man in the world in his line of work.
And what is that line of work?

Superficially it is plant-breeding, but fundament-
ally, it is infinitely more than that. It goes to the
heart of the problem of human life upon this planet.
It affects first, and most palpably, the food supply of
the people. Here, alone, its influence is not only in
the highest degree creative, but revolutionary. It means
not only more food, and more food per square foot of
ground, but also better food. Follow this a step
farther and you see how the common standard of living

103

104 City Homes on Country Lanes

must rise with the growing abundance and quality of
the products of the earth. Go farther still, and you
will see how better living means better people; how
larger and more profitable production mean that less
land will serve the individual or family — hence, smaller
holdings ; how this, in turn, means more neighbors,
better housed, fed and clad, and how that condition
tends toward closer and higher social relationships.

When you have seen all this, you have but crossed the
doorstep of Luther Burbank's intellectual empire. Be-
yond, in the vast interior, lies the domain of his influence
that only may be characterized in terms of spiritual
thought and action. Our dream of man as co-creator
with God comes true. We stand erect, conscious of
our Divine partnership. We accept nothing from Na-
ture as finality. All is subject to change, to endless im-
provement. We are to make the earth ever better and
richer, more productive, and, hence, more profitable.
The forces of evolution lie in our own hands.

I have searched Mr. Burbank's writings for the best
word to express the reach and splendor of his vision.
But there is no best word. He must be studied as a
whole. To apprehend him even measurably one must
stand in his presence, as gentle as that of the poet
Whittier and as spiritual as Emerson's. But perhaps
the following quotations will help :

"The vast possibilities of plant-breeding can hardly
be estimated. It would not be difficult for one man
to breed a new rye, wheat, barley, oats, or rice which
would produce one grain more to each head, or a corn
which would produce an extra kernel to each ear, an-

Luther Burbank and the New Earth 105

other potato to each plant, or an apple, plum, orange
or nut to each tree.

"What would be the result? In five staples only in
the United States alone the inexhaustible forces of
Nature would produce annually without effort and with-
out cost, 5,200,000 extra bushels of corn, 15,000,000
extra bushels of wheat, 20,000,000 extra bushels of
oats, 1,500,000 extra bushels of barley, 21,000,000
extra bushels of potatoes.

"But these vast possibilities are not alone for one
year, or for our own time or race, but are beneficent
legacies for every man, woman or child who shall ever
inhabit the earth. And who can estimate the elevating
and refining influences and moral value of flowers with
all their graceful forms and bewitching shades and com-
binations of colors, and exquisitely varied perfumes?
These silent influences are unconsciously felt even by
those who do not appreciate them consciously, and thus,
with better and still better fruits, nuts, grains, and
flowers will the earth be transformed, man's thoughts
turned from the base, destructive forces into the nobler
productive ones which will lift him to higher planes of
action toward that happy day when man shall offer his
brother man, not bullets and bayonets but richer
grains, better fruits, and fairer flowers."

When I asked Mr. Burbank if he was training any
one to carry on his work, he replied : "Thousands." At
the moment, I did not understand, but later came com-
prehension, and with it, a better sense of his greatness.
This wonder-worker makes no concealment of his meth-

106 City Homes on Country Lanes

ods and no effort to monopolize the mighty forces which
he has learned to appreciate and direct. The miracle
of the new flower or fruit, or vegetable he would make
as common as the sunshine. He would like to see a
Luther Burbank in every garden, new light breaking on
every horizon, and each morning another morning of
creation. So would he pass the priceless heritage to
the future.

To study Luther Burbank as he is studied by the
few, one joins the Burbank Society and reads the story
of his work as it is set forth in his own twelve volumes
under the editorship of Dr. Henry Smith Williams, the
noted student, historian and social scientist of New
York. But to study him as the many may do, one gets
Dr. Williams' own volume, "Luther Burbank, His Life
and Work." Here, in the compass of 329 pages, with
many illustrations, one gets a swift summary of the
man, his ways and his achievements. But in order that
the mystery which surrounds his work in the minds of
so many people may be modified, if not dissipated, the
following is quoted from Dr. Williams' book:

"The fundamental principles of plant development
through which Mr. Burbank thought to develop new
and improved varieties were not in themselves novel
or revolutionary. They consisted essentially in the
careful selection among a mass of plants of any in-
dividual that showed exceptional qualities of a desirable
type ; the saving of seed of this exceptional individual
and the carrying out of the same process of selection
among the progeny through successive generations.

"Couple this method of selection and so-called line
breeding with the method of cross-pollenizing different

LUTHER BURBAXK
Prophet and Exemplar of the New and Better Earth

Luther Bwrbank and the New Earth 107

varieties of species, to produce hybrid forms showing a
tendency to greater variation or to the accentuation of
desired characters, and we have in outline the funda-
mental principles of plant-breeding as known to horti-
culturists for generations, and as applied by Mr. Bur-
bank from the outset of his career. But there were
sundry highly essential details of modification that were
introduced by the Santa Rosa experimenter, as will ap-
pear presently.

"Moreover, even in the application of the old familiar
method, Mr. Burbank was able from the outset to gain
exceptional results because of certain inherent quali-
ties that peculiarly fitted him for the work. Among
these qualities was his exceedingly acute vision, a re-
markable color sense, and an almost abnormally de-
veloped sense of smell and taste. Artists who have
tested his eyes have declared that he can readily de-
tect graduations of color that to the ordinary eye show
no differentiation ; and it is a matter of hourly demon-
stration that he can ferret out an individual flower hav-
ing an infinitesimally modified odor in the midst of a bed
of thousands of such plants, almost as a hunting dog
detects the location of a grouse or partridge under
cover.

"Similarly, his exquisitely refined sense of taste
guides him in selecting among thousands of individual
plums, or cherries or grapes or apples or berries the
one individual specimen that has the most delectable
flavor or that shows a minute modification of flavor in
the direction in which he is endeavoring to modify the
variety.

"The almost preternatural endowment of special

108 City Homes on Country Lanes

senses is supplemented by a knowledge of the coordina-
tion of parts — say between the stem or leaf and the
future fruit of a plant — that is so penetrating and
mystifying as to seem intuitional, and to suggest occult
powers of divination.

"As an instance, you may see Mr. Burbank striding
along a row of, let us say, plum seedlings comprising
some thousands of plants, perhaps a foot high. He
seems to inspect the little trees but casually, except
that now and again he pauses for a moment to indicate
with a motion of his hand that this or that plant has
particularly attracted his attention. A helper, or
more likely two helpers — for one can scarcely keep up
with the energetic leader — will be at hand to note the
signals ; and a bit of white cloth will be tied about each
successively selected seedling; or two pieces of cloth,
or even three, in case an individual has seemed to show
quite exceptional promise.

"And with that, one stage of the work of selection
is finished. Perhaps ten thousand seedlings have been
passed in review in a half hour, and conceivably fifty
or a hundred have been selected for preservation. These
have shown to the keen scrutiny of the plant experi-
menter such qualities of stem and bud and leaf as to
forecast the type of fruit sought to be developed in this
particular experiment."

The principles of selective breeding which Mr. Bur-
bank employs apply to every department of production.
He has used them not only in the production of new
varieties, but even new species of fruits, berries, nuts,
vegetables and grains. Of all his productions the Bur-
bank potato, which he produced when 26 years of age,

Luther Burbarik and the New Earth 109

is doubtless the best known. This literally dominates
its field ; something like 600,000,000 bushels have been
grown to date. It by no means found early acceptance,
however, and in this as in many other instances he has
been made the victim of substitution. It is easy to
imagine that many of his valuable creations now re-
garded as matters of spectacular interest will some day
be as generally used as his famous potato. How much
this day will be retarded by the conscienceless sale of
things pretended to be his which are not his at all, no
one can say.

I have long thought that I would rather have the
opinion of Luther Burbank concerning the foundation
principles of the new life of the land, than that of any
other living man. His minutes are like diamonds, yet he
lavished his precious time upon me, and never have I
talked to any one else who listened with such perfect
sympathy and complete comprehension. My highest
hope has been that he would feel that his own work is
of peculiar value to those who make loving use of a little
land, and that for them it would mean better living
and higher rewards for their labor. This hope is
justified.

I explained how the old forms of country life have
failed; how the life of the land must be renewed, re-
stored, made over; how the new appeal must be to the
deepest instincts of the human heart, the new institu-
tions expressive of the best ideals of democracy. His
response was instant and enthusiastic. When I asked
him how much land is really necessary for the average
man to use, he replied:

"A thousand acres for an Indian, a hundred acres

110 City Homes on Country Lanes

for a farmer, ten acres for an orchardist, one acre for
a good market gardener, half an acre for a flower or
seed man, and for an experimenter like myself, a grave-
yard lot will do."

I told him we were talking of a new science of living
from the land, and that its first maxim is, "Feed your-
self." I explained that the thought is not of a mean
living, not of a bare subsistence, but of a bill-of-fare
deliberately planned in advance, with a programme of
ordered production to go with it, and that this bill-of-
fare is intended to be luxurious in the wholesome sense
of the term. He replied that this is the only sound
principle, and that it is absolutely feasible for those
who look to a little land for their living. "Let us
analyze it a bit," I said. "While I have authentic
records of those who have made an entire living, and a
good one, from much less than an acre, I am neverthe-
less told by well-meaning students of the land problem,
including some in positions of authority, that an entire
acre is necessary to produce vegetables alone for a
family of three even in California."

Mr. Burbank glanced at his secretary with a twinkle
in his eye. He said: "We have a family of three and
produce most of our vegetables, including carrots, beets,
cabbages, celery, onions, spinach, lettuce and lettuce
seed, in a garden 12x20 feet, or 240 square feet."

He is very fond of asparagus and uses a variety of
his own creation called "The Quality." A bed 12x12
feet supplies his family twice a day. It reaches matur-
ity some time earlier than the common variety, to
which it is decidedly superior in size, color and delicacy.
In referring to the longevity of asparagus, Mr. Bur-

Luther Burbank and the New Earth 111

bank spoke of one bed in England which is said to be
100 years old.

He does not raise potatoes, of which he eats com-
paratively few, but all the other vegetables consumed
by his family are raised in beds which represent a total
of but 384 square feet. This is only one one-hundred-
and-sixteenth of an acre ! This would leave better than
ninety-nine-hundredths of an acre for a family to use
for such other variety of vegetables as they might pre-
fer ; for the few choice trees, vines and shrubs necessary
to supply its fruits, for the ground on which the house
would stand, and for whatever they might depend upon
as the principal source of cash income, whether some
sort of poultry, or choice products of the garden.

For the comfort of home gardeners who may be
struggling with poor soil, it is worth while to remark
that the ground which now serves Mr. Burbank for his
famous experimental garden was thought to be so poor
that no one wanted it. He made it over to suit his
purpose. His mention of the fact led to a discussion
of the extent to which it is possible for the man who uses
a small piece of ground, not only to change the soil, but,
in a sense, to alter the climate. Prince Kropotkin tells
us how the French gardeners have taken the raw edge
off their climate and forced the growth of their plants,
not only by the use of glass for cover, but by the con-
struction of stone walls which hold and reflect the heat
while also furnishing perfect protection from the winds.

In the matter of scientific and intensive use of the
soil, we have not touched the hem of the garment in this
country as yet. We have run to broad acres and
speculation, to machinery and hired men. We are just

City Homes on Country Lanes

now at the dawn of a new and infinitely finer day. Not
broad acres, but little lands ; not speculation, but home
building; not the grudging labor of hirelings, but the
loving labor of self-employing proprietors — these are
the signs and tokens of the new day. Of that day
Luther Burbank is the prophet beyond anything we
have realized heretofore. It is not merely the dollars-
and-cents side of his work, though that is important.
Surely, it is important to improve the quality of fruit,
to double or treble the productive capacity of a plant,
to bring a vegetable into the market four or six weeks
ahead of its season, and thus to increase the earning
capacity of the man who lives from the soil. But even
more important is the spirit which he puts into his
work, and which in time must be diffused among the
masses engaged in the tilling of the land. It is the
spirit which calls for better and ever better things,
which tends constantly and strongly toward higher
standards of labor and of living, and puts science in
place of chance. This is the spirit which is to give us
the New Earth.

I asked Mr. Burbank what of his own creations were
particularly adapted to serve as a cash surplus crop
for the home gardener. He mentioned his new tomato,
which anticipates the usual season by four to six weeks
as something that will be particularly profitable. He
recurred again to the "Quality" asparagus, which is so
great a favorite upon his own table. The Burbank
Giant Crimson rhubarb was also mentioned for winter
and early spring. Then he sent out for some specimens
of his improved "balloon" raspberry, averaging about
three inches around. They were so big I could hardly

Luther Burbank and the New Earth 113

believe them to be raspberries at all, at first, and yet
very sweet and indescribably delicate. He has picked
253 of these berries at one time from a single bush.
And they ripen four weeks before the common rasp-
berry. They also anticipate blackberries and straw-
berries by something like six weeks. He spoke of his
blackberries, particularly two varieties, the "Himalaya"
and the "thornless," as well adapted to home gardens.

In discussing fruit for the benefit of the home table,
I asked him what he thought of the dwarf trees. "Why
not several varieties on a single tree of ordinary size?"
he suggested. It seems he has one apple tree now bear-
ing 526 varieties. That is an experimental affair, of
course ; but he says it is entirely practicable for a fam-
ily to raise four favorite varieties on the same tree.
He recommends this plan as preferable to growing dwarf
trees, even from the standpoint of economizing space.
Asked what else he would suggest as peculiarly suitable
for those who might wish to supplement their income by
selling some surplus from their gardens, Mr. Burbank
answered :

"Improved golden bantam sweet-corn; cocoanut
squash, which requires little space, keeps good through-
out nearly the whole year, and is of most desirable size
and quality ; the production of various herbs and seeds,
specializing on one or more."

Whenever I walk in a garden and enjoy the oppor-
tunity to eat the fruit directly from tree or vine, I
find myself envying those who have nothing to do with
the grocer and the various middlemen through whom
the people of cities get their supplies. This was par-
ticularly the case as I sampled the new varieties in Mr.

114 City Home* on Country Lanes

Burbank's garden. I do not know how his latest straw-
berry will taste when you get it through the channels
of commerce, but if you should taste it as it comes from
the vine, sweet with California sunshine, you would think
a poem on the spot.

I did not seek to draw out my distinguished host on
the subject of intensive poultry culture and other
economic hopes of little landing not strictly limited to
the use of the soil. I was content to know that he be-
lieves the garden will do its generous share for the fam-
ily table, and, from the surplus of berries, vegetables
and flowers, contribute to the necessary cash income.
But I was delighted to discover that his home dairy
consists of two beautiful Saanen goats. When I told
him I was an enthusiast on the future of the milch goat,
he said: "So am I," and proceeded to describe the su-
periority of goat's milk over that of cows.

Mr. Burbank believes in the new life of the land as
the solution of our national social problem — the prob-
lem of accommodating a vast increase in our citizenship
in a higher degree of average comfort than that which
now prevails. He says : "It is the way to double our
population."

No phase of Mr. Burbank's philosophy has chal-
lenged public opinion more sharply than that part
which is embodied in his book, "The Training of the
Human Plant." He is a lover of children, as of flowers
and plants and birds, and he is very deeply concerned
for the future of the American child. In the abnormal
growth of cities he reads a deep menace to the welfare
of coming generations. He says:

"Every child should have mudpies, grasshoppers,

Luther Burbank and the New Earth 115

water-bugs, tadpoles, frogs, mud-turtles, elderberries,
wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts ; trees to climb,
brooks to wade in; water-lilies, wood-chucks, bats, bees,
butterflies, various animals to pet, hay-fields, pine cones,
rocks to roll, sand, snakes, huckleberries, and hornets;
and any child who has been deprived of these has been
deprived of the best part of his education."

The man who feels that way about children must
yearn for the restoration of a wholesome life upon the
land, even as some men yearn for military preparedness.
Since no thoughtful man can fail to note that the older
forms of country life have lost their hold on the human
heart, it follows as a corollary that new forms, more
attractive and more satisfying, must be created precise-
ly as Luther Burbank has created new forms of plant
life. This being so, I never felt it was necessary to
ask him how he stood on the question ; yet, it is com-
forting to be assured that this great man, who knows
and loves the soil as perhaps no other man in the world
knows and loves it, believes in the saving grace of the
New Earth. •

CHAPTER X

THE SPIRIT OF CREATIVE GARDENING

Oh, when I am safe in my sylvan home,

I tread on the pride of Greece and Rome;

And when I am stretched beneath the pines,

Where the evening star so holy shines,

I laugh at the lore and pride of man,

At the Sophist schools and the learned clan;

For what are they all in their high conceit,

\Vhen man in the bush with God may meet?

Emerson.

IT is the spirit of Luther Burbank, far more than his
actual achievement as a plant-breeder, that is to
count in the future life of the land, and especially
of the garden home. Authorities disagree as to the
importance of his achievement. Prof. Hugo De Vries,
of the University of Amsterdam, in Holland, declared
that "there is no one in Europe who can even compare
with him." On the other hand, there are critical voices
in American scientific circles that belittle the importance
of his work, and apparently resent his world-wide fame.
In the meantime, his influence is extending year by year,
and his creations are multiplying, while the freight-
trains from California groan under the load of products
his genius gave to the gardener and orchardist in former
years.

There are, of course, many forces engaged in making
"better and still better fruits, nuts, grains and flowers,"
as Mr. Burbank insistently urges. Year after year

116

The Spirit of Creative Gardening 117

improved varieties are introduced by seed houses and
nurserymen, while Science is carrying on its subtle work
of research and experimentation in a thousand ways.
The experimental and demonstration work of the United
States Department of Agriculture, already of vast
scope and immeasurable importance, is constantly in-
creasing and extending its practical value throughout
the country. Men and women of scientific taste and
aptitude, sometimes beginning with little technical
knowledge, but developing it as they go along, are do-
ing wonderful things in a quiet way. One such instance
came under my observation in the extreme southwestern
corner of the United States.

Mr. and Mrs. George B. Frank established experi-
mental gardens near the famous artist colony of Gross-
mont, ten miles from San Diego, California. Among
other things they perfected a new string bean, unusually
large, crisp and meaty and without strings. It is a
handsome, green-mottled bean, which attracts buyers
by its appearance, and sells at a fancy price in the mar-
ket. It bears heavily, and shows a higher percentage
of butter fat and protein than any other variety.

The orchid lettuce, which originated in France, where
it grew luxuriously but would not head, was perfected
in the Frank gardens. It has a large, loose head, with
purplish and reddish leaves, deliciously crisp and tender.
It makes an attractive salad leaf, and Mrs. Frank de-
veloped a purple potato to go with it, so she could
serve what she calls a "violet luncheon." To carry
this fancy still further Mr. Frank crossed a tomato
with an egg-plant. The result is a very mild-flavored
tomato, large and solid, of rich egg-plant purple.

118 City Homes on Country Lanes

Among other Frank creations are a mottled squash;
unusually sweet corn; an improved cucumber, reaching
fifteen inches in length, and tipping the scales at three
and one-half pounds, while remaining crisp and tender.
He has also gone far in the quest of a seedless water-
melon.

This is but one among a thousand examples of what
is being accomplished by plant-breeders whose work has
not yet attracted wide attention, but whose silent labors
are constantly swelling the tide of progressive horti-
culture.

It is not to be expected, and perhaps not to be de-
sired, that all home gardeners shall attempt to become
scientific plant-breeders ; but the thing that is eminently
desirable is that they shall take on the spirit of creative
gardening, sharing Luther Burbank's faith in the po-
tentialities of the New Earth. When this spirit fills
the minds and hearts of our people we shall see a
marked advance in every department — better food, bet-
ter homes, better people, better everything entering into
the common life. This is the ideal: We are not to be
satisfied with things as they are; even with the fruits
and vegetables that Nature gives us. We are to insist
upon the best that can be done in the light of scientific
knowledge, becoming partners in the work of creation
— at least in an humble sense.

The first step of this process is to adopt the new
methods and new products as they come from the
master minds, instead of being satisfied with the old.
It is amazing to know how interest in the garden — the
interest of one's self and of one's neighbors — is quick-
ened and freshened in this way. To grow a tomato that

The Spirit of Creative Gardening 119

is less acid than the common varieties, one that matures
more quickly, thus escaping the early and late frosts
(for the tomato is a delicate plant) is to make garden-
ing an almost exciting adventure. So it is with the
whole range of production. The adventure goes on to
the dinner-table, when the new products are served to
one's friends. And if there is a little surplus for mar-
ket, and the product is sufficiently superior to bring a
few cents more per pound than the common varieties,
the adventure culminates in a deep sense of satisfaction.
There is a principle here that reaches far, and is truly
creative.

I am thinking as I write of one small home at Palo
Alto, California, which admirably illustrates this prin-
ciple, and its influence upon owner and neighbors.

George Hobden had a lot 50x112% feet; in all 5,625
square-feet — about one-seventh of an acre. The house
occupied 1,225 square-feet; the area for walks and
driveway 1,825 square-feet; and the rabbit house 500
square-feet ; so the vacant space left for cultivation was
only 2,075 square-feet ; and yet he had room for 22 fruit
trees, some of them seven years old, and in full bear-
ing; and for a good garden. His total investment for
land, house and improvements was no more than $2,700.
But this was made possible because he had done much
of the work himself.

During his boyhood days in England Mr. Hobden
learned the art of training trees to grow on walls or
trellises like grapevines. This enabled him to economize
space. He also adopted the method of scientific graft-
ing of several fruits upon a single stock, so that start-
ing with a peach-tree, he had branches producing apri-

120 City Homes on Country Lanes

cots, nectarines, Satsuma plums, Imperial prunes; and
all growing upon one tree. Within his box-bordered
walks he raised vegetables in the most intensive fashion.

The rent-free home, vegetables and fruit, with meat
from the rabbitry, represented quite a part of the fam-
ily living, even upon this very small plot of ground.
But that is not the point of the story. The point is
that Mr. Hobden made a very distingue garden, which,
on that account, became a rare joy to himself and to
his neighbors — even an object of public pride. Making
a liberal investment of love and skill, he collected gen-
erous dividends of satisfaction.

If this unusual spirit can be made the common spirit,
it will result in a great uplift of garden-home standards,
with a wholesome reaction upon the character of the
people themselves.

Much has been said about vegetables, yet the fruits
of tree and vine are equally important in the scheme of
luxurious living for average people. I have a friend in
California who never speaks of fruit trees, but always
of "food trees." It is an illuminating phrase, because
it brings home to the mind the real economic significance
of the garden home. The fruit tree is to be planted and
lovingly nourished, as one of the bread-winners. We
shall count it "present" at breakfast, lunch, and dinner
— not only in "the good old summer time" and in
autumn harvest days, but in the winter, when it speaks
in the language of jams and preserves. It is not a case
of "Everybody works but father." In the garden home
everybody and everything works — not grudgingly, but
willingly and lovingly — not only father, mother and

The Spirit of Creative Gardening

the children, but every inch of the ground, together
with the sunshine, the dew and the rain. Man and Na-
ture smile upon the home-in-a-garden. It is in tune with
the Infinite !

The hope of spiritualizing the future life of the soil
lies right here in getting large numbers of people to ac-
cept the creative state of mind and carry it through all
phases of their daily work. The fact that they are
working for themselves on their own ground, where they
are not, like most of the country-minded now dwelling
in city apartments, mere tenants at will, but engaged in
the evolution of their own homes — this fact should of
itself go far towards producing the right mental atti-
tude. The further fact that they are surrounded by
neighbors living under the same conditions and sharing
the same ideals should count in the same direction. The
fact that these people are escaping, so far as their home
life and work are concerned, from the regimentation of
the city experience, and finding opportunity for the
expression of individuality, ought to help powerfully.

Surely, there could be no finer soil for the cultivation
of the highest attributes of family life, as well as of
citizenship, than that offered by the garden city, under-,
taken in the right spirit and organized in the right way.
But, in the last analysis, all this will depend on the
people themselves. It is the old story: "You can lead
a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

What I am saying is that up to this time no one has
supplied the necessary "leading." There is plenty of
"water," and there is no doubt about the popular
"thirst" for the garden home and all it implies in the

City Homes on Country Lanes

way of genuine freedom for our people. That they will
make good use of the opportunity when at last it shall
be offered, I personally have no more doubt than of
the rising of to-morrow's sun.

CHAPTER XI

THE OLD HEN IN A NEW ENVIRONMENT

"Ma Duck, she lays a bigger egg

Than the helpful hen can lay;
But when she's through she cackles not

But simply walks away.
And so we scorn the silent duck;

But the helpful hen we prize;
Which is only another way to say

That it pays to advertise."

THE garden and the little family orchard, how-
ever lovingly cared for, supply but a part of the
luxurious fare that must be brought within reach
of every household. The good old family hen! What
visions of fresh eggs and fat spring chickens are evoked
by the mention of her name ! What is breakfast without
a fresh egg? And how rare is a really fresh egg in these
days of urban congestion! Who ever had too much
chicken — especially fried chicken? These things are
the staples of life; and the garden home without a
poultry yard would fall far short of fulfilling its mis-
sion.

This does not mean, as the reader may hastily assume,
the old sort of poultrycraf t that turns the chickens loose
to run all over the lot, destroying the garden and
annoying the neighbors. We are to have the old hen,
but in a new environment — in other words, the intensive
hen to go with the intensive garden. There have been
wonderful developments along these lines during the

123

City Homes on Country Lanes

past few years, especially in California, where
thousands of people are getting their living in whole
or in part from very small holdings. Such people have
often found that the best chance for cash income lies
in specializing in poultry; and that the way to secure
heavy egg production on the smallest space is to engage
in the intensive cultivation of the laying hen.

The old plan of turning the hens out to pasture in the
neighborhood at large is completely abolished. Mrs.
Hen is always "at home" to her callers. She is fre-
quently without a family of her own — no husband or
children, but plenty of brothers and sisters. Infertile
eggs are preferred in the market, and sometimes com-
mand a superior price. For the increase of the flock,
setting eggs are purchased; or, more frequently, day-
old chicks, which are turned out by the million in large
hatcheries. The egg-farmer specializes on eggs, while
others specialize on fine settings and ready-made chicks.

The plan is ideal for the garden home, where hun-
dreds or thousands of families may be living on lots
ranging from a quarter of an acre to one or two acres
in size; and where the object of the small, neat, well-
kept poultry house is to supply the family with plenty
of fresh eggs and fat chickens to go with the other
products of the place in making up the elements of
the luxurious table. There are so many methods of
intensive poultry culture now in vogue that it is diffi-
cult to do more here than to indicate the place of the
laying hen in this new way of life. It is plain, of course,
that we must have eggs, and we must have chickens;
just as we must have the nicest vegetables and fruits,
and all kinds of delicious jams and preserves; and it is

The Old Hen in a New Environment 125

very important to know that the little intensive poultry
house is precisely as practical as the little intensive
garden and orchard.

The several systems now contending for popularity
differ in their methods of housing and feeding, but they
stand together on one fundamental principle, which is
the principle of segregation. This principle was the
discovery of a Mr. Philo, of Elmira, New York, whose
ideas created a furore in the poultry world some years
ago. His views were so radical as to arouse the scorn
of professional poultrymen, but the promised profits
were so alluring as to induce thousands of novices to go
into the business in their backyards. The Philo plan
provided for a unit of six hens, kept in a pen 4x6 feet,
and never allowed to run at large. These units, of
course, might be multiplied indefinitely. It was claimed
that the plan would result in a very great increase of
egg-production as compared with the old methods, with
cash profits in proportion. Strange as it may seem, the
plan was not disappointing, so far as egg-production
was concerned. Hens kept in this way were far more
prolific than an equal number herded in large flocks and
permitted their freedom. For those who desired to
keep but a few hens for home use, the Philo system was
entirely successful; but it broke down when extended
to large proportions because of the immense detail and
back-breaking drudgery involved in caring for many
small coops. Eggs were produced in satisfying quanti-
ties, but at a cost which made it impracticable from a
commercial standpoint.

The valuable lesson which Philo taught the world was
that a few well-bred, well-fed, well-cared-for fowls,

City Homes on Country Lanes

segregated and kept in close confinement, would produce
more eggs and earn more money per hen than could be
realized by old-fashioned methods. In other words, the
modern intensive hen is a better business proposition
than the ancient promiscuous hen. Many enterprising
poultry experts proceeded to build on this principle,
with excellent results. My own favorite among them
all is Charles Weeks, of Palo Alto, California — a man
of such distinction in his line of work, and so good a
prophet and exemplar of the theme of this book, that
we must pause for a moment to note his significance in
the movement.

Mr. Weeks was born on a farm in Indiana, and fell
deeply in love with the poultry game at an early age.
In spite of this, he turned to the big city for his oppor-
tunity, like many other country-bred boys of liberal
education. He found no difficulty in getting remunera-
tive employment, first in Chicago, then in New York;
and doubtless would have made his way in city life, but
he was distinctly country-minded in temperament and
never quite satisfied with life among the skyscrapers.
Passing up Fourth Avenue one day, his ears were
assailed by the welcome sound of cackling hens and
crowing cocks announcing the annual poultry show in
Madison Square Garden. He bought a ticket and went
in to feast his eyes on the poultry aristocracy of Amer-
ica. That experience rekindled his early love, and
spoiled him for the city; his heart was set on egg-
farming as a profession. I use the word "profession"
advisedly, because Mr. Weeks had thought of it from
the beginning as something that should be approached
and dealt with in the highest professional spirit, with

The Old Hen in a New Environment 127

the advantage of all available knowledge. With this
purpose in view, he turned his back on the city, going
first to Indiana. He soon decided, however, that Cali-
fornia was the better field, and it was there, after a hard
struggle covering a period of a dozen years, that he
finally evolved into a thoroughly successful egg-farmer
and expert authority on the subject.

Mr. Weeks tried many different methods. His hous-
ing and feeding plans were never precisely alike for any
two successive years, until he evolved his present system
in 1916. When he began, he thought ten acres a small
farm for his purpose. When he ended his experiments
he had demonstrated that one acre was ample for an
average family, and two or three acres about all that
should be undertaken under any circumstances. He had
satisfied himself that he could subsist on even less than
one acre — possibly so little as one-half or one-quarter
of an acre ; but he would not like to do so, nor would he
advise any one else to undertake it with a view of getting
their entire living, and a really good living, from the
land. I mention these lower figures only as a means of
emphasizing the very intensive character of the system
worked out by him, and widely adopted throughout the
length and breadth of the Pacific Coast.

The Weeks poultry system is ideal for the home-in-a-
garden because it occupies so little space. The unit he
arrived at after years of experimenting with the segre-
gation principle is twenty hens and no rooster — that
is, for house and market eggs. These twenty hens
are confined in a house 8x8 feet, or 64 square-feet; 5
feet high at the rear; 7% feet in front— (open wire
front) ; and 3-foot roof projection, to shut out the rain

128 City Homes on Country Lanes

and furnish protection for the attendant. The object
of the system is to economize labor to the last degree.
This is accomplished by a unique feeding system which
can be operated wholly from the outside. The eggs are
also within easy reach from the front door and it is
rarely necessary to enter the house, even for cleaning,
which is done with a long-handled rake. One peculiar
feature of the system is that clean sand is used on the
floor instead of straw. This makes it very easy to clean
the pen with a rake, but the principal object is to avoid
the dust which arises from the hen's scratching in the
straw, and which is a prolific cause of disease.

Mr. Weeks is a profound believer in the efficiency of
a combination of green food so nicely mixed, chopped
and served that it does, indeed, look good enough for
anybody to eat. This, as well as the dry food and
water-basins, is kept constantly before the little flock.
There is no lack of exercise, because the pen is arranged
in such a way as to keep the hens very active in the
course of the day's work. It is important to quote him
at this point:

"Twenty hens, well bred, well fed, and with quarters
kept sanitary in this little pen, are good for at least
$2.00 per year, net profit above all expenses. These
twenty hens have nice sharp sand upon the ground-floor
and roosting boards, which is raked clean regularly.
They have dry mash and mixed grain by them con-
tinually; the^y can stick their heads through to the
green trough outside and eat green feed every hour
during the day ; they drink water from clean, galvanized
buckets on the outside; they dust in the sand; they
jump up to the feed-hopper; they jump down again to

Tht Old Hen in a New Environment 129

the green- feed trough ; they run to the water ; they hop
up to the egg boxes (which, by the way, is the most im-
portant move of the day), and after depositing their
board bill and rent, plus the extra profit, they jump
down and up again to the perches for an afternoon rest,
or stretch out in the afternoon sunshine which comes in
through the western window. Their whole day is given
up to their own individual care ; and with all the neces-
saries before them, all the time is available for making
eggs. With their morning sun-bath and noon sand-bath,
free from draft or foul, dusty air — with all these ideal
conditions — they have got to either 'lay or bust !* "

The home gardener who wants eggs and chickens only
for home use, would need but a single unit under this
plan, but the housing can be indefinitely extended, and
does, as a matter of fact, extend for hundreds of feet in
many instances. The drawbacks of the Philo system
are not present here, because of the very great economy
secured in all the operations of the system. An average
family can readily care for 1,000 hens. In fact, Mr.
Weeks is now surrounded by hundreds of families work-
ing on the basis of 1,000 hens on a single acre, with
ample room for the home and home garden, as well as all
the green food required for the poultry. Locally, the
system has been almost universally adopted.

Mr. Weeks has an annual gathering at his home,
attended by representative poultrymen from all over
the Pacific Coast, so that for years his methods have
been brought under the white light of publicity and
criticism freely invited. It should by no means be in-
ferred that everybody agrees with him in all details.
On the contrary, many who admire and use the system,

130 City Homes on Country Lanes

modify it in certain respects — usually in the direction
of increasing the size of the unit flock, or adding small
yards at the rear of the house, on the theory that it is
a trifle rough on the hen to keep her constantly con-
fined ; that she should have a chance to get out occasion-
ally and kick up her heels. Mr. Weeks believes that
space is used more profitably by making it produce
such things as kale and mangel-wurzel beets, and that
while the privilege of the run of the yard may indeed be
agreeable to the hen, it adds nothing to her health or
efficiency.

The thing that interests us just now is that while
we are to deal with the good old family hen, she is to be
placed in entirely new environment. Otherwise it would,
perhaps, not be feasible to create thousands of garden
homes around all the great cities of the land with such
density as to enable them to enjoy all the benefits of the
needed public utilities, and such other advantages as
we covet for the home-in-a-garden.

A thoroughly representative experience for our pres-
ent purpose is that of John W. Gottsch, of San Ysidro,
near San Diego, California. His home occupies about
one-third of an acre, and is surrounded by near neigh-
bors on every hand. He is busily engaged, not only with
his trade as a plumber, but also as manager of a public
water system, with many consumers. Necessarily his
poultry venture is a side issue, like his vegetables, berries
and fruit trees, rather than his main support. He does,
however, realize all the advantages we are claiming foi
the home gardener of the future — not only by saving
rent and reducing living costs to the minimum, but by
enjoying all neighborhood advantages and proximity

The Old Hen in a New Environment 131

to a large city. He keeps more hens than needed for

his home use — following the Weeks plan; and here
are the exact results for the year 1919:

Credit.

Feed on hand December 31, 1919 $ 57.87

Total cash received for eggs 773.61

Total cash received for poultry 103.54

Eggs used at home 38.45

Poultry used at home 15.38

Value of stock on hand Dec. 31, 1919:

87 hens at $1.20 each 104.40

136 pullets at $1.50 each 204.00

6 Bantam hens, at 35 cents each 2.10

5 cockerels, 20 Ibs. each 6.40

2 cocks, 10 Ibs. each 1.50

1 Bantam cock .35

$1,307.80
Debit.
Total outlay for feed, chicks, disinfectants,

sand, freight, etc $697.42

Value of 116 hens on hand Jan. 1, 1919 137.50 834.92

Profit for the year $ 472.88

Here is a cash income equal to nearly $40 a month ;
possibly enough to pay the "store bill" of a family
situated like that of Mr. Gottsch. Probably it would
more than keep up the monthly payments on the aver-
age garden holding near any of our large cities. I see
many a commuter coming to town with a basket of fresh
eggs, to be delivered to some private customer at full
retail price, and I observe the smile of satisfaction as he
pockets the money, saying to himself: "So much more
to apply on the little home." Furthermore, the income
from surplus eggs would enable many an individual,
either man or woman, to retire comfortably after pass-

City Homes on Cowntry Lanes

ing middle age, though it might be necessary to increase
the number of units, which would be entirely feasible for
one having the whole day at his disposal.

I am thinking all the time of those who will say : "Oh,
yes, it can be done in California, but nowhere else."
And my uniform reply is : "It can be done anywhere in
the United States, and in many places better than in
California." The rest of the country does not need the
California climate half so much as it needs the Cali-
fornia spirit ; or, if I may descend to the vernacular, the
California "punch."

Yes, the home-in-a-garden will have plenty of fresh
eggs and fried chicken, to say nothing of chicken in
many other forms. But this is by no means all that
is to go on those luxurious tables. It will not do to
confine our diet to one kind of meat, however good it is.

CHAPTER XII

THE RABBIT IN THE GARDEN ECONOMY

THE place of the chicken is well established on
every bill-of-fare. Not so the rabbit — at least,
in America. And yet, rabbit meat is as white
and delicate as chicken, rather more nutritious, and now
often preferred by physicians in prescribing for con-
valescents ; and the rabbit is an ideal kind of livestock
for the garden home. Like the chicken, it lives largely
from the surplus greens in the garden, and is amenable
to the most intensive methods of housing and feeding,
so that it may be kept, even in goodly numbers, on a
very small space of ground. But, unlike the chicken,
the rabbit requires a friendly propaganda to make its
virtues understood and enable it to win its rightful
place in the household, the restaurant, and the hotel.
During the past few years this propaganda has come
into being in the form of a strong national association,
with many local branches and a growing membership,
with annual rabbit shows in many leading cities. It has
its literature, periodicals, and specialists in different
departments. During the War it attracted the atten-
tion of the Government, which turned to this humble
quarter as a means of increasing the country's meat
supply.

In Europe, the rabbit is an old story. In 1912, for

133

134 City HoTnes on Country Lanes

example, France sold, through its municipal market
alone, some 80,000,000 rabbits, and millions more were
distributed through other channels. Before the War,
London was using 500,000 a week — mostly imported
from Belgium, with a net profit of about a million dol-
lars a month to the Belgian producers.

Formerly, the wild rabbit had been regarded as the
worst of pests in Australia, and was exterminated by
every possible means. But, during the War, Australia
was commanded to conserve her rabbit supply. The
animals were killed on an enormous scale, frozen and
shipped to the armies in France.

In the United States, until quite recently, rabbits
have been treated as pets ; they had no economic stand-
ing whatever. Now they are rapidly coming into their
own as a standard meat in the market, while rabbitcraft
is developing along scientific lines, and more and more
offering a delightful occupation for men and women.
Their place in the economy of the garden home is un-
questionable. They add both quantity and variety to
the luxurious table, while enhancing the fascination of
the daily tasks and swelling the joy of the family.

The new vogue of rabbitcraft should not be con-
founded with the wild boom in Belgian hares which swept
over the country a quarter of a century ago. That was
purely speculative in its conception, and ridiculous or
tragic in its consequences, according to the tempera-
ment and means of the persons involved in the enter-
prise. Some of them paid as much as a thousand dol-
lars for a pedigreed buck. Nearly all imbibed the full
spirit of Colonel Sellers, and came to believe "There's
millions in it !" Everybody raised rabbits, but scarcely

BABBITS FOE MEAT AND FUR

1. Dutch rabbit. 2. Himalaya. 3. Belgian hare. 4. American Blue. 5. Angora. 6.
Checkered giant

The Rabbit in the Garden Economy 135

anybody ate them. The game was to raise fine breeding
stock and dispose of it at fabulous profit to a new group
of beginners, all of whom expected to get rich in the
same way. So long as everybody was a buyer, and no-
body a seller, the business flourished like unto the pro-
verbial "green bay tree." But, when conditions were
reversed and no one bought, while everybody was trying
to sell, the business fell like a house of cards.

The new movement is wholly different. It aims first
to supply the family with delicious and wholesome meat,
and then to cater to the limited but growing demand in
the public market. Probably this demand is stronger
on the Pacific Coast than in the East, since the rabbits
are more in evidence there, both in the market and in
daily quotations ; yet, one now sees them in Washing-
ton, New York and Boston, and dealers say they are
gradually gaining in favor. The staple breeds are the
Belgian Hare, New Zealand Red, and Flemish Giant;
but at a rabbit show one sees a bewildering variety of
all colors and sizes — some of them frankly fancy stock,
raised mostly for pleasure — yet all perfectly good for
eating purposes.

Rabbit meat is served in every way that chicken is.
served — fried, stewed, or stuffed and baked like a tur-
key. The rabbit contains very little fat, and for that
reason is one of the most digestible of meats. In later
pages we shall deal with the mechanics of the subject,
and see something of the best scientific methods of feed-
ing and housing, as these have developed during the past
few years since the American friends of the rabbit bent
their minds seriously to the subject.

There is no more enthusiastic friend of the rabbit

136 City Homes on Country Lanes

industry than E. W. Nelson, Chief of the United States
Bureau of Biological Survey. In Farmers' Bulletin
1090, issued by the Department of Agriculture, under
date of March, 1920, Mr. Nelson said:

"The saving and earning possibilities of rabbit-rais-
ing are illustrated by the following concrete examples of
what has actually been done:

"One resident of Kansas City, Kansas, has raised 300
to 400 pounds of rabbit meat a year for his own table
at a cost of only 8 to 10 cents a pound. A large re-
ligious institution in Nebraska that has raised rabbits
instead of poultry reports the meat more satisfactory
than chicken and the experiment profitable. According
to a former county commissioner of the State of Wash-
ington, rabbits were grown on the county farm to pro-
vide a substitute for chicken for the county hospitals ;
the initial stock, numbering 119 rabbits, increased to
1,200 in 10 months, besides those used in the hospitals.
A high-school boy in Iowa who breeds registered stock
on a space 33 feet square in his back yard, raised and
sold enough rabbits in 1918 to clear more than $1,200.
An Ohio farmer sends more than 400 pounds of rabbit
meat a week to city restaurants, yet is unable to meet
the demand.

"These are not isolated cases; they are simply ex-
amples of what has been done in rabbit raising, and are
an indication of what this industry is likely to become
when it is generally understood."

However, I am not now dealing with rabbitcraft as a
source of cash income, but only as a natural and logical
means of catering to the meat supply of the garden
home. I cannot, however, refrain from mentioning the

The Rabbit m the Garden Economy 137

experience of an acquaintance who found that from the
increase of ten rabbit does occupying but a small space
in his yard, he was able to provide the entire meat
supply of his family. This does not mean that they ate
rabbit meat exclusively, though they ate it often, and
insisted that it was their favorite meat. They had,
however, many more than they could consume and sent
the surplus young stock to market to be sold for cash.
This cash was sufficient to buy all the beef, pork, mut-
ton and fowl that they required — even the Thanks-
giving turkey and Christmas goose. Thus the rabbit
solved their whole problem of the high cost of living,
so far as meat was concerned.

I am a strong believer in the possibilities of the rabbit
industry as a source of cash profit to large numbers of
producers; but know from experience and observation
that there are certain conditions precedent to the real-
ization of this hope. To begin with, the rabbit must be
more widely known and generally appreciated, so that
in this country, as in Europe, millions of people will
look to it as a part of their diet, as they now look to
beef and chicken. This condition is coming a little
nearer year by year, and when it shall be fully developed
will create an enormous demand for the toothsome and
wholesome rabbit.

Another important condition will be the solution of
the problem of canning rabbit meat so that it can be
shipped long distances and kept indefinitely, like other
canned products. Some admirable experimental work
has been done in this direction by Gordon Phair, of
Los Angeles, and perhaps by others. I have often had
the pleasure of serving his potted rabbit to my friends

138 City Homes on Country Lanes

at the club, and listening to their expressions of sur-
prise and delight. "It beats potted chicken out of
sight!" was the common remark. It sold well, too, in
the finer stores of New York. This, however, was only
experimental — encouraging, but not conclusive. To
build a great industry would require a large and regular
supply of raw material, ample manufacturing facilities,
and good publicity, with adequate financial backing.
Such an industry would be quite ideal in connection with
a garden city, or a series of garden cities, provided
there were large numbers of people who cared to venture
beyond the supply of their own tables. The rabbit I
am sure would do its part, and do it well.

Another very interesting aspect of the economic rab-
bit is its value as a source of fur supply. Few realize
how extensively it serves this purpose now. Perhaps
some people who are wearing various kinds of "Coney"
and imitation "Seal" are really much better acquainted
with the rabbit than they realize. The common rabbit
fur is used in vast quantities in the making of felt hats,
and the hide is converted into glue. While Australian
rabbits are a large source of this supply, such skins
bring only two or three cents apiece, which would not,
of course, be profitable for small domestic producers.

The hope of the fur industry is in the finer varieties
produced by scientific selective breeding. Some rabbits
have fine fur, but thin skin ; others have thick skin, but
poor fur ; others have both good fur and thick skin, but
with the fur poorly set. The selective breeder aims to
produce a rabbit with a thick skin and a good fur that
is well set.

Wonderful progress has been made in this direction

The Rabbit m the Garden 'Economy 139

— especially in the United States, though France and
Japan have developed certain kinds of fur-bearing rab-
bits for which there is a large and steady demand at
fairly remunerative prices.

In some parts of the United States rabbit meat can
be produced all the way from six to fifteen cents per
pound, and sold at twenty to forty cents a pound at
different seasons. While this does not return much
profit to the producer, unless he is operating on a very
large scale, it does enable him to make money from
the sale of the furs, since this is clear gain, if he can
produce a fur which commands a good price. There
is a kind of long-haired white rabbit producing fur that
the layman could hardly distinguish from the white fox
so commonly worn by young women. There is another
that closely approximates the expensive silver fox. The
beautiful short-haired Himalaya rabbit, when bred up
to fur-bearing capacity, as has been done, makes a
pretty good ermine, and when dyed passes for seal,
though frankly called "near seal." I was once asked
to indicate which of two cloaks was priced at $800, and
which at $80, as they hung side by side. I picked out
the wrong one. It was rabbit fur !

Some of the finest samples, representing a dozen
varieties of fur-bearing rabbits, obtained by selective
breeding, were submitted to large manufacturers in New
York and Chicago, who made a thorough examination
of their quality from every practical point of view. The
verdict was that a great market, at prices ranging from
fifty cents to three dollars per skin, awaited such prod-
ucts, provided that they could be made permanently
available upon a large scale. This is a condition which

140 City Homes on Country Lanes

could not be met — or, at least has not, as yet. The
development is somewhat retarded by difficulty in get-
ting new varieties — the product of many crossings — to
breed true. When this has been done, there is no doubt
that the industry will grow to profitable proportions.

Here we are interested, however, not so much in rab-
bits as a potential industry of large proportions and a
means of livelihood for great numbers of people, as in
the place of the rabbit in the economy of the garden
home. Even from this narrow point of view the fur
is by no means negligible. It interests our home gar-
dener in two ways. First, he and his family will utilize
the fur in making their own garments. Perhaps some
people will wear furs more extensively than they have
formerly been able to do. It is worth while to quote the
following from the bulletin of the U. S. Biological Sur-
vey:

"The better kinds of rabbit skins are used for making
fur garments, which, when made up, are commonly sold
as Coney, but often under other trade names. White
skins are made up in imitation of Arctic fox, or sheared
in imitation of ermine. Gray rabbits are dyed brown
or black, and become Baltic black fox, or Baltic brown
fox. Seal dyed, they become inland seal, electrical seal,
or near seal."

The circular adds: "These garments, while hand-
some and comfortable, have little durability, and are,
therefore, cheap."

If an article of wearing apparel that you can get at
slight cost out of your own rabbitry is "handsome and
comfortable," it doesn't matter much if it is not so
"durable" as the article you would buy at the store at

TWO FAVORITE BREEDS AND THEIR HOUSING
1. New Zealand Red. 2. Rabbit hutches used in government work. 3. Gray giant

The Rabbit m the Garden Economy 141

a price ranging anywhere from $100 to $1,000. In'
fact, it would be interesting to have a democratic fur in
which everybody might be "handsome and comfortable,"
and which may be frequently renewed without serious
expense. This is the first point of interest to the home
gardener — not only that the rabbit increases and en-
riches the food supply, but also helps out the wardrobe
of his wife and daughters.

Another distinct development that has occurred, and
may occur very often in the future, is that this pretty
rabbit fur supplies the basis for a "cottage industry,"
in which many women of taste may engage in a small
way, upon a scale proportioned to their enterprise and
industry. Mrs. J. M. Sherman, of Los Angeles, has
pursued this plan successfully. She has taken even the
common varieties of rabbits, some having very beauti-
ful skins, and has made them into sets of furs that have
proved to be in lively demand and at good prices. She
has found it to be a most interesting and profitable
thing to do. There is no reason why others can not do
the same thing. They will find a market at their door
for all they can produce, if their experience is like that
of others who have already adopted the plan.

Thus we have chicken and rabbit meat for our luxuri-
ous table, but that is not all. We have not yet called
the roll of the small livestock that goes with the home-
in-a-garden.

CHAPTER XIII

BROILED SQUAB, AND THAT SORT OF THING

THE squab, of course, is frankly a luxury, rather
than an article of staple diet. Some people
never get it at all, except, perhaps, when con-
valescing from some serious illness and ordered by their
physician bo partake of the most delicate of meats for
a brief season. The comparatively few who do include
broiled squab in their bill-of-fare do so but rarely, and
then perhaps with a guilty sense of self-indulgence.
Really, there are but two kinds of people who can
afford this luxury — millionaires, and those who rejoice
in a home garden. Millionaires can do it because they
have the price ; home gardeners, because they have the
squabs.

As a matter of fact, broiled squab ought to be as
common as are canned vegetables and fruit in the aver-
age household. It belongs to the luxurious table that
awaits millions of our best families in the "Invisible City
of Homes" surrounding every urban center in the land.
These best families are the essence of American society.
They do the day's work in every department ; pay most
of the taxes ; bear the heat and burden of the day in war
and in peace. And nothing is too good for them — not
even broiled squab. Bless their hearts ! — they are going
to have it, and everything else that goes with a thor-

142

Broiled Squab, and That Sort of Thing 143

oughly well-provided life, socially and economically,
intellectually and spiritually.

I put the emphasis on the squab, because it so pal-
pably represents the good things that the few now
have and that the many ought to have, and may readily
have when they shall have learned to make the most of
their environment.

Coming to the practical side, we find that the minia-
ture pigeon-loft, sufficient for the needs of the average
household, goes admirably with the garden home. It
is another of the industries that is now handled inten-
sively, as we have seen in the case of chickens and rab-
bits. Pigeons are easily cared for and less liable to
disease than some other kinds of fowl, because of their
good habit of taking frequent baths. It seems like a
miracle, but in from four to six weeks the fat little
squab, weighing about a pound, is ready for the table.
It is perfectly feasible to have squabs once or twice a
week, instead of perhaps once or twice a year, as is the
case of most people who have to buy them in the market
or restaurant. They may be cooked, of course, in sev-
eral different ways, and are often stuffed and baked.
Served in this manner, with plenty of fresh vegetables
and fruit from the garden, they do very nicely as the
piece de resistance for even ceremonial dinners, when
visitors are entertained, and the family wishes to make
the best impression.

There are many kinds of pigeons, including the well-
known Homer. The Red Carneaux are perhaps the
favorite in the market. The biggest member of the
family, curiously enough, is called the "runt." This
produces a 2-pound squab, very fine for home use, but

144 City Homes on Country Lanes

not so profitable for selling. The most successful pigeon
pen in California contains fifteen pair. This is 6 ft.
wide, 6 ft. high, 5 ft. deep, and is inclosed in a flying
pen 8 ft. long and 6 ft. wide. The flock increases, on
an average at the rate of 12 birds a year for each pair
of old birds, and the young ones begin to breed in about
five months. The old stock is kept for breeding, and
the young birds consumed or sold.

The best pigeon story I know is that of Clarence Ray
King, of Hayward, California. Since he began purely
as a home gardener, raising a few pigeons in his yard,
while engaged at his trade as an electrician, and after-
wards became a thorough master of the pigeon business,
and finally decided to give it his whole attention, it
seems well worth while to relate his experience. We
are now speaking of pigeons in terms of the luxurious
family table, and yet it is possible that many a man
who builds his first pen with nothing but that in view,
may discover that he "builded better than he knew" in
the way of a livelihood, as was the case with Mr. King.

In 1905, when 23 years of age, Mr. King was em-
ployed as an electrician in Los Angeles. One day he
was sent into the suburbs to repair a meter, and dis-
covered a good-sized pigeon-loft filled with Homers.
As a boy, he had had a few of the common pigeons, and
the sight of this loft revived his interest in the subject.
He decided to begin again, in a small way, in his father's
yard. After a while, he had 500 birds in a lot 50x150
ft., and these were so profitable that he decided to in-
crease his operations, which he did, by getting the use
of an adjoining lot. When his flock increased to 2,000
he found it was paying him a regular income of $150

Broiled Squab, and That Sort of Thing 145

per month. He then decided that the time had come for
him to cease working for the electric company and de-
vote himself exclusively to the fortunes of Clarence Ray
King. He also decided to move the scene of his opera-
tions and interest some capital. His brother joined
him, making an investment of $8,000, and with this
they established themselves at Hay ward, 15 miles from
San Francisco, which is a particularly good market
for squabs.

They purchased six acres of land for $6,500. Mr.
King pursued his labors as breeder and expert, soon
winning a high position in the craft, and becoming
president of the California Pigeon Club ; his brother at-
tended to the marketing. While they own six acres,
most of it is devoted to trees, and only about one and
one-half acres to the squab industry. Their "pigeon-
loft" as it is called in deference to custom, is not a loft
at all, but a low structure consisting of a collection of
pens built after the manner already described. It oc-
cupies a trifle more than one acre, and houses 14,000
birds. Its output averages 600 squabs every five days,
and its net earnings are something like $1,000 per
month, the greater portion of which is derived from
market squabs, though breeding stock also is sold,
not only to customers throughout the United States,
but often to foreign countries.

The facts in regard to Mr. King's experience are
thoroughly authenticated, and might naturally inspire
many people to follow his example. Those so inclined
should follow all of it, not part of it. They are again
reminded that Mr. King started in a very small way, in-
tending to raise pigeons for home use, and as an agree-

146 City Homes on Country Lanes

able hobby. He thought if it increased his income it
would be all right, but he had no expectation of aban-
doning his good trade and salary as a skilled electrician.
After a few years he became expert, and discovered that
there was a good market for squabs at popular prices.
Steamship lines and railroad dining-cars consume a
great many dozens daily. They are also in demand for
formal banquets — 6,000 of them having been used in one
single occasion in Los Angeles ; and first-class hotels and
restaurants serve them regularly. When Mr. King had
mastered all details of the subject, he was ready to drop
his hold upon the payroll and stake his future upon an
independent business.

By the way, he does not think California the best
place to raise pigeons. He says New York is the great-
est market in the world ; and that the Southern States,
all the way from Virginia to Florida, where the climate
is mild, and where the markets of the Eastern seaboard
may be reached in a few hours' time, offer the finest
field.

But the squab is not the only unusual item that will
come upon the luxurious table of the many in the future.
There are ducks and turkeys, both readily susceptible
of intensive cultivation. It is claimed for the duck that
it is untroubled by vermin and not subject to illness;
quickly reaches maturity, and always finds a ready mar-
ket. It is easy to handle. Fences 24 inches high will
confine it safely. Ducks are not largely consumed, ex-
cept by certain elements of our population. The reason
more people do not eat them more often is because
they do not get the chance.

I am sorely tempted here to tell the story of another

INTENSIVE CULTIVATION OF THE MARKET SQUAB
A. Red Carneaux. B. Silver Kings. C. White Kings

Broiled Squab, and That Sort of Thing 147

superman of the little lands, Mr. Otto Reichardt, who
raised white Pekin ducks at the rate of 40,000 to ten
acres, and whose facilities and operations were all on a
magnificent scale. Like Mr. King with his squabs, Mr.
Reichardt's duck enterprise started as a side issue on
a small lot, while he was employed at a trade. In 17
years this side issue developed into the main issue, with
a plant costing $250,000, doing an annual business of
$350,000, and with net profits that enabled him to live
in an aristocratic suburb, and go the gait with the best
of 'em. It is indeed a fascinating life story, but not
particularly applicable to the immediate theme, except
as showing that plenty of ducks for the enrichment of
the luxurious table may be kept successfully on a very
small space by modern intensive methods.

Probably most readers will be surprised to be told
that the lordly turkey, notorious ranger that he is, is
also subject to intensive cultivation, and therefore
eligible to a place on that luxurious table that is the
rightful heritage of the home gardener. Mr. and Mrs.
W. W. Hevener, of San Ysidro, California, raised a
goodly bunch of turkeys year after year, as one of the
interesting incidents of their acre home. The little
turks were raised in a coop 10x12 ft. and, when grown,
made their home in a eucalyptus grove, where they could
roost in the trees. At all times they were confined
to a small space, which did not, however, interfere
with their growth, as they ranged in weight from 8 to
20 pounds. Mr. Hevener has turned off as many as
thirty at the holiday season, and found them very
profitable sellers, as well as exceedingly good to eat.

Even the family pig can be raised in the garden-home

148 City Homes on Country Lanes

plot in a perfectly sanitary way, and the family thereby
supplied with pork and bacon. This proposition has
been worked out successfully by the United States De-
partment of Agriculture, as we shall learn, when we pass
from philosophy to programme ; from the consideration
of the home-in-a-garden as a way of life, to the con-
sideration of its mechanical aspects; or, as the reader
may perhaps say, when we descend from the blue sky
to the solid earth.

In the meantime, we are not yet through with our
luxurious table. There are two staples yet unaccounted
for — milk and sugar.

CHAPTER XIV

"Thou shalt have goat's milk enough for thy food, for the food
of thy household, and for the maintenance of thy maidens."

Proverbs.

MILK, butter and cheese are as essential to the
economy of the garden home as fruit, vege-
tables, eggs and meat. Our scheme of produc-
tion for the family that has set its heart upon the larg-
est measure of independence and self-sufficiency would
be woefully incomplete if it could not solve the problem
of supplying itself with those necessaries. Of course,
there is the good old family cow, which will doubtless be
in evidence in the garden city of the future; for it is
possible to keep the cow in an intensive way, and to
work out a cooperative plan of pasturing. Indeed, the
man who first aroused my interest in the possibilities of
little-landing kept a most adorable cow on his third of
an acre, and that cow was the largest source of his cash
income, even though she rarely stepped outside of her
diminutive barnyard.

The modern milch goat is the thing for the garden
home, since five to eight goats may be kept at the cost
of keeping one cow ; and since two good goats will main-
tain the family milk supply throughout the year.

To speak up for the milch goat is, of course, to put
one's self immediately on the defensive. The average

149

150 City Homes on Country Lanes

reader will think of the Harlem goat and all it implies
— of Shantytown, and the diet of tin-cans and bill-
boards. Undoubtedly the goat is popularly regarded
as a social outcast — at least in America. The best
thing that has been said of it in the past is to call it
"the Poor Man's Cow." But in recent years the English
nobility have taken to goats and formed a society to
promote its interests, under a motto revised to read
"the Wise Man's Cow." The truth is that the goat,
when understood and well-cared for, is one of the most
interesting and useful of domestic animals, and has been
so regarded in many countries from the dawn of history.
The Bible is full of allusions to goats, their milk and
meat. And in that and much other ancient literature
they are always referred to in terms of respect.

In this country it has happened that only the common
"Nanny" has been much in evidence. She has usually
been the makeshift of the poor, with no influential
friends to proclaim her virtues, though in recent years
it has been somewhat different. The public has begun
to discover that there are goats and goats, including
such aristocratic individuals as the Swiss Toggenburg,
the Saanen, and the Anglo-Nubian, with its distin-
guished Roman nose. Enthusiastic breeders and pro-
moters have sprung up, with their literature, their
periodicals and their societies, in consequence of which
the worthy milch goat is forging rapidly ahead in re-
spectability. In California, at least, the goat has found
its friends among the most refined and cultivated mem-
bers of society. The most prominent among these is
a young lady belonging to a well-known family, who
resigned her position as teacher of Greek and arch-

POPULAR BKEEDS OF SWISS

The Toggenburg Kids (upper picture) look more like fawn than like common goats. The
Saanen does (bottom) assure the milk supply.

"And Thou Shalt Have Goafs Milk" 151

aeclogy in one of the universities in order to devote her
time and attention exclusively to goat-raising.

A good goat gives daily from two to four quarts of
milk of superior quality. It is entirely free from the
germs of tuberculosis, wonderfully nourishing and
wholesome, and many who can not digest cow's milk
have no difficulty whatever with goat's milk. This fact
is coming to be generally recognized by physicians, with
the result that goat's milk is in great demand for babies
and invalids. It also sells in the markets for from two
to three times the price of cow's milk. This is doubtless
partially due to its scarcity ; but also to its superior
quality for certain purposes. One sanitarium offered a
dollar a quart for a goodly supply, and from forty to
fifty cents a quart is not an uncommon price for it to
bring in large cities. The only valid objection to goat's
milk of which I have knowledge is that it spoils one's
taste for cow's milk, which makes it inconvenient if one
is so situated as to be unable to get goat's milk.

The first virtue of the goat, from the standpoint of
the home-in-a-garden family, is that it can be stabled
in a very small space. And the stable is so cunning —
almost like a doll's house! When I visit Luther Bur-.
bank, I make a bee-line for his goat stable. He favors
the white Saanen; and his goats stand on their hind
legs with their fore feet on the top rail of the fence and
welcome the visitor by rubbing their noses against his
coat-sleeve. It should be said that the goat is a family
pet. People come to love them dearly, and their kids —
usually twins, but sometimes triplets — are the cutest
little playfellows in the world. It is an endless joy to
see them frisk and cavort about their small barnyard,

152 City Homes on Country Lanes

or in the pasture. About 45 per cent of them are does,
which are retained for milk purposes. Thoroughbred
bucks are usually sold, and always for high prices, but
the grades or the common varieties are destined to serve
as Sunday roasts. There is no finer meat than a kid
roast — somewhere between veal and lamb, and a little
better than either.

Next to economy of space, the goat's claim on the
home gardener is economy in feeding. Very careful
experiments were made at the State University Farm in
California, and it was found that, buying every ounce
of feed, the cost averaged only about three cents a day.
One goat yielded an average of three quarts of milk a
day for 310 days; and another over three quarts a
day for the same period. In the first case the cost of
the feed was about one cent per quart ; and in the other
less than a cent. This was on the basis of pre-war
prices of feed, which were normal.

There is no particular difference between the quality
of the milk of the thoroughbred and that of the common
"Nanny" when they are equally well cared for. This
is so true that one of the greatest breeders and advo-
cates of thoroughbred stock has written :

"Despite my association with the Toggenburg breed,
my sentiments can be most truthfully summed up by
borrowing the words of the popular song:

*Any little goat that's a nice little goat
Is the right little goat for me.'"

There is, however, an important advantage in the
thoroughbred in the matter of quantity, not only of the
average daily yield, but also in the period of lactation.

"And Thou Shalt Have Goat's Milk'9 153

In the thoroughbred this period is from nine to ten
months, against three or four months with the common
native goat. Hence it is most desirable that the home
gardener should have a thoroughbred goat, though not
necessarily a 100 per cent thoroughbred.

The most serious difficulty in meeting this demand is
that blooded goats are scarce and dear in the United
States. There are probably not more than 3,000 pure-
bred milch goats in this country to-day. Parenthetic-
ally, it should be said that the Angora is not properly
classed as a milch goat, but is kept for its beautiful
fleece. Of the Swiss goats the Toggenburg is the most
numerous, and the Saanen comes next. The Anglo-
Nubian is gaining ground, and its friends are most
enthusiastic — partly because of the patrician Roman
nose, but more because of their confident claim in regard
to the "odorless" buck.

It should be said that all of the imported goats are
quite different in appearance from the native variety.
Usually they are hornless and gifted with graceful lines,
so that they more resemble young deer or fawns than
the common backyard goat. This is particularly true
of the Toggenburg, because of their fawn color. The
Saanens are pure white, and the Anglo-Nubian black,
or reddish black. It is conceded that the Toggenburg
gives the most milk, the Anglo-Nubian the richest, while
the Saanen represents the middle ground between the
two in both qualities. Doubtless everybody knows that
the finest cheese in the world is made of goat's milk, and
appreciates the fact that home-made cheese is a de-
lightful and nutritious feature of the household diet.

The price of pure-bred goats, ranging from $75 to

154 City Homes on Country Lanes

$200, is prohibitive for many, even if the goats are
available in sufficient numbers to meet the very great de-
mand that may be anticipated in the next few years.
In this dilemma the question is, What can be done to
safeguard the self-sufficient garden home in the matter
of milk, butter and cheese? This is a question to which
Miss Irmagarde Richards, one of the most successful
breeders of Toggenburg goats, and a high authority
on the subject, has given much thought and study. She
says: "Don't buy a goat, but 'make' one." And con-
tinues :

"Go out into the highways and byways and you will
find, wherever there is a district settled by foreigners,
a fair sprinkling of goats staked on small spaces of
green, open ground. Find a fresh goat that you like
and buy her. She will probably have horns. She may,
or may not, be a good milker; but, at any rate, use your
best judgment. If possible, get a doe with a buck kid,
and include the kid in the purchase. If you have to
learn to milk, and are not much of a success at first,
the kid will finish the job for you and so prevent your
ignorance from spoiling the doe. At any rate, the doe
would the more quickly adjust herself to the new home,
if her kid is with her. As soon as the new duties and
relationships are established, the kid can fulfill his
destiny as a Sunday roast."

The next point in her advice is particularly prac-
ticable for the people of a garden city where large
numbers are thinking of a little goat dairy. She urges
that 50 to 100 families who have bought these common
does shall combine in the purchase of a high-priced,
thoroughbred buck, and proceed to produce half-breeds,

"And Thou Shalt Have Goat's Milk" 155

of which about one-half will probably be does. These
half-breed does should be bred to the thoroughbred
buck, and the next generation will be three-fourths pure,
which Miss Richards assures us is pure enough for all
practical purposes. In fact, she says that very often
it will be hardly possible to distinguish between the
three-fourths grade in appearance or other qualities.

In this way an entire community could be supplied
with splendid milch goats, and thus solve one of the
most important problems of the garden home. The
drawback about this plan is that it would require about
three years to bring it to fruition, and during that
period most people would have to depend on the milk-
man. Of this aspect of the matter, Miss Richards
says:

"A long time to wait for results, do you think? Not
so long as you wait for your orchard to come into
profitable bearing, and you have some by-products as
you go — enough milk to balance the books, at least ;
a lot of fertilizer of exceptional value; several roasts
of the most delicious meat ; a soft fur rug or two ; and,
finally, the sale of the scrub doe herself, when her grade
daughter is ready to take her place — not to speak of
the fun!"

Apparently there is no other way to meet the de-
mand, except, perhaps, by importation, and that has
been hampered by law in recent years ; besides, that
would involve an expense beyond the reach of the many
who will be engaged in building and stocking their gar-
den homes. After all, three years is not long to wait
for a dependable and permanent supply of milk at a
cost of one to two cents per quart; and milk, too, so

156 City Homes on Coimtry Lanes

superior to the ordinary kind that it sells for two or
three times as much as cow's milk in the market.

In summing up the advantages of goat culture, Miss
Richards states one point that will sink deep into many
hearts, when she says:

"Still more may one offer as a by-product of this
venture that wonderful experience (what goat-keeper
has not had an opportunity to share in it?) of watch-
ing some little despaired-of baby, whose tiny, claw-like
hand has almost relaxed its hold on life, come back
from the valley of the shadow ; of seeing it return to
eat and sleep normally, to grow round and rosy, and
to step out into childhood a joyous, husky youngster.
To those of us who have stood by and watched that
miracle there are no words tender and reverent enough
to express our feeling for the Little Friend of All the
World."

CHAPTER XV

THE HONEYBEE AND THE SUGAR-BOWL

"Eat thou honey because it is good."

Solomon.

OF all the intensive folk, born for the comfort
of the garden home, surely the honeybee ranks
first. While associated in most minds with the
home in the country, it is by no means of purely rural
inclinations. It can flourish in the suburbs; not only
that, but in a limited way it has begun to follow the
crowd to the congested urban centers. San Francisco,
piled up on the tip of a sandy peninsula, harbors hun-
dreds of colonies of bees, most of them in backyards,
but some of them on fire-escapes of apartment houses,
and some on roofs of skyscrapers. The same is true
of New York and other cities. Sometimes hives are
installed in offices, the waiting-rooms of physicians,
particularly; and dentists say that they sooth the
irritated nerves of their patients — partly by their mur-
murous humming, and partly because the interesting
insects induce forgetfulness of self. There are beau-
tiful city homes where bees are kept in the rooms in
glass hives, with an aperture at the rear permitting
ingress and egress. The bees are no more trouble than
goldfish, and require less care than a canary.

At first thought, one would imagine that bees could

157

158 City Homes on Country Lanes

find no pasture in a crowded city. Many mistakenly
think the city bee subsists on garbage barrels or other
unsanitary sources of supply. The truth is that they
find flowers and other clean things to feed upon; and
it is a well-known fact, of course, that they often
travel a long distance for their food. These are ex-
treme instances of the intensive cultivation of the honey-
bee, which only emphasize its practical utility in the
economy of the garden home.

Sugar, of course, as much as milk, and far more
than meat, is an essential in every household. The
fluctuating, and often soaring, price bf sugar is one
of the acute points in high cost of living. The home
in the garden should be as free from the exactions of
the sugar trust as possible. And if honey does not
satisfy every palate, or meet every household need,
it can be made to go a very long way in that direction.
It is most unusual to hear any one complain of getting
too much honey; and quite common to hear people
say that they have never had enough. There is no
reason in the world why the home gardener should not
be as independent in this respect as in the matter of
meat, eggs, vegetables and fruit.

As in the case of poultry, eggs and rabbits, the bee
industry has its organizations, local and national, its
periodicals and literature. It even has its poets and
romanticists, as every one knows who has read Maurice
Maeterlinck's charming book, "The Life of the Bee."
Like all other departments in our new art of little-
landing, the honeybee has evolved its specialists and
enthusiasts, who find their highest satisfaction in this
line of work and enjoy wide reputation as authorities.

The Honeybee and the Sugar-Bowl 159

Bee-keeping is an important industry, and the prin-
cipal source of livelihood for thousands of people.
During the past few years it has been extremely profit-
able on account of the unusual demand for sweets,
and of the high price of sugar. Bee-keeping, as a pro-
fession is not, however, for our home gardener, who
wants honey only for the enrichment of his table ; wants
it whether times are good or bad; and wants it fresh
from his own little apiary. Things that are good
even when bought from the corner store are somehow
infinitely better when produced at home.

The cost of establishing a small garden apiary, in-
cluding the purchase of bees, and equipment and sup-
plies, is usually about $50. A good hive should supply
from fifty to two hundred combs a year, and readily
pay for itself the first year. The cost of filling the
family "sugar-bowl" in this way is about two cents
per pound — counting nothing, of course, for one's own
time and labor, which is merely incidental to the con-
duct of the home garden. The market price fluctuates,
but is rarely lower than 20 cents a pound ; and usually
higher when the product is put up in attractive car-
tons. From twenty-five to fifty hives may be kept in
a good-sized garden lot. A small family with such an
apiary would doubtless have surplus product to sell
to the neighbors. There are many instances where
a cash income of from $400 to $500 is realized in this
way; and in any garden city there are certain to be
a number of enthusiasts loving bee culture and spe-
cializing in it, with a view of increasing their income.
Such people will generally have their private customers
in town and so obtain the full retail price.

160 City Homes on Country Lanet

In San Francisco some years ago there was a Boys'
Bee Club, organized and directed by Ralph R. Bent, an
enthusiastic young bee man, who attracted a following
of all sorts and conditions, ranging from 8 to 25 years
of age. They had their apiary at Sausalito, across
the bay from San Francisco, where they all had a
chance to take practical lessons in bee culture. Many
of them turned out to be shrewd salesmen ; among them
a number of newsboys who made more money selling
honey than they did selling papers. They canvassed
the city for customers and found them readily on every
hand.

It would be practicable to have such clubs elsewhere,
especially among the young people of the garden-city
homes, who would thus find profitable occupation for
their spare time, and incidentally get some good lessons
in salesmanship. In this way the surplus product from
a number of small garden-home apiaries could be dis-
tributed without dealing with middlemen.

A densely-peopled garden city is not, however, the
place for apiaries aiming at commercial production;
at least, beyond such a small surplus as may be inci-
dental to home production. For one thing, it is quite
possible to have more bees than can subsist in a given
neighborhood; for another thing, it is possible to have
bees so numerous and active as to make it uncomfort-
able for the human inhabitants. Commercial apiaries
should be located in a more open country, and in lo-
calities particularly favorable to bee food, both in the
matter of cultivated plants and trees and of wild
growth. In the West, sage, manzanita and eucalyptus
are very productive, as are also the wide fields of al-

The Honeybee and the Sugar-Bowl 161

falfa. In the East basswood is important, while buck-
wheat and white clover are especially appreciated. One
authority warns us that, where possible, bees should
be located in low lands, so that in their search for
sweets they may be empty when flying upward and
have the benefit of the down-grade when they come home
heavily laden.

Frankly, it must be said that there are many people
who do not like bees — who feel about them very much
as most people feel about mice — and live in constant
fear of being stung when they are about. This, in
spite of the fact that the true bee lover permits his
adored insects to crawl all over him; putting them in
his hat, and sometimes even in his mouth. Such persons
insist that when folks are stung it is their own fault
rather than that of the bees ; that if they had the
proper amount of confidence, and the very best man-
ners, they would have no trouble of that sort. One
of them naively adds : "If the matter came into court,
they could never prove whose bee it was, anyway."

The Bureau of Entomology, Department of Agricul-
ture, at Washington, D. C., supplies full information
on bee culture to all. Just here it is desired to em-
phasize the fact that honey is exceedingly good to
eat and can be largely made to take the place of sugar
in the average household. The honeybee goes logically
with the home-in-a-garden, and contributes much to
its luxurious table. It adds to the variety of interesting
occupations enjoyed by the household that is seeking
contentment and happiness under its own roof, within
the snug security of its own garden walls.

CHAPTER XVI

THE ELUSIVE MUSHROOM

THE mushroom belongs undeniably to the lux-
urious table, and is mentioned here for the sake
of making that table complete; though it must
be frankly said that of all the possible products of
the garden home, the mushroom is the most elusive, and
the least essential. It can be raised, but probably will
not be to any great extent; though every garden city
is likely to contain a few enthusiasts who will gayly
squander time and money in its culture. Some of them
will succeed, and now and then there will be a man
who will realize a fabulous income from his mushroom
bed considering the very small space it occupies.

It has been my good fortune to know some of the
most successful growers in the United States, nearly
all of them of French origin — one of them the third
generation of famous Parisian growers of this delicacy.
All of these men pretend to think it the simplest thing
in the world to bring forth prolific crops in their caves
and cellars. Often they have instructed others in the
art, but I have never been able to learn that they cre-
ated many competitors in consequence.

I heard of one man who diligently read all the books,
took all the instruction he could obtain, equipped the
finest sort of a plant, proceeded according to all known

162

The Elusive Mushroom 163

rules — and did not sprout a mushroom! Finally, he
pitched the rich but recalcitrant soil out of his cellar
and into his barnyard, to the accompaniment of re-
marks unfit for publication. What was his surprise
to go out a few days later and behold his barnyard
white with mushrooms ! "Verily," he said, "the art of
growing mushrooms passeth all understanding."

I recall a golden day in the San Francisco Bay region
when, with an inquisitive friend, I toured a district
where the mushroom is the object of quite general
attention. We found instances of varying success.
Just at the close of the day we came to a beautiful
home, occupying a half-acre of ground, with three
mushroom cellars at the rear of the lot. It was an
inspiring sight that awaited us. The mushrooms fairly
bubbled from the smooth, rounded beds, which covered
the floors of the cellars, and the proud proprietor was
in the act of making his second picking of the day. He
admitted that he was in the enjoyment of a handsome
income, and that he had found one of the most delight-
ful occupations in the world.

It looked very simple and easy. Apparently there
was nothing about the construction of the houses that
might not be readily duplicated. There were three
of these houses, each 24x60 feet, and costing $600
each. The side walls were of concrete, and there were
two roofs, the under one of board, and the top of lath
allowing for the passage of air between. When we'
congratulated him on having found the primrose path
to prosperity, he smiled grimly and said : "Yes, but for
six long, weary years I was a failure in this business.
I used all the money I had and all I could borrow,

164 City Homes on Country Lanes

and if I hadn't come through at last I should have
been ruined. It looks easy now — and it is — but I sup-
pose there are not many who would have succeeded at
the cost of the struggle I have been through."

After explaining all the details of the business, he
took us to a shed that served as his laboratory, where
he had bottles filled with mushroom cultures. He then
opened a cupboard and displayed a most interesting
array of little bricks. "I will tell you gentlemen where
the secret lies. It is all in the spawn," he said. This
coincided with what we had heard from those who had
used various kinds of spawn, some of it widely adver-
tised as a sure thing, and much of it disappointing in
results. Our host informed us that he made his own
spawn, and when we examined it we could see a striking
difference between this and the kind usually on sale.
It was fairly alive. It required but the slightest imagi-
nation to feel the pulse-beat of life in these little bricks
of smoky blue.

We asked how he did it, and he smiled, but shook
his head. "That is my secret," he said. "It has taken
me a long time to perfect my methods. Out of the
first lot of 228 bricks I made, only two were good.
Now, I get nearly 100 per cent of live bricks." When
we inquired if he would sell them, he returned an em-
phatic negative, saying he could make more money by
raising the mushrooms.

Leon Rouge, of Los Angeles, is one of the famous
growers of Southern California. He was educated in
the mushroom cellars of Paris and is one of the men
who dispelled the superstition that mushrooms can not
be made to nourish in the dry atmosphere of Cali-

The Elusive Mushroom 165

fornia. For several years he conducted the work in
the cellar of his home, supplying the best hotels and
clubs of Los Angeles at a uniform rate of $1 a pound.
As the locality became more thickly settled there were
some objections on the part of the neighbors to the
existence of a flourishing mushroom plant in the midst
of their homes. Although Mr. Rouge had incurred
considerable expense in the preparation of his plant
(one of the most perfect exhibits of its kind I have
ever seen), he cheerfully changed the location of his
industry. Where do you suppose he went? To a long
tunnel — a deserted city water main in Elysian Park.
Here he began his work anew, and at first in an experi-
mental way. It turned out to be successful. He ob-
tained a big crop of mushrooms which sold readily at
high prices.

There are many other interesting experiences that
might be quoted, but they all come to the same thing.
Mushroom culture is a highly technical undertaking.
It requires not only skill and experience but much pa-
tience and some little capital. A good mushroom cave
of commercial proportions costs anywhere from $500
to $2,000. A successful grower is handsomely re-
warded, for there is an eager, unsatisfied market for
mushrooms almost everywhere, and the cultivated va-
rieties usually sell at a high price. It is possible to
raise them in a small way for home consumption with-
out much expense, and we shall see something of
methods advised by scientific growers, when we come
to deal with the mechanics of the garden home ; but the
probability is that most of our home gardeners will
depend on the wild crop that is abundant in many parts

166 City Homes on Country Lanes

of the country — (it is to be hoped they will be able
to distinguish the true from the false), patronize some
of the successful growers likely to be found in each
garden city, or get along without this luxury, which
may be classified among the non-essentials.

When I mentioned the subject to Luther Burbank,
he threw up his hands and remarked: "Please don't
mention mushrooms to me ! In my younger days I was
very fond of them, and ate so many that I entirely
lost my taste for them. I will say, however, that of
all the things in the vegetable kingdom the mushroom
is the most finicky. I never thought it of sufficient
importance in an economic way to justify me in wast-
ing any time on it."

Nevertheless, mushrooms are good when properly
cooked, and certainly add to the luxury of the family
table. As has already been said, they can be raised;
but there is no apparent prospect of overproduction.

CHAPTER XVII

THE LUXURIOUS TABLE IN REVIEW

HERE, then, are the materials of the luxurious
table that is to be brought within the reach
of the home-in-a-garden folk, and to be gen-
erously spread for them and theirs throughout all the
days of the future, whether prices be high or low,
whether times be good or bad — in sunshine and in storm !

A comfortable sufficiency of all the vegetables that
grow in the Temperate Zone — an infinite variety.
Enough of these not only for consumption during the
growing season, but for canning to supply the winter
needs of the household.

A comfortable sufficiency of all the berries and small
fruits that grow in the Temperate Zone — the products
of garden bed and shrub and vine ; and enough for jams,
jellies and preserves throughout the year.

A comfortable sufficiency of all the tree fruits that
grow in the Temperate Zone, with a surplus for pre-
serves.

A comfortable sufficiency of eggs fresh from the nest.
I repeat it — fresh!

A comfortable sufficiency of the very nicest milk;
with delicious home-made butter, and a variety of de-
lectable cheeses.

A comfortable sufficiency of chicken — age authen-
ticated (not cold-storage).

167

168 City Homes on Country Lanes

A comfortable sufficiency of young, fat squabs and
other fowl — ducks, geese, turkeys assuredly — even
pheasants, if you've a taste for one of the more delicate
tasks of poultry raising. The guinea hen is a triumph
on the table, but something of a bolshevist in the garden
— (her shrill, monotonous piping).

A comfortable sufficiency of rabbit meat, in all re-
spects equal — in some respects superior — to chicken,
with a by-product of fur which, if it does not belong
to the luxurious table, is an added luxury for the family.

In addition to all this the occasional kid roast ; even
pork, if you have a pig, the sanitary pen, and — the
gumption !

All these elements of a generous living are within
the reach of the home-in-a-garden folk — not only within
their reach, but subject to their secure control, regard-
less of railroad rates, middlemen's charges, strikes,
lockouts, and fluctuations in the purchasing power of
the dollar. They are available, too, at cost, which
means, as we have seen, a cent a quart for a superior
quality of milk; two cents a pound for the kind of
sugar that comes direct from the flowers; vegetables
and fruit at the cost of seeds, nursery stock and fer-
tilizer; meat at the cost of such feed as must be pur-
chased (at wholesale in the case of an organized com-
munity) to supplement the green stuff from the garden.
All this because the garden people have resumed their
heritage in the soil, the sunshine and the rain — God's
beneficent provision for the physical sustenance of His
children on this good earth. I reckon neither the land
nor the labor into the cost. The land is part of the
garden home, costing no more, and possibly less than
that paid for a "canned" home in city apartments —

The Luxurious Table in Review 169

that sort of a home that appropriately accompanies
a diet of canned vegetables, fruit, milk and meat. The
labor is the loving, enthusiastic and interesting labor
of the whole family in spare hours, with its grateful
expression of individual initiative, and its valuable les-
sons in efficiency and self-reliance. These things rep-
resent long steps toward genuine freedom.

Stress is laid on a "comfortable sufficiency." It is
of the essence of the new way of life. I am not talk-
ing of your old-fashioned farm, any more than I am
talking of your cell in the apartment house. I am
talking of the home-in-a-garden brought to its best
efficiency and highest refinement. I am talking of a
new type of man, a new element of our citizenship.
We need a new term to describe him — this "country-
minded" man loving the city and attached to its pay-
roll, yet yearning for the rural savor in his daily life,
and the opportunity of individual expression in health-
ful labor as much as "David Grayson" ; as much as the
New York business man we read of in earlier pages.
What shall we call him?

The Homelander!

The man with a little home of his own on the land,
where he may work lovingly for himself without a wage,
yet for a higher compensation than he gets in town;
and where, in the course of the patient years, he may
rear a holy temple for his wife and babies, from which
no landlord may turn him out.

That is the Homelander !

Every feature of his life has been demonstrated, and
is now in successful operation. True, not all of it
has been demonstrated in one garden city exclusively
dedicated to the cause; still less in a thousand garden

170 City Homes on Country Lanes

cities throughout the land, with millions of garden
homes. That is something that waits upon the future.
But every separate wheel and cog that is to enter into
the complete mechanism of the garden city has been
tested and found to be good. And there are com-
munities now in a state of thriving existence where the
whole plan is approximated.

I am thinking of it now as a great department of
our national life, under national leadership, as we shall
presently see on reaching the constructive programme.
I do not conceive it, except incidentally, in terms of
our vexed "housing problem." Housing! A cold, re-
pellent word. No, no ! Not "housing," but making
our earth to blossom with homes of men ! And a home
is much more than a house.

There will, of course, be unbelievers. There have
been in every age. They oppose each step of human
progress. They were born with the word "impossible"
on their lips. And their forgotten dust paves the high-
ways of history whereon the race has marched to better
things.

They will call it a "dream" — this hope of a better,
fuller, freer life for the mass of our country-minded.
We answer: "But dreams come true!" They will char-
acterize it by the moss-covered term — "Visionary!"
We quote the Good Book: "Where there is no vision,
the people perish." They are perishing now — of apart-
ment houses, high cost of living, monotonous industrial
ruts, stifled individualism, an overdose of the movies.
They are lost in the jungle of our complex modern life.

The Home-In- A-Garden is the WAY OUT.

CHAPTER XVIII

SOCIAL LIFE OF THE GARDEN CITY

"A small house,
A large garden,
A few dear friends,
And many books."

THE ideal condition for an interesting and whole-
some society, it seems to me, is a community
where there are enough neighbors, but not too
many; where neighbors are near enough, but not too
near ; where an approximate equality of fortune exists,
so that there are no wide gulfs to be bridged; where
the people, though diversified in race, religion and com-
mercial pursuits, are, nevertheless, united by a common
interest and enthusiasm, lending a certain fervor to
their lives. If these are sound principles, then the
garden city offers ideal soil for their planting and culti-
vation, and invites us to the consideration of forms of
social life which hold out the most charming possi-
bilities.

As to this, there is really no question, for if any
side of the garden-city experience has been thoroughly
tried out and demonstrated it is the social side. It
offers a striking contrast to lonely country life on the
one hand, and crowded city life on the other, striking
a happy medium in which the advantages of both are
nicely blended and their drawbacks largely avoided.

171

City Homes on Country Lanes

The drawback about average rural conditions in
respect to organized social life is the lack of necessary
facilities, and the difficulty of assembling the people
without great inconvenience. The city, of course, has
all the facilities for the most diversified social and in-
tellectual experience within easy reach of its popula-
tion, but in this case there are other conditions that
make it difficult to obtain the best atmosphere and real-
ize the best results. It is an axiom that in the city
you scarcely know your next-door neighbor. Naturally,
you have your own circle of acquaintances, your own
social, religious, and intellectual affiliations, and so
enjoy the benefits of society to some extent; but com-
paratively few people own their own homes, while the
population is constantly shifting. They are more or
less like the tumble-weed which, because its roots fail
to strike into the ground, goes rolling about the country
before every stiff breeze. So the shifting winds of
employment and unemployment, of prosperity and de-
pression, have their effect upon neighborhoods com-
posed almost wholly of those living in rented houses
or apartments. These conditions do not favor a high
development of social relationships, and the consequence
is that beyond a small circle of intimates very many
of us have no social diversions except church and the
movies.

The population of the garden city, on the other
hand, will be composed 100 per cent of home-owners.
There will be comparatively little shifting of population
as the years go by. The home-in-a-garden folk are not
like the tumble-weed; they are more like the oak that
sends its roots deep, taking firm hold upon the soil, in

Social Life of the Garden City 173

order that its sheltering branches may reach high and
wide. Furthermore, in a garden city of the right size,
people would be generally acquainted, and drawn to-
gether on many occasions by a common interest. These
fundamental conditions are most favorable to the grad-
ual evolution of an interesting society.

I think in time quite half of the population of urban
centers will be dispersed in garden homes surrounding
the city, within thirty to sixty-minutes' ride of their
places of employment, and of the theaters, art gal-
leries, department stores, and other great attractions
which they will frequently patronize. This would mean
that tens of thousands, and in many cases, hundreds
of thousands of families would be so situated. We do
not, however, wish to create another great city on the
exterior of one now in existence, since that would nullify
the social principles we are trying to establish. There
should be a series of communities, often closely con-
tiguous, but each with its separate social life, and the
facilities that would be required for its service. A
community of 500 families, representing a total popu-
lation of from 1,500 to 2,000, would be about right to
secure the best results in a social way. In such a com-
munity, in addition to their own personal friends and
acquaintances, the people would enjoy the benefits of
a highly-organized social life, such as is by no means
now enjoyed by the vast majority of our people, either
in town or country.

The throbbing heart of the organized social life in
a garden city is its civic center, with its manifold
activities. It is possible to make this institution a
great socal shrine — the common hearthstone of the

174 City Homes on Country Lanes

community. It is desirable, though not strictly neces-
sary, that it should be very attractive in a material
way, and very complete in all its facilities. I have
had something to do with such institutions over a lonjjj
period of years; and, testifying from experience, can
bear witness to the fact that it is possible to achieve
the finest spiritual results in the humblest environment.
Never have I seen the spiritual flame of the community
rise higher than in a little civic center which consisted
of a shanty and a tent, and which became, in fact, the
starting point of a new social history; but that was a
matter of necessity rather than of choice. It is desir-
able that this great spirit should be comfortably, even
handsomely, housed, and this will be readily possible
in communities thoughtfully planned in advance, in the
light of experience.

There is need, first of all, of a good-sized auditorium,
capable of seating at least one-third of the community,
which is as large a proportion as would attend on all
except the most important occasions. There is much
use for smaller halls, and it is convenient and practi-
cable to have these built at the side of the large audi-
torium, and so arranged that they can be opened into
it when it may be necessary to accommodate an unusual
audience. One of the most cherished institutions in
the garden city, as in all communities, is the public
library and reading-room, and this should be an in-
tegral part of the civic center. Nearly all facilities
of the modern club should be provided, since club life,
both for men and women, is one of the most interesting
and satisfying features in the daily experiences of the
cultured and well-to-do.

Social Life of the Garden City 175

The civic center can not successfully base its appeal
upon any narrow range of activities. These should be
diversified as much as possible, in order to enlist all
of the interests and keep them alive. In one community
of this kind I engaged an expert census enumerator
who happened to be one of the settlers, and had him
make a very thorough canvass to ascertain the tastes
and talents of our people. He did the job quite scien-
tifically, with card-indexed results. We were all amazed
to find the amount and diversity of talent available for
public entertainment and instruction. One man was
an Esperanto crank, and it was not long before he
had a number of people studying the universal lan-
guage. One lady had made a deep study of old Colonial
dances and costumes, and she soon had a wonderful
class, which appealed especially to the older people.
This revival of the stately minuet and other dignified
dances of our forefathers was so popular that people
frequently came many miles to witness it. It was mar-
velous to behold the grace concealed under the roughest
exterior, and developed under this lady's enthusiastic
teaching.

The census revealed one band-master, and a dozen
or more young men who had aspired all their lives to
blow a horn, with no opportunity to satisfy their am-
bition. It must be confessed that the community suf-
fered a good deal while they were learning, but they
finally emerged a fairly competent brass band. Some
very good actors were uncovered (there are always
such in these communities), and a rather unusual qual-
ity of dramatic entertainments evolved after a time.
Of elocutionists, musicians, singers and good public

176 City Homes on Country Lanes

speakers there were many, for a surprisingly large
proportion of the community were graduates of leading
American and European universities, while fully half
of them enjoyed something more than a common-school
education. One of the most spiritual and eloquent
preachers I ever listened to had been hiding his light
under a bushel, and was induced to take the platform.
He soon drew large audiences from the surrounding
country, and a few months later was induced to leave
us and accept a pulpit in a large city.

It is, perhaps, only right to note the fact that some
harmless cranks were revealed by the census, and that
a good deal of tact was required to keep them from
monopolizing the limelight. Doubtless the most pop-
ular entertainments are the dance and the movies. Both
require some restraint ; or, let us say, intelligent direc-
tion. It is possible to have the best instead of the
worst of these things, since the matter lies within con-
trol of a small and homogeneous public, so organized
as to be able to give effective expression to its desires.

There is one feature of the social and intellectual
life of a garden city that is capable of very high de-
velopment. This is the weekly meeting devoted to
Current Events. Many times I have said on such
occasions : "We ought to be the most enlightened people
on the face of the earth, with higher average knowledge
of worth-while things transpiring throughout the
world, than any other community." The passing of
the years has not changed my view ; I do not think the
statement exaggerated. To begin with, the initial ap-
peal of the garden city, as shown by experience and
careful analysis of its constituents, is to an element

Social Life of the Garden City 177

possessing a high average intelligence and education,
even culture. The appeal is to the ambitious, the
thoughtful — to those who aspire to better conditions
of living for themselves and their children, and are
willing to make some sacrifice to that end; hence, the
human material is good to start with. Next, it is pos-
sible for the people conveniently to assemble once a
week in a comfortable auditorium. Finally, in the
citizenship of the nearby metropolis, and usually of
the garden city itself, there is abundant talent to be
drawn upon for the intelligent presentation of every
topic within the range of current discussion — political,
literary, artistic, scientific, and religious.

As I am writing these words, Einstein, the German
physicist and Zionist leader, is in New York and on
the front pages of the newspapers. I do not grasp
his theory as to relativity, and am comforted to learn
that there are only twelve people in the world who can
do so; yet, if I lived in a garden city, and saw the
announcement that some notable man or woman would
occupy the platform to-night and tell us all the average
brain can comprehend in regard to Einstein, including
his passion for Zionism, and that this talk would be
illustrated by moving pictures, I should certainly want
to attend that meeting. At least, I should have the
opportunity, along with all my neighbors, to get the
best word about Einstein at the moment when he was
conspicuously in the public mind. And, if I were in
charge of affairs, I would undertake to get hold of
Einstein himself and exhibit him as a passing lion.

This is only an illustration of the opportunities
that constantly occur to lift the standard of general

178 City Homes on Country Lanes

information and intelligence, in regard to big things
that are happening all of the time. The same thing
may be done in a big city, of course, and is done in
extraordinary cases. But in a garden city the matter
is reduced to a science. We make a business of it,
deliberately setting out on a voyage of intellectual
discovery, and making it a matter of common pride to
keep abreast of the world's progress. We have the
spirit and the facilities to do it, and — we do it! Speak-
ing again from experience, I can testify that it is a
great privilege, appreciated by everybody, including
some to whom it would not be expected to appeal.

I have a very clear recollection of the first evening
of this kind I ever experienced — perhaps the first occa-
sion when such a programme was carried out in such a
community. It was inaugurated by a young woman
of brilliant intellectual attainments, a graduate of
Vassar, who had had the benefit of post-graduate
courses at Columbia and at Stanford; and, though
the affair was held in a tent, it is no exaggeration to
say that it would not have proven disappointing if
held at Carnegie Hall, New York. It covered every
worth-while topic of contemporaneous interest, pre-
senting not only the essential facts, but philosophic
deductions that enlarged the outlook of all hearers.
For example, Bleriot had just made the first flight
across the English Channel, and, upon the strength of
what now seems a trivial achievement, we soared
through the skies of the future on the airplane — a
future now fully realized and become commonplace.
Indeed, under that extremely intelligent leading we en-
joyed a luminous vision of the new intellectual universe

Social Life of the Garden City 179

which was to be opened to the eyes of the common
mind. We adopted almost as a watchword, the ex-
pression : "The world is only as wide as our thought —
give us the wide horizon!"

It may be said that many people do not care for
opportunities of entertainment and education, but pre-
fer to spend their time at home, or in the company of
their particular friends; hence, that these institutions
of community life would languish.

That would be true, if the founders assumed that
all people have the same tastes, and, therefore, that all
would wish to attend the same function at the same
time. Accommodations based on that theory would
very often exhibit a discouraging amount of empty
space. The most popular affair would rarely attract
more than ten to twenty per cent of the community.
Social tastes are widely diversified, and fortunately so.
People form themselves into groups by natural at-
traction and common interests. The fellows who want
to play chess or billiards, or cards, are not long in
finding each other out and cementing firm ties of fel-
lowship. It is so with the literary, musical, scientific
and religious groups. Then there are studious indi-
viduals who haunt the library and reading-room, and a
certain percentage of "clubable" folk who like to sit
around the fireplace and swap yarns. These matters
all readily adjust themselves.

There is such a thing as the social instinct; and the
properly organized garden city offers the fundamental
conditions best suited to its successful cultivation.

In writing of these hopes to Secretary Lane, with
special reference to the civic center in a garden city

180 City Homes on Country Lanes

for Washington, I said: "One thing I have set my
heart on, and that is chimes ! I want the Homelander
to stand on his porch at twilight, and hear 'Abide With
Me' ring out over the land and echo back from the
hills; for I am thinking of the Spiritual Man of the
Soil who is working in conscious partnership with God
in going on with the creation of the earth — the new
and better earth that is to be." He replied in warm
sympathy and approval in regard to the whole plan,
and said with italicized emphasis: "I am for the
chimes!"

CHAPTER XIX

THE PERSONAL EQUATION

The lowliest hearthstone flame

Is worthier of worship than the sun.
The patter of bare brown feet that dance and run

Over roughest cabin floor,
And the poor mother's happy smile, are more

Than starry hosts and lofty ghosts,
And awful phantoms born of overwrought

And soulless travail on the heights of thought.

Maurice Thompson.

THE way of life discussed in these pages will
bring happiness and contentment, together with
a large measure of security and individual inde-
pendence, founded on landed proprietorship, to millions
of families now utterly defenseless against the high
cost of living and entirely dependent upon landlords
for a place to lay their heads. A movement that prom-
ises so much in the way of social upbuilding is certainly
well worthy of national attention and encouragement.
It does not follow that everybody will adopt this way
of life; or that all would find it satisfactory if they
did. It has been my consistent effort to keep clear
the distinction between those who are city-minded and
those who are country-minded. It would be very inter-
esting to know how society is divided along these lines,
but there is no way to ascertain, except by the slow
evolution of the national life.

181

182 City Homes on Country Lanes

The city-minded will continue, as they ought, to dwell
in town. Capital and enterprise, catering always to
popular taste, have brought wonderful improvements
in the conditions of urban living and will doubtless
continue to do so. The modern apartment house is a
monument to the craze for city life. It brings within
reach of the many conveniences that could not be bought
with a price a generation or so ago. Municipal ad-
vantages of every kind have been highly developed and
are improving all the time. For the city-minded,
capital and genius have wrought well in every depart-
ment; and yet, from the standpoint of the country-
minded, the sum of this fine achievement is as "dust
and ashes," because it leaves their souls utterly un-
satisfied. It represents only the dry husk of living.
There is no nourishing kernel at the core of it.

The country-minded will never be happy until they
can set their feet on a spot of ground all their own.
Like the birds of the air, they want a nest of their own
designing and fashioning, in the shelter of the trees,
under God's blue sky. They simply can not make a
home in an apartment house, be it ever so aristocratic
and expensive, and equipped with every convenience
that the human brain can devise. These country-
minded people will always be spiritual aliens in a flat.
They will never be at peace with themselves until they
strike their roots into their native soil. Having done
everything for our city-minded, the time has come
when the craving of the country-minded should be al-
layed, if for no better reason than that of quieting
social unrest, and thereby conserving our institutions.
The city-minded should stay in town, and doubtless

The Personal Equation 183

will. No poorer service could be rendered than to urge
them to do otherwise. They are happy in their present
environment and would be miserable if they stepped out
of it.

Hence, this message is designed wholly for the coun-
try-minded who desire to satisfy their passion for the
soil without sacrificing any of the good things they
are now getting in their urban experience, including
their hold upon the payroll.

When we shall have put a tithe of the money and
genius into the creation of garden cities that we have
put into apartment houses, family hotels, and separate
houses jammed together on 25-foot lots, there will
be a revelation of country-mindedncss that will arouse
the nation to a sense of duty long neglected, and put
a new star of hope in the sky of our common humanity.
The personal equation is what tells in making success
or failure, contentment or discontentment, in the home-
in-a-garden, as in other walks of life. Those who have
the right feeling and the aptitude — or at least the ca-
pacity to acquire it — are the ones to enter upon the
adventure. There is such a thing as the home-in-a-
garden kink in the brain, just as there is such a thing
as the mechanical kink in the brain; and, in fact, the
two are akin, since the element of workmanship enters
into both. Decidedly there is a technical side to little-
landing, and boundless scope for the growth of profi-
ciency, acquired in part by study, but more by ex-
perience. The people who do well are those who care;
and the people who do best of all are those who sense
the deep spiritual significance of the thing, and so make
it a sort of religion. In many this is a dormant sense

184 City Homes on Country Lanes

susceptible of being awakened and cultivated in a high
degree, like the sense of democracy in backward
peoples.

The country-minded are confined to no particular
walk in life. To illustrate, in one garden city, where
some one took pains to get the data, it was found that
the following occupations were represented: House-
wives, farmers, carpenters, physicians, stenographers,
nurserymen, builders, editors, grocers, craftsworkers,
stationary engineers, school-teachers, dressmakers,
clerks, expert accountants, photographers, contractors,
real estate men, printers, clergymen, horticulturists,
electricians, metal workers, bank clerks, mining engi-
neers, artists, assayers, bookkeepers, jewelers, black-
smiths, music-teachers, authors, storekeepers, car-
builders, railroad conductors, civil service men, machin-
ists, hotel steward, lumber dealer, truckman, newspaper
manager, superintendent of water-works, landscape
gardener, locomotive engineer, construction foreman,
produce dealer, rancher, gardener, dry goods, tinner,
cooper, wood patternmaker, laborer, restaurant man,
worsted weaver, patent medicine.

As the appeal of the garden home is by no means
limited to any particular walk in life, neither is it
limited to either sex. The garden home is preeminently
a family rooftree, and its ideal proprietor is the man
with wife and children, all interested and helpful. I
venture to predict that the divorce rate will decrease
with the growth of garden homes. Such homes are far
more favorable to domestic felicity than apartment
houses and family hotels. The mere fact of partner-
ship in a mutual enterprise will have something to do

LIVING USEFULLY AT 81

Many a man who, in the days of his strength, has provided himself with a well-equipped

Garden Home, will find the answer to the poet's prayer:

"May my last days be my best."

The Personal Equation 185

with it; absorption in interesting work will have its
part; but more than all else, the spiritual companion-
ship that goes with the trees and flowers and open skies.
Not only will there be fewer divorces ; there will be
more marriages and more children, and for similar
reasons.

The occupations of the garden home are all such as
women can readily pursue, if they have the taste for
such things. An interesting and inspiring book might
be written on this phase of the subject. Nothing ex-
cept the limitation of space restrains me from relating
many experiences of the kind which have come under
my own observation during the past 20 years. Even
so, I must refer to a single instance that may inspire
others to the adventure.

In one of the most picturesque of California valleys,
not far from Los Angeles, two young women started
out ten years ago to make a self-sustaining home on
a single acre. They were accomplished artists, and
perhaps the wild beauty of the region lured them into
this new way of life, so strange to their experience
and — some would have thought — so forbidding to per-
sons of their delicate strength. They built a com-
modious and beautiful tile house, largely with their own
hands, and proceeded to organize their small holding
on the basis of the most diversified production — vege-
tables, fruit trees, berries, poultry, rabbits, bees, and,
finally, goats. "Pretty hard work for two girls," they
always cautioned me to say, yet there they are after
many years, and there their hearts will always abide.

They demonstrated that they could make a living
from an acre of ground within easy distance of a great

186 City Homes on Country Lanes

city, and enjoy a life of glorious freedom in an en-
vironment exceedingly inspiring to their artistic tastes
and talents. One of them, Miss Mabel Free, was the
gardener; while the other, Miss Emma Kraft, looked
after the live stock, finally specializing on Nubian goats
(fell in love with their Roman noses!) and won high
distinction as a breeder. It was a thoroughly triumph-
ant experience.

Such experiences pertain to all parts of the United
States and to many different lines of work. Everybody
knows, of course, that women are often adepts at rais-
ing flowers, and there are numerous instances where
they have developed into skilled florists and eajoyed a
high degree of commercial success. Women are equally
successful with vegetables and small fruits, and are par-
ticularly adapted to the fine art of intensive cultivation.

The culture of thoroughbred goats has fallen very
largely into the hands of women — perhaps because of
their sympathy for children, for whom this kind of milk
is often prescribed.

The raising of chickens and squabs are favorite in-
dustries of women, and income from this source fre-
quently supports a family in moderate circumstances.

Women also take kindly to rabbitcraft, and when
they raise the fur-bearing varieties, often do well in
manufacturing and selling fur garments. Often they
specialize with bees.

Among the country-minded people of big cities are
great numbers of unmarried women who do well in
garden homes of their own, especially where there are
two or three of them to cooperate in the undertaking.
Indeed, these bachelor-maids, as well as bachelors of
the male persuasion, have always been conspicuously

The Personal Equation 187

numerous in garden communities. Sometimes when I
see a childless woman hugging a fashionable poodle
and am told that she does this in response to the ma-
ternal instinct, I am moved to wonder whether she does
not represent a type of women who would find far more
satisfaction if they lavished their affection and energies
on the interesting small livestock that goes with a gar-
den home. Really there is a principle here worth think-
ing of in relation to both sexes; and it is a possible
explanation of the undoubted fact that unmarried men
and women do naturally tend toward the little home
on the land. Of course, they do not all remain un-
married. Who would expect them to do so, since the
advantage of a woman in the home and a man on the
place, becomes quickly obvious? The agreeable social
contact in such a community is rather discouraging to
single blessedness ; and the really competent person of
either sex is likely to develop into a great attraction.
This is natural and logical, and by no means to be
deplored.

There is another respect in which the personal equa-
tion should be emphasized — its relation to the problem
of old age. A few years ago an Eastern publication
projected this question: "Where will YOU be at 65?"
Following it with this statement :

"Of 100 healthy men at 25—
36 will be dead at 65,
1 will be rich,

4 will be wealthy,

5 will be supporting themselves by work,

54 will be dependent upon their friends, rela-
tives, or charity."

188 City Homes on Cowitry Lanes

If this be true, then more than half of us have some-
thing very serious to think about. Nothing is more
terrible than an unprovided old age. For many people,
the garden home is the best possible provision, and
when we shall have the right sort of national policy
this provision for a decent, comfortable, and interesting
old age will be brought within the reach of almost
everybody. For many it will be the richest period of
their lives. Of course, it is possible for a man to out-
live his usefulness, even in a garden home; but the
best place for him to be when that time comes is in a
neighborhood of sympathetic people, and the best asset
to possess is a well-developed garden home, where he
may readily find companions, or a family that is will-
ing to occupy the place — (purchase it, perhaps), in
return for the care of its feeble owner. That is better
than dependence on "friends, relatives, or charity."
Indeed it is not dependence in any proper sense. It
is paying for what you get in the kind of coin that is
worth its face.

The care of such a place is not beyond the strength
of healthy old age. With no rent to pay, with plenty
of vegetables, berries, fruit, milk, eggs, and consider-
able meat, the cost of living is small. It is quite feasible
to have a little surplus to exchange for cash, especially
of such things as eggs, chickens and rabbits. The
average old man would be far happier and better off
in every way in such a home of his own than in a public
institution, even of the better sort. In considering the
personal equation, the ageing person may well ask him-
self if he knows of any better provision to make in the

SERVING HER COUNTRY AT OVER 90

Mrs. Thomas B. Edwards of Oberlin, Ohio, cultivated her war garden after the initial
plowing, besides canning vegetables for herself and relatives

The Personal Equation 189

days of health and strength than to invest his savings
in a garden home, and acquire all the skill he can in
handling it. This is a question for millions of men
and women — a question by no means academic, but of
the most practical sort.

Another aspect of the personal equation : S. W.
Strauss, of the National Society of Thrift, quoting
from the records of the Surrogate Courts, made this
statement :

"Of 100 men who die—

3 leave estates of $10,000 or more,
15 leave estates of from $2,000 to $10,000,
82 out of every 100 leave no income-producing

estate at all.
"Of 100 widows —

6 are left in good or comfortable circum-
stances,

47 are obliged to go to work,
35 are left in absolute want."

What a reflection on the civilization of America in
the Twentieth Century! Eighty-two men out of every
hundred are unable to provide for their nearest and
dearest, as the net result of their life-time labor ! Their
wives must go out and look for a job, or hold out their
hands for charity when the bread-winner drops by the
wayside.

Really, is it any wonder that among our hundred
millions there are some who openly declare for Social
Revolution? A great New York banker, on returning
from a trip to Russia, remarked: "We would all be

190 City Homes on Country Lanes

Bolshevists if we were hungry enough." The world
has learned, of course, that Bolshevism is a poor anti-
dote for hunger; but who shall say that the well-
developed garden home is not an antidote for the 54 per
cent of old men and the 82 per cent of widows now
left defenseless in their hour of greatest need?

If we could do nothing else with the home-in-a-garden
policy except to right these social tragedies the thing
would be worth while. It happens that this, important
as it is, is only a beneficent incident of a system that
will heal a thousand wounds, found millions of inde-
pendent homes, deepen and broaden the basis of our
institutions, and literally "take Occasion by the hand
and make the bounds of freedom wider yet." Even
so, could there be a sweeter service to humanity than
to raise a shield for old age and widowhood against the
dangers that now beset them, with the vast majority
of our people?

Finally, a thoughtful consideration of the personal
equation is the first thing the interested reader owes
to himself. It can not be too often said, nor said with
too much emphasis that the home-in-a-garden is for
those who like that sort of thing; and especially
for those who like it so much that they can enter upon
it in the spirit of consecration. There is no holier
place on earth than the home; no more sacred altar
than the family hearthstone. Its possibilities of happi-
ness, contentment and security are infinite. It has its
material side, but its dominating note is spiritual. It
is, perhaps, the deepest note we ever experience; as
deep as man's love for the wife of his youth; as deep
as his love for his children. To make one such home

The Personal Equation 191

in the course of a lifetime is an achievement to chal-
lenge the pride and strength of any man ; to make mil-
lions of such homes would be the proudest achievement
of statesmanship.

PART TWO

THE CONSTRUCTIVE PROGRAMME

CHAPTER I

THE AGE OF THE ENGINEER

THE world has come to the Age of the Engineer —
when engineering is statesmanship and states-
manship is engineering. The demand is for
facts, for exact information, and then for the appli-
cation of the facts by genuinely scientific methods.
The end sought is efficiency not merely, but something
infinitely more important — the extension of man's
promised dominion over the earth, with an unimagined
increase in the security, the prosperity and the happi-
ness of mankind.

Men can live — have lived for ages — by the crude,
primitive, even wasteful use of Nature's resources ; but
infinitely more of them can live, and live infinitely better
than men ever lived before, when they shall have learned
to make the most of their opportunities and environ-
ment. This is the key to the future, which is to be
better than the past. Only the high spirit of the
trained engineer, dwelling in the upper air of disinter-
ested service, is equal to the obligations of leadership
in a day when this fundamental truth is realized.

These are facts which the world is just beginning
to see; but they developed very early in the course of
the inquiry set on foot by Secretary Lane in the interest
of rural reconstruction. It was perfectly plain that
all the great mistakes that had attended the develop-

195

196 City Homes on Country Lanes

ment of agriculture, nearly all of the disheartening
disappointments, and a very large share of the un-
popularity of rural life, could be traced to the absence
of this high sense of engineering and of responsible
public leadership that should make it available to the
people.

We had permitted the spirit of individualism to run
riot in a department of the national life closely related
to the common welfare. There is no reason why an
acre of poor land should ever be offered to a settler.
There is no reason why vast areas of land, unfitted for
cultivation in their natural state, should not be made
over into the best soil, whether it requires drainage,
irrigation, clearing or ref ertilization ; but, to deal suc-
cessfully with such things it is necessary to enlist a
quality and range of information not within reach of
the average promoter or settler, and then to utilize
this information in a scientific way. The great need
is a form of development thoroughly planned in ad-
vance, and executed with precision.

Another conclusion was arrived at: That it is not
enough simply to investigate soils and do the large
work of reclamation, such as the provision of irriga-
tion and drainage, as the Government has done in the
Western States. The land should be cleared, plowed,
harrowed, and made ready for the planting of the
seed — even fertilized if necessary. Some of these proc-
esses require scientific knowledge and methods; and
all of them can be performed more economically and
thoroughly if done on a large scale and standardized.
After all this has been done, the settler stands only
on the threshold of his new adventure. The engineer

The Age of the Engineer 197

should go with him all the way. Some one should plan
his system of agriculture with due reference to soil and
climate, transportation facilities and markets. He
needs prevision in this respect; needs an architect for
this work more than for the building of his house.
He can live in any sort of a house, if need be, but can
by no means succeed with any sort of a system of agri-
culture.

There is no reason in the world why each new settler
should begin as though he were the first man who ever
tried to make a home on the land; no reason why he
should not proceed to his work in the light of all the
experience of the past; but, to do this, he requires a
range of information not easily within his reach, and,
indeed, only within reach of the trained and scientific
mind. Even when he has the correct system for his
environment, he seldom knows how to apply it in a
manner to obtain the best results. He must be in-
structed by text and by example. Telling him is not
enough — he must be shown.

Next, comes the need of organized cooperation. First
of all in buying, then in packing, shipping, sometimes
in manufacturing, always in selling, which often in-
cludes the feature of publicity. It is a misnomer to
speak of the independent home. Interdependent is the
right word, for a prosperous community on the land
is made up of many units, each more or less dependent
on all the others, and requiring the element of unity
in their affairs in order to realize anything approach-
ing the best results. Here good engineering — using the
term in its broadest sense — is highly essential. The
lack of it is responsible for many tribulations. It is

198 City Homes on Country Lanes

pitiable to see millions of farmers, long established on
the land, groping their way to forms of cooperation
which they have found utterly necessary to their eco-
nomic existence, and which the right sort of engineering
might readily have provided for them at the beginning,
long before they got into trouble. In fact, it could
have been done far better in the beginning than at the
later stages, when a thousand obstacles have arisen,
and a thousand evil ways have hardened into custom.

In a garden-city settlement, I would carry the spirit
of engineering still further — even into the kitchen and
dining-room. If our people are to live luxuriously, it
is not enough for them to know how to produce all the
materials for a luxurious living; they must also know
how to put them together. Take so simple a matter as
a salad: Anybody with a garden can grow nearly all
the components of a good salad; but, there are salads
and salads; some hardly fit to eat, others that are
food for the gods. Making a good salad is an art.

I recall a wonderful dish I once had in a San Fran-
cisco restaurant. I sent for the chef and asked him
if anybody could make that kind of a salad if he had
the ingredients and knew how. "Sure!" he said, with
an expansive smile. "Well," I replied, "if a lot of peo-
ple who raise these things should send for you and
pay you a good fee, would you show them how to do
it?" "Sure I would!" he replied. Now, the man is a
scientific engineer in the matter of making salads.
Isn't it absurd that a lot of nice men and women, having
the material at hand, and lacking only the art of mak-
ing the most of it, should go on eating commonplace

The Age of the Engineer 199

things, when they might have the best, if they only
knew how? *

The principle applies to everything produced and
consumed in the garden home, but it will never be de-
veloped to its full possibilities until we have the engi-
neer in the kitchen. It is possible to map out the fam-
ily bill-of-fare long in advance, and to order produc-
tion accordingly. It is possible to provide luxurious
fare, daintily served, in the homes of all our people ; but
these things will not actually be done until the founders
of communities enlarge their vision of responsibility and
usefulness.

We must have the New Engineer to make the New
Earth.

It is only fair to say that great progress has been
made along these lines during the past few decades.
The early eras of colonization, beginning with the Pil-
grim Fathers, and coming down as late as the settle-
ment of the Mississippi Valley, managed to get along
with little or none of the spirit of engineering. In
late years, both the Government and private enterprise
have done much in the way of hydraulic and agricul-
tural engineering, yet we are only at the gray dawn
of things in this regard. We need a School of Social
Engineering that should supply a far more compre-
hensive training than is now available in any existing
institution. We still should be dependent on special-
ists in many lines of investigation and construction;
but we need a type of engineer who will grasp the whole

* Shortly after these words were written the Boston Institute
of Technology announced a new department of Food Engineering.

200 City Homes on Country Lanes

problem of organizing prosperity and happiness for
our people on the land.

The man will come forth in response to humanity's
great need. He will be the Architect of Institutions.

CHAPTER II

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT OWES ITS PEOPLE

The future works out great men's purposes;
The present is enough for common souls,
Who, never looking forward, are indeed
Mere clay, wherein the footprints of their age
Are petrified forever . . .

James Russell Lowell.

IT used to be said that Uncle Sam was rich enough
to give us all a farm. That was true while the
fertile lands of the Mississippi Valley were still
a part of the public domain, and while the settler had
simply to turn the prairie sod and proceed with the
planting of his crop. Those days are long past. Uncle
Sam is not now rich enough to give us all a farm. And
it would not be a good thing for most of us if he were.
The things we work and pay for are always more valu-
able to us than the things we get for nothing. But
Uncle Sam does owe something to his people in the
matter of homes — both garden and farm homes. It is
something the people do not possess; something they
can not buy with money.

This something is enlightened, disinterested leader-
ship.

With a quality of leadership in which they shall
have perfect confidence, the people can do everything
for themselves that needs to be done. No private

201

City Homes on Country Lanes

agency can command the necessary confidence because
in the past no private agency has ever been equal to
the responsibility. Perhaps it is not in human nature
that any private agency should be equal to it. There
are drawbacks about the public service, chiefly the fact
that it is wretchedly underpaid, but it has one great
advantage — the fact that it enables a man to rise
above all thought of selfish personal interest, save as
his interest may be forwarded by noble service, and to
view the problems before him in a spirit of complete
detachment. This spirit of detachment is essential
to the sort of home-building that will be the real healing
and saving of our people. I repeat, it is not a ques-
tion of public money; it involves no raid on the public
treasury; no taxing of some people for the benefit of
others ; but it does involve a raid, if you please, upon
the nation's reserves of intellect, of knowledge, and of
heart.

This is one of the great lessons learned in conse-
quence of Secretary Lane's inquiry in the interest of
national reconstruction. Necessity is still the mother
of Invention. It was found that with a fixed debt of
twenty-four billion, an annual budget of four or five
billion, and a currency inflation that cut the value of
every dollar in half, it would not be possible to obtain
from Congress — even if anybody had the courage to
ask it — anything approaching the amount of money
that would be required to develop a home-building
policy worthy of America. A big appropriation might
be had in the interest of our service men. That was
a matter that stood on different ground. But Peace
has her dead and wounded as much as War. As a mat-

What the Government Owes Its People

ter of fact the veterans of peace, because of age and
other disabilities, are often in more urgent need of
homes and employment than that large proportion
of War's young veterans who came unscathed from the
battlefields, or perhaps never had the good fortune to
come within sound of the enemy's guns.

In searching for a key that might unlock the door
to the land in the interest of all elements of our people,
some eyes were turned toward Utah, which has enjoyed
an uncommonly successful colonization experience since
July 24, 1847, when Brigham Young and his little
band of hunted fugitives emerged from the mouth of
Emigration Canyon and entered upon the founding of
a great State, whose cornerstone was the little irri-
gated farm. Here, for three-fourths of a century, poor
men have been coming from all parts of the earth to
find jobs working for themselves and build self-sustain-
ing homes, to become landed proprietors, to share in
the cooperative ownership of the store, the factory and
the bank. Nowhere else is ownership so widely dis-
tributed among the people, or the common prosperity
erected on so firm a foundation.

The achievement can not justly be credited to cap-
ital. There was no capital to speak of in the early
days when the foundations of the Commonwealth were
being laid deep in the arid soil. Labor can claim no
peculiar credit for the achievement, because men have
labored everywhere and always, and have no expecta-
tion of ever doing otherwise. "Thou shalt earn thy
bread in the sweat of thy face," is the Divine com-
mand. Utah is a monument to leadership — to a qual-
ity of leadership that has been creative and inspiring.

204 City Homes on Country Lanes

This leadership has been generally attributed to the
Mormon Church, and justly so. It is often said: "Yes,
the Church could do it, but nobody else could do it."
It is a shallow remark, based on the most superficial
knowledge of Mormon institutions. Leadership is
leadership; and, great as is the Mormon Church, it is
a very small thing when compared to the Government
of the United States.

Many years ago I discussed this subject before a
meeting of Boston ministers. One of them arose and
asked, in a nasal voice: "Will you tell me how it hap-
pens that after half a century of vigorous prosecution
on the part of the Government these Mormons are
growing faster and prospering more than ever before?"
I replied : "That is a very easy question. Your church,
I assume, offers the prospective convert a halo in the
next world. Now, the Mormons offer him three square
meals a day in this world, with a halo in the next world
thrown in for good measure. It is a proposition that
has appealed to a good many people — especially among
the landless, half-hungry people of Europe."

The fact is, whether it happens to be agreeable to
you or not, Brigham Young was an empire builder —
a captain of industry, an organizer of prosperity. His
policies proved so satisfactory to all concerned, in-
cluding the Treasurer of the Church, that they have
been continued by all his successors down to the present
hour. His emblem was an eagle with open beak and
outstretched wings, standing on a beehive. "Fit em-
blem," said Joseph Cook; "rapacity preying upon in-
dustry !" Another shallow comment. Joseph Cook is

What the Government Owes Its People 205

nearly forgotten. Brigham Young looms larger with
the passing of the years. Whatever his errors — and
the attempt to establish polygamy under the American
Flag was an error, now admitted, officially reversed,
and practically abandoned — 250,000 happy and inde-
pendent homes will plead for him in trumpet tones at
the Throne of Grace.

For many years I have been saying that what this
country needs is a Mormon Church — without Mor-
mons. I mean a policy of the Federal Government that
shall do for all our people in the future what the Mor-
mon Church has been doing for its own people during
the past 74 years. It has not financed its people,
except temporarily, and in a very limited way. What
it did was to create a system that would enable the
humblest settler to proceed in the light of the highest
available intelligence. This intelligence, in the early
days, consisted of the shrewd common sense of the
founder and the very able men by whom he was sur-
rounded ; many, like himself, drawn from the best strain
of New England blood. In later years, this intelligence
took on a scientific cast through numerous schools and
universities.

Intelligent leadership was supplemented by a hu-
mane and statesmanlike policy of development. No
settler was left to shift for himself, nor allowed to
enter upon the adventure at anything less than the
best place that could be found. No one was permitted
to exploit him in the price of land — (for the most part
they were able to obtain free public land), nor in the
price of water for irrigation. In fact, Utah is one of

206 City Homes on Country Lanes

the few States where no one ever dreamed of trying
to make merchandise of the melting snow and falling
rain. Irrigation was a purely cooperative undertaking
from the first, as much as the dikes of Holland. It was
the first and most essential provision for the common
welfare. Men shared the benefits and the burdens
equitably. Out of this initial cooperation grew a whole
fabric of cooperative industry.

The only valid claim I know against the system is
that it required its beneficiaries, so far as the law
could be enforced, to pay tithings, or ten per cent of
their gross returns, to the Church. It always seemed
to me that this was purely a personal matter between
the payers and the payee, and that the loyalty of the
vast proportion of the payers might fairly be accepted
as the complete vindication of the payee. At any rate,
this feature is only incidental to the system ; it signifies
nothing when we come to consider the application to the
national life of this great and tried principle of leader-
ship by the Government that represents us all.

Many measures providing for reclamation and settle-
ment were introduced in the 65th and 66th Congresses
— several of them in response to Secretary Lane's
propaganda for Soldier Settlement. All of them
frankly recognize the obligation of National leader-
ship to the homeseeker; all of them go much further
in extending national aid than any previous legisla-
tion; all of them contemplate not merely the reclama-
tion of the land, but the preparation of the soil, its
subdivision into community centers and outlying farms,
construction of roads and other facilities of the com-

What the Government Owes Its People 207

mon life, including community buildings, the organiza-
tion of cooperative systems for the purchase of sup-
plies, and the sale of products; and something in the
way of social and civic organizations. Some of them
provide advances of capital to assist settlers in making
their improvements ; and under all the bills it would be
possible for the Government to supply supervising
architects for private as well as public buildings.

These advanced ideas of social legislation are chiefly
to be credited to Dr. Elwood Mead, an American engi-
neer who learned his lessons from practical experience
in Australia, and from European travel and observa-
tion; and who is now doing great work for the people
along these lines in California. He was one of the
first of the experts summoned to Washington by Sec-
retary Lane.

With a single exception, all of these measures call
for large public appropriations, ranging from $250,-
000,000 to $500,000,000 ; but none of them propose to
give a dollar of this money as largess or subsidy. Every
dollar would come back to the Treasury, under a plan
of amortized payments, bearing four per cent interest
and running over a long series of years.

The only constructive measure of this character that
calls for no public appropriation whatever is known
as the "Rural Homes Bill." It was introduced and
championed by Utah's great Senator, Reed Smoot:
Briefly, it makes available to land-owners, reclamation
districts and homeseekers the expert ability and valu-
able experience of the United States Reclamation Serv-
ice, on condition that all such projects shall be financed

208 City Homes on Country Lanes

by private capital, under contracts that furnish abso-
lute protection to the Government. The supporters
of this bill told the whole story when they said:

"Instead of asking Uncle Sam to carry us on his
back, we only ask him to show us the way."

The Rural Homes Bill brought forth several inter-
esting debates in the Senate, in the course of which its
sponsor encountered a steady fire of searching ques-
tions from several of the most prominent members of
that body. In the end, it passed the Senate without
a dissenting vote. In the House, it went to the Com-
mittee on the Irrigation of Arid Lands, of which Hon.
Moses P. Kinkaid, of Nebraska, is Chairman. It could
not have fallen into better hands, although its broad
national purpose might have justified its reference to
any of several other committees. After full discus-
sion the Committee reported it favorably, even enthus-
iastically, to the House, by unanimous action.

It came before that body for debate on December
21, 1920 — the three-hundredth anniversary of the
Landing of the Pilgrims — and friends of the measure
had hoped it might pass on that day. While prevailing
by a good majority on the test vote, which came on
the adoption of the special rule permitting its consid-
eration, it nevertheless encountered strenuous opposi-
tion— almost entirely from the South — and so went
over as unfinished business. It was not possible to
bring it up again before the expiration of the 66th
Congress, owing to the crowded condition of the cal-
endar. It was promptly reintroduced in the 67th Con-
gress, by Senator Smoot.

The essence of the bill is National leadership in the
building of homes for the American people — that qual-

What the Government Owes It 9 People 209

ity of enlightened leadership detached from every
thought of selfish personal interest, which we have seen
to be essential to the best results. The moral, intel-
lectual and scientific resources at the disposal of the
Government would be mobilized in the service of the
humblest home.

The law would be in no sense mandatory or restric-
tive. It does not mean that private enterprise shall
not be permitted to engage in various forms of land
development in the future as in the past. It means
merely that those who prefer to submit their project
to the Government, first for thorough examination of
all its aspects, then for actual construction and organi-
zation, may have the opportunity to do so, upon con-
dition that they shall provide every dollar of the funds
required for the project — such funds to be deposited
with the Treasurer of the United States, and paid out
upon the vouchers of the Secretary of the Interior.
In return for these advantages the owners of the proj-
ect permit the Government to fix the price of the land,
thus agreeing to accept a reasonable limitation upon
the profits of the enterprise.

The Government will also have opportunity to ex-
ercise wise discretion in the selection of settlers, and
to establish rules and regulations that will tend to
prevent speculation, and favor those seeking permanent
homes in good faith. It is to be assumed that if the
system justifies itself in practice,, it will gradually be-
come the favored method of land development, and
prove to be equally in the interest of landowners, in-
vestors and homebuilders. The cornerstone of the sys-
tem is public confidence of the kind that is rarely, if
ever, enjoyed by purely private enterprise, and that

210 City Homes on Country Lanes

can only be supplied where the element of personal
interest is displaced in favor of the element of disin-
terested and consecrated public service.

The first test of the new system will come on the
side of financing. Will capital invest under such con-
ditions? Capital craves security, and the best possible
assurance of reasonable profit. When these two ele-
ments are present, the real capitalists — the mass of
thrifty, forehanded people — neither ask nor expect ex-
orbitant gains.

To the extent that the Government commands the
confidence of the investing public, capital will undoubt-
edly respond to the invitation to invest, on the basis
of a disinterested and scientific report, to be followed
by a disinterested and scientific administration. The
homebuilding public itself is able to finance its opera-
tions in large part. It possesses one singular ad-
vantage, as compared with any other public; that is
what might be called "the citizenship asset," or the
increment in value instantly added to land by the pres-
ence of permanent population, and the improvements
that necessarily accompany it. This consideration en-
hances the security, both in amount and in character,
and should powerfully assist the financing of such
homebuilding projects.

The Liberty-Bond campaign demonstrated the tre-
mendous potentiality of the public as investors. Next
to the need of sustaining the country in the midst of
war, perhaps nothing would appeal so powerfully to
this great potential capitalist as a constructive policy
that aims to cover America with independent homes.

CHAPTER III

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE GARDEN CITY

THE value of the public service described in the
preceding chapter will become instantly obvious
to the reader who visualizes a group of country-
minded people dwelling in a large city, but yearning for
the home-in-a-garden experience.

Who is to select the site for their garden homes?
Who is to pass upon all the vital elements in the situa-
tion— soil, water supply, drainage, transportation fa-
cilities, price of land, and terms of payment? Who is
to plan, construct and administer — at least in their
earlier stages — the various public utilities required in a
garden city that is intended to supply the highest con-
ditions of modern life? Who is to organize the various
activities of the community, social and commercial,
during the formative period that always intervenes
before the people have found themselves?

In a word, where shall leadership be found — the kind
of leadership that will command the confidence of both
capital and homeseekers?

Such leadership can not come from the real-estate
fraternity, because they approach the problem from
the wrong angle. The real-estate fraternity has, in-
deed, done a mighty work of national upbuilding in
many parts of the country, and in recent years, it has
tended to put more social spirit into its work. It has

211

City Homes on Country Lanes

been virtually our only reliance in widening the founda-
tion of urban communities, and largely so in the ex-
tension of rural development. If its contribution to
these results were suddenly subtracted from the sum
of national greatness, it would leave many gaping
holes. But it possesses this fatal weakness — that it
is animated by selfish interest, aiming at private profit.
It is, then, primarily the expression of the speculative
instinct; and only secondarily the expression of the
social spirit.

It is estimated that the present home shortage in the
United States reaches the astounding figure of 2,000,-
000. The Senate Committee on Reconstruction, under
the able and devoted leadership of Senator Calder of
New York, estimates that $5,000,000,000 is needed to
build homes — a situation that calls for a higher leader-
ship than the real-estate fraternity, with all its enter-
prise and constructive imagination, is able to furnish.

The policy embodied in Senator Smoot's "Rural
Homes Bill" would substitute national for private lead-
ership in this great field of effort, while still preserving
individual initiative, and relying on private capital to
furnish the sinews. The policy is expected to effect a
very great saving in the cost of land, largely because it
can readily eliminate most of the selling expense, which
usually ranges from 20 to 40 per cent in the case of
private real-estate operations. This is possible because
the people so readily Follow the Flag, as has been shown
over and over again in the opening of public lands.
In a recent instance where the land was free, but water
rights cost about a hundred dollars an acre, such an
offering by the Government was over-subscribed nearly

The Organization of the Garden City 213

two hundred times, and that when the trend away from
the land was at its maximum. Great savings could also
be made in the cost of material and construction be-
cause of wholesale operations and of the standardiza-
tion that could be effected in building the houses and
furnishing the various equipment for garden homes.

Is there any middle ground between outright private
enterprise, on the one hand, and Government leadership
on the other? The best answer to this question is the
extraordinary experience of the National War Garden
Commission sketched in a previous chapter. In that
instance, the finest public spirit leaped to meet a great
emergency, without waiting for one line of legislation,
or asking a penny from the public treasury. It proved
in the highest degree efficient, accomplishing monu-
mental results; but — it ended with the passing of the
emergency; it was a part of that spiritual exaltation
that enabled the Nation to perform miracles in every
department of its life.

It might not be impossible, though it certainly would
be difficult, to evolve a similar spirit and organization
to meet the needs of peace. In fact, there is a wide edu-
cational sphere for such a work — a sphere that must,
and doubtless will, be occupied by forces even now in
operation. These are the forces of public opinion.
They need to be organized and widely extended, in
order that the Nation may be aroused, inspired, in-
structed ; but when it comes to leadership in the actual
building of the Nation on the soil, why should not the
Government itself assume the responsibility? It has
all the facilities in its various departments, which could
be readily coordinated into an effective whole. Above

City Homes on Country Lanes

all, it possesses the confidence of the people in a degree
that no private organization, however enlightened and
unselfish, can ever hope to attain.

I repeat : It is not money, but the right sort of leader-
ship that the people have a right to expect from their
Government. The country-minded masses in our cities
can pay for garden homes about as readily as they can
pay rent on city apartments, if they can only be shown
the way. It would be not only kindly and humane, but
absolutely constitutional, for the Government to "pro-
mote the general welfare" by this means.

The scientific organization of a garden city involves
not merely the selection, purchase and improvement of
the site, including public facilities and private dwellings,
but the setting up of advanced forms of social and
economic life. These things take care of themselves
after a while, but not at the beginning. Take the
matter of cooperation in buying and selling: The
argument for the system is unanswerable. It is pre-
posterous to have a number of little competing stores,
duplicating all the processes and all the expense in-
volved in distribution, when one fine central department
store, cooperatively owned and managed, ought to serve
the community infinitely better. If I were founding a
garden city in almost any European country, I should
not hesitate to adopt the better way; nor would the
people consent to consider anything else. Cooperation
is in the European blood ; but not nearly as much so in
the American blood. Many of us have had experi-
ence— and "the burnt child dreads the fire."

The establishment of a successful cooperative enter-
prise on a purely democratic basis requires fidelity to

The Organization of the Garden City

the principle on the part of the membership, and a
willingness to make some sacrifices at the beginning.
The temptation to turn their backs on their own store
in order to make immediate savings is often too strong
to be resisted. In the long run it would pay better
to be good cooperators, but it happens that many
people have their eyes fixed on the short run, and if
they can take a ten-dollar bill and buy eleven-dollars'
worth of goods at a bargain sale, it is hard for them
to realize that, by crippling their own store, they may
be losing a dollar in the end instead of making one. The
problem is to preserve the solidarity of the community
in support of its cooperative institutions. This prob-
lem is likely to be particularly difficult in garden cities
lying close to a great town, where the people go back
and forth every day. Under these circumstances it is
incumbent upon the responsible founders of the com-
munity to consider very carefully whether the coopera-
tive store, sound as it is in principle, would be wise in
practice.

Another difficulty is the dissension which frequently
arises over management — both as to methods and per-
sonnel. I could relate instances from my own experi-
ence which would seem ludicrous, if they hadn't been
so tragic ; instances where successful business was
established, then incontinently wrecked by the struggle
of the factions over the manager's job, which paid but
a pitiful salary, and no thanks.

Another prolific cause of trouble arises from the
question of credits. The private merchant can extend
or refuse credit without creating serious enmity, but it
is a different thing in the case of the cooperative mer-

216 City Homes on Country Lanes

chant. The man who has been refused credit is very
likely to raise a rebellion, with the object of overthrow-
ing the management. Where the choice of manager,
in the first instance, is left to the town meeting, it very
often happens that the best vote-getter is not the best
business man. After a while the community learns
"Who's Who," but the choice is usually made before
there has been opportunity to take stock of the new
citizenship.

For all these reasons, the cooperative store should be
thoughtfully considered by the founders before it is
included in the scheme of institutions. The truth is
that the plan can not be successful in the best and
highest sense, unless the people are animated by the
true spirit of cooperation. Without this spirit, the
enterprise is bound to fail. Perhaps it ought to fail.
The game is not worth the candle, unless the spiritual
value of brotherhood is realized ; unless men and women
truly prefer to work for and with each other, rather
than against each other.

Twenty years ago, I should have urged the coopera-
tive store as one of the foundation stones of the garden
city. I still believe it eminently desirable. To me, it
would seem pitiful that the community should be de-
prived of its benefits, both spiritual and material; but
we learn by experience, and my experience has taught
me this : Cooperation can only be established in a small
American community by means of the strong hand, re-
sorting to strong methods. It can not be left entirely
to voluntary action ; nor can the management be safely
left wholly to popular choice at the beginning. Utah
made a success of cooperative institutions, because they

THE COOPERATIVE DEPARTMENT STORE

Upper picture shows such a store at Atascadcro, California; lower picture, interior view
of same store

The Organization of the Garden City 217

were an integral part of a great social system taught in
the schools and the churches. There have been some
recent instances of success in new communities governed
by a single powerful influence.

I should suggest three precautions in the organiza-
tion of cooperative stores for garden cities :

1. In order to make sure that everybody shall con-
tribute to the necessary capital, and in the same pro-
portion, the price of the stock should be incorporated
in the price of the land and made inseparable therefrom.
In this way, adequate capital would be assured from
the beginning, and the danger that has often recurred
— the danger that many would seek to enjoy the
benefits of the enterprise without sharing its risks or
burdens — would be avoided.

2. Provision should be made for one commodious and
attractive department store, which might well have ac-
commodations for bank and postoffice, and restrictions
placed in the deeds preventing the sale or use of any
other property for business purposes — this, as a means
of preventing the growth of mushroom competition
which is likely to do considerable harm and very little
good.

3. For a period of three to five years sole manage-
ment should be vested in the parent corporation, or in
the Government agency having charge of the enterprise
when the principle of national leadership becomes ef-
fective.

With these precautions, there would be reasonable
assurance of a store in which every landowner would
be a partner ; mushroom competition, with its unsightly
buildings, would be avoided; and there would be no

218 City Homes on Country Lanes

occasion for internecine struggles over the manage-
ment until the pioneer period had been safely passed
and the enterprise become firmly established. Under
these conditions the people would get the benefits of
cooperation without its dangers and drawbacks, though
they would do so at the cost of accepting a certain
amount of autocracy. But without the assurance of
sufficient capital and good management, cooperative en-
terprises are most hazardous undertakings.

The organization of a beautiful social life, as out-
lined in a previous chapter, presents few difficulties.
Even here, however, the founders should supply leader-
ship until the new institutions have taken root and
begun to flourish.

Another provision of great importance in such a com-
munity is the demonstration place. This should take
the form of the ideal home-in-a-garden, brought to its
fullest development at the earliest possible time. In-
deed, it ought to be one of the very earliest steps in the
construction programme, if it is to have the highest use-
fulness. Men have a picture in their minds, which they
have, perhaps, reduced to paper, but they must see the
living thing established on the earth in order to compre-
hend it in its perfection and its manifold variety. The
making of such a demonstration place naturally requires
technical knowledge, experience, and devotion to the
ideals of the garden home. There are a number of
colonies in California which, if they have accomplished
nothing else, have been the nurseries of such skill, ex-
perience and spirit, and they may now be drawn upon
to plant the seeds of the New Earth throughout America
and the world.

CHAPTER IV

THE FARM CITY AND THE GARDEN CITY

But since we live in an epoch of change, and, too, probably
of revolution, and thoughts not to be put aside are in the minds
of all men capable of thought, I am obliged to affirm the one
principle which can and in the end will close all epochs of revo-
lution— that each man shall possess the ground that he can use,
and no more. John Ruskin.

THE garden city is, of course, designed chiefly
for city workers with country minds. The prin-
ciples of the garden home are, however, capable
of application to larger units within reasonable limita-
tions.

The Farm City is a term now coming into use to
describe a new form of rural life in which much emphasis
is given to the social side. As the people of the garden
city will depend for cash income chiefly, if not wholly,
upon their business or employment in the big town, so
the people of the Farm City will depend entirely upon
the land. Even so, the unit of ownership in the Farm
City should be much smaller than that now generally
prevailing in the agricultural industry. Methods of
cultivation should be higher and more intensive. A
system of agriculture suited to the climate and locality
should be carefully worked out in advance. There would
be the same need for demonstration and instruction as
in a garden city, and far greater need of organized
buying and selling. Civic centers, with well-planned

219

City Homes on Country Lanes

social and intellectual life, would be feasible in the Farm
City, and should also be included in the founders' plan.
Finally, the Farm City should not be located at any
great distance from an urban center. Naturally, it
would be beyond the district feasible for garden cities
whose inhabitants go back and forth to town each day.

To speak in more concrete terms, one might say that
a circle of from ten to fifteen miles around a great city
would mark the logical limitations of the garden-city
area, at least until means of transit become cheaper and
quicker ; while a circle of from forty to fifty miles would
mark out the logical limitations of the Farm City area.
Abundant land can be had for both purposes almost
everywhere within these limitations; hence, it is un-
necessary to go farther.

The size of the holding under the Farm-City plan is
a matter only to be determined by experience. Plainly
it should not be a rigid unit, since men differ so widely
in experience, taste, amount of capital, and size of
family. The best unit would be so much land as each
family could use to the best advantage without hiring
help. This rule could not be literally enforced at all
seasons, unless, perhaps, by exchange of labor among
neighbors; but it is a sound ideal, and should be ap-
proximated as nearly as possible. The country needs —
not more tenants and hired-men, but more self-employ-
ing proprietors.

When a Farm City is near enough to a large urban
center, with good transportation facilities, a very small
holding will suffice to yield a good living to an indus-
trious family. This is particularly true when poultry
or truck gardening, or a combination of both, is the

The Farm City and the Garden City

reliance for cash income. So low as from two to five
acres will support a family in comfortable circum-
stances,— if they know how to do it. This unit is com-
mon in Holland, Denmark, and France. There are
many such "pocket-handkerchief" farms in Utah and
California ; and there are "one-acre farmers" who have
done well. Usually they specialize on a very restricted
line of products for market, while raising a variety of
things for home consumption.

Prince Kropotkin has written convincingly along
this line, as have others. But Bolton Hall, with his
"Three Acres and Liberty" and "A Little Land and a
Living," is the thinker and teacher to whom I am most
deeply indebted for faith and inspiration in this line
of work. Many a smiling garden, and many a humble
roof, trace back to the study of this scholarly man
and lover of the race. How far his influence has gone
no man can say.

It is quite possible, however, to preserve nearly all
the attractive features of the home-in-a-garden system,
where the holding reaches from ten to forty acres ; and
it seems probable that these are the figures which will
be most generally adopted, in the United States at
least, during the next decade. But that will by no
means mark the end of the evolution of forms of coun-
try life which aim to raise the standard of living to the
highest levels.

It is probable that future development will proceed
along two well-marked and divergent lines. In one line
the social and spiritual considerations will be sub-
ordinated to the production of wealth. In the other,
the production of wealth, as represented by large sur-

222 City Homes on Country Lanes

plus crops for world markets, will be subordinated to
the higher good of humanity. The former will require
the use of broad acres, labor-saving machinery, and
great numbers of hired hands ; for it will be industrial
farming pure and simple. The latter will be the home-
in-a-garden with organized garden and farm cities.
Organization will begin with wholesale purchase and im-
provement of land, going on through all departments of
their social and economic life, and reach upward to the
spiritual heights.

The determining factor will be that of capital re-
quirement. While large capital will be essential to the
industrial farm, comparatively little capital will suffice
for the garden home or farm.

The development clearly foreshadowed by the in-
exorable law of social and economic growth may be
stated thus: "Big farms bigger; small farms smaller."

While I have quite deliberately refrained from dis-
cussing the vexed question of land tenure in these pages,
— a question that will never seriously arise until men
have a far keener appreciation of the earth as the
source of all material good than now obtains, at least
in the United States — it ought to be said that the gen-
uine home-builder, and not the speculator, is the man
who deserves consideration in the shaping of our social
policies. In California, where these policies are fur-
thest advanced, the settler in state colonies is required
to live on his land ten years; if he desires to sell and
move away within that period, he must obtain written
consent of the State Board of Land Settlement. This
will be given when circumstances warrant, but if the
settler goes, he is not permitted to carry away that por-

The Farm City and the Garden City

tion of "unearned increment" in his land created by the
labor and presence of the entire community.

An interesting case arose quite early in the history
of the movement. At the end of the first year a settler
applied for permission to sell. It was found that the
price he would receive represented a profit of $8,000
on his investment. He was told that this profit was
due, in large part, not to his own exertions, but to the
achievement wrought out by a hundred families, with all
their private and public improvements. He was per-
mitted to sell at a price that returned his entire invest-
ment, together with 6 per cent interest and $2,000 more
as compensation for his year's work. The remainder
of the profit was given to the community that had
rightfully earned it and could apply it to useful pur-
poses for the common benefit.

Such a system does no injustice to the man who is
working in good faith to build a home on the land. The
other kind have no moral right to speculate at the ex-
pense of their fellows.

PART THREE

MECHANICS OF THE GARDEN HOME

CHAPTER I*

MAKING THE SOIL OVER

THE home gardener must use the soil he has, but
he can improve it if it is poor, and he must do
this as far as possible. Stable manure will help
even the richest soil, and you are not likely to use too
much of it. During a single season professional gar-
deners apply as much as six inches of it. Coarse manure
should be applied and thoroughly plowed or spaded
under in the fall. In the spring, fine, rotted manure is
applied, just before plowing, or spading, preceding the
planting of any crop. If the ground is fairly rich, and
well-rotted manure is scarce, the manure may be scat-
tered in the row only, and should be mixed into the soil
before the planting of seed.

Loam is the best garden soil. Sand, with manure,
gives good results. Clay is hardest to work, but is
greatly improved by well-rotted manure and vegetable
matter, called humus. These should be well worked in
with hoe and rake. Sifted coal ashes, entirely free from
clinkers, will help loosen up clay when mixed into it,
but will not remove an acid condition nor increased
fertility.

* This chapter, as well as the two following, are taken by per-
mission, from instructions prepared for the National War Garden
Commission, by twenty-two leading American experts. The
Planting Table, and the page entitled "Arrangement of Season's
Crops," are from the same eminent source.

227

City Homes on Country Lanes

Many gardeners experience difficulty in obtaining
supplies of well-rotted manure. In such cases, com-
mercial fertilizers should be used. Even when stable
manure has been secured and worked into the soil, it
is well to supplement with moderate quantities of quick-
acting fertilizer, in order to give plants an early start,
and hasten maturity.

It is safest to rely upon the ready-mixed fertilizers,
usually obtainable at seed and hardware stores. Sev-
eral specially prepared mixtures in convenient packages
are now on the market. For large areas 100 to 200-
pound bags may be obtained. A mixture containing
from 3 to 4 per cent nitrogen, and from 8 to 10 per
cent phosphoric acid is about right for the average gar-
den. Your dealer will inform you on this point. If the
fertilizer also contains potash, so much the better.

Where no manure is used the fertilizer should be
spread over the surface of the finely prepared seed-bed
at the rate of 5 pounds for a plot 10-feet square, just
before planting. The surface soil should then be thor-
oughly raked, so as to mix the fertilizer evenly to a
depth of 2 inches. Never place seeds or transplanted
plants in direct contact with fertilizer. Thorough mix-
ing of the fertilizer with the soil is essential to prevent
injury to seed or roots. Where manure has been worked
into the soil, reduce the fertilizer application one-half.

Tomatoes, egg-plants, spinach, and some other crops
requiring long growing seasons, are materially benefited
by a second application of fertilizer when half grown.
Side dressings of this kind should be scattered between
the rows at the rate of four ounces (one-half pint) to
ten feet of row, when rows are spaced two feet apart,

Making the Soil Over 229

and pro rata for rows spaced a greater or lesser dis-
tance. To insure even distribution, mix the fertilizer
with fine, dry earth just before spreading.

Compost is especially desirable when quick growth is
wanted. Compost is thoroughly rotted manure or or-
ganic matter. It should be prepared from six to twelve
months before being used, by putting the manure and
other materials in piles having perpendicular sides and
flat tops. These piles are usually from two to four
feet high and six to eight feet long.

Besides the usual waste of garden rubbish, there is a
large waste of leaves, weeds, and the skins and other
unused portions of fruits and vegetables. These should
all be thrown on the compost pile to decay for use on the
garden next spring. Destroy all plants which are dis-
eased. The compost pile should be built up in alternate
layers of vegetable refuse a foot thick, and earth an
inch or more thick. The earth helps to rot the vegetable
matter, when mixed with it. The top of the pile should
be left flat, in order that the rain may enter and help
in the process of decay.

If the pile can be forked over once a month when not
frozen and the contents well mixed together, it will de-
cay quite rapidly and be in good usable condition in the
spring. The compost may be either spread over the
garden and spread under, or it may be scattered in the
rows before the seed are sown. This is, of course, not
as rich as stable manure, but it is a good substitute.
Compost is also used as a top dressing during the grow-
ing season, for hastening growth.

In the cities and towns tons of leaves are burned every
fall. This is a loss which ought to be prevented. These

230 City Homes on Country Lanes

leaves, properly composted with other vegetable waste
and earth, would be worth hundreds of dollars to the
gardens next spring.

In planning a permanent garden a space should be
reserved near the hotbed, or seed bed, and in this space
should be piled, as soon as pulled, all plants which are
free from disease and insects. This applies to all vege-
tables, and especially to peas and beans, as these belong
to a group of plants which take nitrogen from the air
during growth, and store it in their roots. When these
plants are decayed they will return to the soil, not only
much of the plant-food taken from it during their
growth, but additional nitrogen as well. Nitrogen in
the soil is necessary for satisfactory leaf growth. The
material so composed should be allowed to decay
throughout the winter, and when needed should be used
according to the instructions given for using compost.

Prepared sheep manure, when procurable at reason-
able price, is possibly the safest concentrated fertilizer.
It should be used in small quantities, rather than spread
broadcast. Scatter it along the row before seed is
sown ; or, apply by mixing it with water in a pail stir-
ring the mixture to the consistency of thin mush, and
pour it along the rows of the plants.

Green manure is useful as a fertilizer. It consists
of green plants turned under by plowing or spading.
Rye is the most satisfactory for this purpose. If
planted in July or August, the crop may be turned un-
der in the spring. When not turned under until spring,
the growth will prevent the leaching of soluble plant
food, or the washing away of rich soil.

In sowing rye for this purpose, use at the rate of one

Making the Soil Over 231

pound of seed to a strip of ground 50 feet long by 10
feet wide. If the ground is rough or hard, it should
be cultivated just before the seed is sown and then cul-
tivated again to cover the seed. Sow the seed between
the rows of crops not yet gathered. Rye is very hardy
and will sprout, even though there is frost nearly every
night. At a cost of about five cents for a pound of
seed, a garden of 10x50 feet can thus be treated to an
application of green manure. The green rye plants
soon decay when turned under, and answer the same
purpose as a light dressing of manure.

Green manure, however, should not be relied upon to
do the work of stable manure, as it does not provide
phosphorus or potassium.

Land which has long been unused, or land in lawns,
is apt to be sour. To remedy this condition, apply,
evenly, one pound of air-slaked lime, or two pounds of
ground limestone, to every 30 square-feet. The lime
should be applied and raked in to a depth of two inches,
when the seed bed is being prepared in the spring. In-
stead of lime, two pounds of unleached wood-ashes may
be used. Do not apply lime at the same time as manure
or mixed fertilizers, as it will cause loss of nitrogen.

As an addition to soil, lime is of considerable value,
besides correcting acidity, it changes the physical
structure of the soil. One of the elements of lime is
calcium, which is required for plant growth.

Small livestock and the garden work nicely together.
The garden feeds the chickens with green stuff; the
chickens feed the garden with natural fertilizer of a
superior brand. The same is true of squabs, rabbits
and goats.

CHAPTER II

HOW TO HAVE A GOOD GARDEN

HAVE a plan for your garden — drawn to scale
on paper — before you start, to give proper
order in planting and to enable you to buy the
right amount of seeds in advance while the selection is
good.

Put in one general group small plants like beets,
onions, lettuce, carrots, radishes and parsnips. In an-
other general group put larger plants like corn, to-
matoes and potatoes. Spreading ground- vines, like
melons and cucumbers, which need wider spacing, should
be put in another general group. The reason for this
grouping is that the various plants in a group need
similar general treatment as well as spacing.

In making a plan, provide space in which to enter
costs and yield of the various crops. This will give you
a complete record which will be useful another year.
Another helpful use of the plan is that it will guide
you in the rotation of next year's crops. For this pur-
pose save your plan for next season.

In the location of a garden it is not always possible
to choose conditions as to sunlight. It is important,
therefore, that in the arrangement of the varieties of
vegetables which are to be planted, due care should be
given to providing the greatest exposure to the sun for
those crops which need it most. Those plants which

232

How to Have a Good Garden 233

must ripen their fruit, such as tomatoes and egg-plant,
require the greatest amount of sunshine, while lettuce,
spinach, kale and other leaf crops, require relatively
less. Foliage crops must have at least three hours of
sunlight a day, and plants which ripen fruits at least
five hours a day. This is important.

It is important to remember that plant diseases and
insects are apt to thrive in a spot in which they have
become established. For this reason, those who make
gardens should take care not to place the individual
crops in the spot in which the same crops grew the year
before. Varying the arrangement of the garden in this
way will reduce the danger from disease and insects.
The same vegetables in the same place each year exhaust
certain food elements, and reduced yields are sure to
result.

For early planting a hotbed may be made, located in
a sheltered spot with southern exposure, where it will
receive a generous supply of sun. A width of 6 feet is
desirable, and the length should be such as to enable
the use of standard 3x6 ft., hotbed sash. A simple
box-like frame, 12 inches high in the rear, and 8 inches
high in front will hold the sash, and give a better angle
for the rays of the sun.

Dig a pit I1/*? to 2 feet deep, the size of the sash-
frame to be used. Line the sides of this with boards
or planks, brick or concrete, and make a tile drain, or
place stones on the bottom of the pit to carry off sur-
plus water. This pit is to be filled with fresh horse
manure. The manure will require special treatment be-
fore being placed in the pit. It should be thrown into a
pile and allowed to heat. When it has heated and is

City Homes on Country Lanes

steaming, fork it over into a new pile, throwing the out-
side material into the center. When the new pile has
become well heated, fork the material once more into a
new pile. This will require from ten days to two weeks,
and is important, in that it gets rid of excessive heat.
After this process, fill the pit with the manure, packed
down firmly and evenly, level with the surface of the
surrounding earth. On top of this manure make a
covering of good garden loam three or four inches deep.

When the sash has been put in place, the manure
will generate heat, in addition to the heat that will be
derived from the sun. After this heat has reached its
highest point and dropped back to between 80 and 90
degrees F. the seed should be planted. Use the best seed
obtainable. Until the seed germinates, the hotbed
should be kept shaded to hold moisture. This can be
done by spreading over the sash strips of old carpet,
heavy cloth, or newspapers. After germination, strong
light will be needed. The plants must be watered each
morning on clear days, and the sash left partially open
for ventilation, as it is necessary to dry the foliage to
prevent mildew.

Proper ventilation is essential to the production of
strong, healthy plants. The sash should be raised
during the warmest part of the day on the side opposite
the direction from which the wind is blowing. By open-
ing it in this way instead of facing the wind, the hotbed
receives fresh air without receiving direct draft. On
cold days, raise the sash slightly three or four times a
day for a few minutes only. In severe weather, cover
the beds with mats, straw, or manure, to keep in as much
heat as possible. About two weeks before transplanting
time the sash should be removed during the day to

How to Have a Good Garden

"harden" the plants. While in the hotbed the plants
should be thoroughly watered, but the water should not
reach the manure underneath. Early morning is the
best time for watering, so the plants will be dried before
night.

An outdoor hotbed of this character should be started
in the early spring — February or March.

A cold frame is useful for hardening plants which
have been started in the hotbed. It is built like a hot-
bed, but without the pit or manure. It is built on the
surface of the ground. Good rich soil should be used,
and the soil kept slightly moist. In mild climates the
cold frame may be used instead of a hotbed for starting
plants. It is also used in the fall and early winter for
growing lettuce, radishes, carrots, parsley, etc.

Not many implements are required for home garden-
ing. The essentials are a spade or a garden fork, a hoe,
a rake with steel teeth, a trowel, a dibble, or pointed
stick, and a line such as is used by masons, or a piece
of common string or cord to stretch between two stakes
for marking off rows. In the case of hard-packed earth
a pick is useful for digging. For watering, a rubber-
hose is needed where pipe connections are available.
Lacking this equipment, a watering-pot should be pro-
vided. A hand-cultivator or wheel hoe is useful, espe-
cially in a large garden, and saves much time and labor
in turning small furrows. With simply attachments it
is used for stirring the soil and the removal of weeds.
The garden tractor is the latest implement, and seems
likely to go into very general use. It costs about $250,
but several families might cooperate in its purchase and
use.

In laying out a new garden city, it might be feasible

236 City Homes on Country Lanes

to arrange the gardens in the rear of the houses in each
block, so that not only the plowing and harrowing, but
planting and cultivation — even some of the harvesting,
could be done by machinery. This would materially re-
duce the amount of hand labor to be done. There would
still remain the berries, fruits, more delicate vegetables,
flowers, lawns and livestock to be cared for by individual
hand labor.

ARRANGEMENT OF SEASON'S CROPS

Peas, followed by late Tomatoes

Peas, followed by Celery

Onion Sets, followed by Turnips

Corn, followed by Spinach

Beans (bush) followed by Beets

Beets, y2 row; Carrots, i/2 row, followed by Corn

Turnips, followed by Bush Beans

Potatoes, followed by Spinach

Spinach, followed by Potatoes

Cabbage, with Lettuce and Radishes between, followed by Carrots

Beans, Bush Lima

Chard, % row; Parsley, % row

Parsnips, % row (radishes to mark row) ; Salsify, % row

Corn, followed by Kohlrabi, ya row; Cauliflower, % row

Peas, followed by Corn

Beans, Bush Lima

Early Potatoes, followed by late Cabbage

Early Tomatoes

Peppers, ya row; Potatoes, Okra or Egg-plant, ya row

Potatoes

Potatoes

Pole Lima Beans

Pole Beans

Corn

Corn

Corn

Cucumbers Squash Squash Musk-

(bush (winter) melon

crook-neck)

Rows are 30 inches apart. If soil is very fertile, rows may be
closer.

How to Have a Good Garden 237

Planting was begun at hotbed end of garden and plantings were
made a few days apart, to insure a constant supply of vege-
tables.

Planting table on page 266.

Mushroom culture is an art in itself, and an art un-
known to many scientific gardeners. The late Adrian
Bussiere was a master of the art, the son and grandson
of famous Parisian growers. He once reduced his
knowledge and experience to a brief formula as follows :

Mushroom culture is not as difficult as many people
seem to believe; neither is there anything mysterious
about it ; but, for good results, the few main points to
be given in this article must be strictly observed.

This culture can be practiced at all seasons of the
year, under the conditions that you have (1) a cellar
or cave where the temperature is rather low and stable,
about 55 to 60 degrees. Below this temperature the
growth of the mushroom is too slow, while with a higher
temperature no mushrooms will grow. In this cave
the humidity, also, must be constantly maintained. (2)
The element necessary for their culture is manure from
horses that work hard, and whose bedding is not
changed too often. Also, for manure used in mushroom
culture the bedding should be of wheat straw, or second-
best oat straw, while the least desirable for this purpose
is barley straw. All manure older than two weeks must
be rejected, because in this time it has already started
to ferment. When in possession of the amount needed
for your cave, the process of fermentation is started.
(3) Good spawn from a reliable house.

In possession of these three conditions, have the
manure unloaded at your cave, with the water handy for

238 City Homes on Country Lanes

sprinkling. To obtain good results not less than three
cubic yards of manure should be worked. If less is
needed in your case, let the surplus go to the garden.
Choose a spot of ground which is hard and even, on
which to work the manure, and preferably protected
from the rains. Every forkful should be well shaken out
to render it evenly mixed, and laid out to form a pile
8 ft. long, 3 ft. wide, and 1 ft. high. If the manure is
dry, sprinkle with a very fine sprinkler, so that the wet
parts are on the outside, while the dryer material stays
inside.

After this first layer is made, begin a second on top,
and so continue until the pile is 4 ft. high. Tramp this
well down and clean off the sides with the fork to pre-
vent undue loss of humidity. This operation must be
repeated three times — in summer every five days ; in
winter, every eight days. The manure is ready for the
cave when it has lost its first odor. It must be humid
and of a dark brown color, and when pressed between
the fingers must not drip. The odor must have changed
and resemble more the odor of mushrooms.

Before installing the manure, prepare the frames on
the floor of your cave, for which purpose lumber 1x12
is used. The size of the bed must not exceed 4 ft. in
width, as a larger bed might give an excess of fermenta-
tion, which is very dangerous in this culture.

These frames are filled in layers with the prepared
manure, shaking it up again, forkful after forkful.
The manure will now undergo another process of fer-
mentation. With the thermometer, carefully assure
yourself of the temperature of the bed, which should be
after eight days about 70 to 75 degrees, to fall to 60

How to Have a Good Garden

to 65 degrees, its normal temperature when the bed is
ready for the spawn.

The bricks are divided into eight equal pieces, which
are inserted into the bed (lifting the manure) 2 inches
deep, 12 inches apart. After about 15 or 20 days the
spawn will be germinating, which may be noticed by the
bluish specks around the insertions. This is the sign
to cover the beds with a layer of good soil, virgin and
calcareous preferred. This layer must not exceed 1%
inches, after which the bed is lightly sprinkled.

The mushroom, being a plant, needs air; therefore a
good system of ventilation must be established, which is
worked at night. The ventilation openings are made on
the east and west sides.

The passage between the beds must be sprinkled when
necessary to keep the humidity constant. The beds
must be sprinkled very moderately. Before the crop
appears, it is better to not sprinkle at all.

It takes three months from the reception of the
manure till the first picking, and the harvest lasts, also,
about three months. By dividing the space a system of
rotation can be established to assure a continuous pro-
duction.

CHAPTER III

THE WINTER FOOD SUPPLY

THE true home gardener will not be content merely
to draw upon his garden in summer and autumn,
but will produce a surplus of vegetables, berries
and fruit to carry his family through the winter and
well into the spring.

The National War Garden Commission, in dealing
with the problem of food supply, put great emphasis
upon this feature, and rapid strides were made in popu-
larizing all forms of canning and preserving as a house-
hold and community art. In the instructions provided
by the foremost experts the Commission spoke of five
principal methods, but recommended above all others
for home use the Single-Period Cold-pack Method, be-»
cause of its simplicity and effectiveness. That method
is described as follows in the manual prepared by the
Commission, and distributed among the people by the
million :

The prepared vegetables or fruits are blanched in
boiling water or live steam, then quickly cold-dipped
and packed at once into hot jars, the contents covered
with boiling water or syrup, and the jars partially
sealed and sterilized in boiling water or by steam pres-
sure. The jars are then sealed tight, tested for leaks
and stored.

240

The Winter Food Supply

The Single Period Cold-pack Method is a simple and
sure way of canning. It insures a good color, texture
and flavor to the vegetable or fruit canned. In using
this method, sterilization is completed in a single period,
saving time, fuel and labor. The simplicity of the
method commends it. Fruits are put up in syrups.
Vegetables require only salt for flavoring and water to
fill the container.

Another advantage is that it is practicable to put
up food in small as well as large quantities. The house-
wife who understands the process will find that it pays
to put up even a single container. Thus, when she has
a small surplus of some garden crop she should take the
time necessary to place this food in a container and
store it for future use. This is true household efficiency.

A serviceable Single Period Cold-pack canning outfit
may be made of equipment found in almost any house-
hold. Any utensil large and deep enough to allow an
inch of water above jars, and a false bottom beneath
them, and having a closely fitting cover, may be used for
sterilizing. A wash-boiler, large lard can or new gar-
bage pail serves the purpose where canning is to be
done in large quantities. Into this utensil should be
placed a wire or wooden rack to hold the jars off the
bottom, and so constructed as to permit circulation of
water underneath the jars.

For lifting glass-top jars, use two button-hooks, or
similar device. For lifting screw-top jars, suitable lift-
ers may be bought for a small sum. A milk carrier
makes a good false bottom, and if this is used the jars
may be easily lifted out at the end of the sterilization
period.

City Homes on Country Lanes

There are upon the market outfits on the order of
the wash-boiler or pail type of home-made canner.
These are excellent and are especially desirable if one
has considerable quantities of vegetables or fruits to
put up. There are also commercial canners convenient
for out-door work, having fire-box and smoke-pipe all in
one piece with the sterilizing vat. As with the home-
made outfit, containers are immersed in boiling water.

Water Seal Outfits are desirable, as the period of
sterilization is shorter than in the home-made outfit,
and less fuel is therefore required. The outfit consists
of two containers, one fitted within the other, and a
cover which extends into the space between the outer
and the inner container. The water-jacket makes it
possible for the temperature in the inner container to be
raised several degrees above 212° F.

Canning is very rapid when sterilization is done in
Steam Pressure Outfits. There are several canners of
this type. Each is provided with pressure gauge and
safety valve, and they carry from 5 to 30 pounds of
steam pressure. This type is suitable for home or
community canning.

Aluminum Pressure Outfits are satisfactory for can-
ning and for general cooking. They carry from 5 to
30 pounds of steam pressure. Each outfit is provided
with a steam pressure gauge and safety valve.

At high altitudes the boiling point of water is below
212° F. At moderate elevation, satisfactory results
may be obtained in the use of the hot-water bath by
increasing the time of sterilization 10 per cent for every
500 feet above 1,000. To insure best results in very

The Winter Food Supply 243

high altitudes, however, a steam-pressure canner, or
aluminum pressure cooker is recommended to be used.
This type of canner produces a temperature up to 250°
F. at 15 Ibs. pressure, insuring proper sterilization, and
also saving time and fuel. A steam pressure canner
may be bought around $20. Several families may use
one and divide the cost.

In using the pressure canners and aluminum cookers
the following formula is given :

1. Have water in the canner up to the false bottom,
but not above it. Keep this water boiling during the
time that packed jars are being placed in the canner,
and add water occasionally to prevent its boiling dry.

2. To prepare product follow instructions as here-
inafter given. As each jar is packed, set it at once,
partially sealed, in the canner. The cover of the canner
may be put in position, but not clamped.

3. When all of the filled jars are placed in the canner,
put on the cover and fasten opposite clamps moderately
tight ; then tighten each pair of clamps fully.

4. The petcock should be left open until live steam
escapes from it. The canner should be steam-tight,
and no steam should escape except through the open
petcock. When live steam escapes, close the petcock
completely.

5. Begin to count time when the steam gauge regis-
ters the required temperature.

6. Maintain a uniform pressure during the sterilizing
period by setting the weight on the arm, when the
proper pressure is registered on the steam gauge, so
that surplus steam will escape at that desired pressure.

244 City Homes on Country Lanes

A uniform temperature may be maintained also by turn-
ing down the flame or moving the canner to a less hot
part of the stove.

7. When the sterilization period is complete, do not
allow steam to escape, but allow the canner to cool
until the steam gauge registers zero.

8. Open petcock, remove the cover of canner, and
take out the jars. As each jar is removed, complete
seal at once.

For home use, glass jars are more satisfactory for
canning than tin. Tin cans are used chiefly for canning
on a large scale for commercial purposes. There are
many jars of different styles and prices on the market;
and provided the seal is not defective, equally good re-
sults may be obtained from all. Glass is a popular
household choice, because one can see through it, and
thus have some idea as to the condition of the contents.
Glass jars may be used for years if properly cared for.

All types of jars which seal readily may be used.
Jars having glass tops held in place by bails are espe-
cially easy to handle while hot. Screw-top jars are
serviceable. Glass caps held in place by separate metal
screw bands are now on the market, as well as the one-
piece sort of former years. Vacuum seal jars are very
easily managed. Tops for Economy jars should be
purchased each year. The composition material, which
takes the place of rubber, should have a rubber-like tex-
ture. If of mealy consistency it is unfit for use and the
top will not make a tight seal.

The color and shape of jars are not of first moment,
but are to be considered. Containers made of white
glass should be used if the product is to be offered for

The Winter Food Supply 245

sale, as blue or green glass detracts from the appear-
ance of the contents. Wide-mouthed jars are best for
packing whole products and are easiest to clean. Small-
necked bottles can be used for fruit juices. Large-
mouthed bottles can be used for jams, marmalades and
jellies.

Jars should be tested before they are used. Some
of the important tests are here given :

1. When using glass-top jars, first examine for
cracks ; then run a finger around the edge of necks of
jars, and if there are sharp projections, file them off, or
scrape them off with an old knife. If left on, they may
cut rubbers and interfere with perfect sealing. Place
a top on a jar. It will slip from side to side, but should
not rock, when tapped. Rocking tops will not make a
tight seal. Sometimes the fault is with the top and
sometimes with the neck. Defective jars and tops when
discarded for canning purposes may be used as con-
tainers for jams, etc. The top bail should go into posi-
tion with a light snap. If too loose, it should be taken
off and bent slightly inward in the center. If too tight,
bend outward.

2. In screw-top jars, only the lacquered or vulcanized
tops should be employed. Screw the top on tightly
without the rubber. If the tip of a knife or fingernail
can be inserted under the rim the tops should not be
used for cold-pack canning. If the defect is very slight,
however, it may be remedied by pressing a knife handle
on the lower edge against a hard surface, thus straight-
ening the offending bulge. Another test is made by put-
ting on the rubber, screwing the top on tightly, and
then pulling the rubber out. If the rubber returns to

246 City Homes on Country Lanes

place, the top does not fit, and should not be used on the
jar.

3. The Vacuum seal jars may be tested in the same
way as the glass-top jars. See if the tops rock if
tapped, when placed on the jar without fastening.

Buy new rubbers every year, as rubbers deteriorate
from one season to another. A good rubber for cold-
pack canning must be such as to stand four hours of
continuous boiling, or one hour under 10 pounds of
steam pressure. The combination of moist heat plus
acids and mineral matter in vegetables and fruits tends
to break down the rubbers during sterilization. Rub-
bers kept in a hot or very warm place, as for example
on a shelf near the kitchen range, will deteriorate in
quality. Be very particular about the rubbers used.
Spoilage of canned goods has been traced frequently to
the use of poor rubbers.

It is always well to test rubbers when buying. A
good rubber will return to its original size when
stretched. It will not crease when bent double and
pinched. It should fit the neck of the jar snugly. It
is cheaper to discard a doubtful rubber than to lose a
jar of canned goods.

Vegetables and fruits should be sorted according to
color, size and ripeness. This is called grading. It
insures the best pack and uniformity of flavor and
texture to the canned product, which is always desir-
able.

The most important steps in canning are the pre-
liminary steps of blanching, cold-dipping, packing in
hot, clean containers, adding hot water at once, then
immediately half-sealing jars and putting into the

The Winter Food Supply 247

sterilizer. Spoilage of products is nearly always due
to carelessness in one of these steps. Blanching is
necessary with all vegetables and some fruits. It in-
sures thorough cleansing and removes objectionable
odors and flavors and excess acids. It starts the flow
of coloring matter. It reduces the bulk of greens and
causes shrinkage of fruits, increasing the quantity
which may be packed in a container, which saves stor-
age space.

Blanching consists in plunging the vegetables or
fruits into boiling water or exposing them to steam for
a short time. For blanching in boiling water, place
them in a wire basket, or piece of cheesecloth. The
blanching time varies from one to fifteen minutes, as
shown in time table, and the products should be kept
under water throughout the period. Begin counting
time when the articles are first placed in boiling water
or steam.

Spinach and other greens should not be blanched in
hot water. They must be blanched in steam to prevent
the loss of mineral salts, volatile oils and other valuable
substances. To do this, place them in a colander and
set this into a vessel which has a tightly fitting cover.
In this vessel there should be an inch or two of water,
but the water must not be allowed to touch the greens.
Another method is to suspend the greens in a closed
vessel above an inch or two of water. This may be
done in a wire basket or in cheesecloth. Allow the
water to boil in the closed vessel fifteen minutes.
Excellent results are obtained also, by the use of a
steam-cooker or steam-pressure canner.

When the blanching is complete, remove the vege-

City Homes on Country Lanes

tables or fruits from the boiling water or steam, and
plunge them once or twice into cold water — the colder
the better. This latter process is the Cold Dip. It
hardens the pulp under the skin, so that the products
are not injured by peeling. It also sets the coloring
matter. Do not allow the products to stand in the
cold water.

Always blanch and cold-dip only enough products to
fill one or two jars at a time. The blanching and cold-
dipping should follow at once when the vegetable or
fruit is prepared, and the packing into jars should
immediately follow the blanching and cold-dip.

Processing is the sterilization treatment to which
products are subjected after packing them into jars.
As soon as the jar is filled put the rubber and cap in
place and partially seal by adjusting top bail, or
screwing on top with thumb and little finger. If Econ-
omy jars are used the top should be held in place
with clamp. The jar should then be put into sterilizer
at once. In using the hot-water bath outfit, count the
time of sterilization from the time the water begins to
boil. The water in the sterilizer should be at or just
below the boiling point when jars are put in. With the
Water Seal Outfit begin counting time when the ther-
mometer reaches 214° F. With the Steam Pressure
Outfit, begin counting time when the gauge reaches the
number of pounds called for in directions.

When the processing is finished, at once remove and
seal each jar.

It is important to plan your work so that whatever
may be needed will be ready for use. Arrange every-

The Winter Food Supply 249

thing conveniently in advance. Preliminary provisions
include :

1. A reliable alarm clock in a convenient place (set
to ring when the sterilizing is done).

2. All the necessary equipment in place before be-
ginning work.

3. Jars, tops and rubbers carefully tested.

4. Fresh, sound fruits and vegetables.

5. Plenty of hot water for sterilizer, blanching,
warming the jars, and for pouring into packed jars.

6. Salt or syrup at hand.

7. Reliable instructions carefully followed.

8. Absolute cleanliness.

It must not be forgotten that success in canning
demands careful attention to every detail. No step
should be slighted. Follow one set of instructions
closely, and do not attempt to combine two, no matter
how good both of them may be. To attempt to follow
two sets will inevitably cause spoilage.

The experience of the U. S. Department of Agri-
culture during the last five years indicates that 75
per cent of the spoilage has been due to the use of poor
rubbers, the use of old tops on screw-top jars, 'and
improper sealing, resulting from the use of defective
joints, springs, and caps. Another fruitful source of
trouble is that people sometimes undertake to can stale
or wilted vegetables. No amount of sterilizing will
overcome staleness. Careless handling is also sure to
cause loss. Absolute cleanliness in every step is essen-
tial.

In sterilizing, care must be exercised to see that the

250 City Homes on Country Lanes

temperature is high enough, and maintained for the
proper length of time.

In other words, do not blame the method for failure.
Follow directions carefully and prevent failure.

In canning by the Single Period Cold-pack method,
it is important that careful attention be given to every
detail. Do not undertake canning until you have
familiarized yourself with the various steps, which are
as follows:

1. Vegetables should be canned as soon as possible
after picking; the same day is best. Early morning is
the best time for gathering. Fruits should be as fresh
as possible.

2. Before starting work, have on the stove the boiler,
or other holder in which the sterilizing is to be done, a
pan of boiling water for use in blanching, a vessel con-
taining water to be used for warming several jars at a
time, and a kettle of boiling water for use in filling j ars
of vegetables ; or, if canning fruits, the syrup to be used
in filling the jars. Arrange on this working table all
necessary equipment, including instructions.

3. Test jars and tops. All jars, rubbers and tops
should be clean and hot at the moment of using.

4. Wash and grade product according to size and
ripeness. (Cauliflower should be soaked one hour in salt
water, to remove insects, if any are present. Put berries
into a colander and wash, by allowing cold water to
flow over them, to prevent bruising.)

5. Prepare vegetable or fruit. Remove all but an
inch of the tops from beets, parsnips and carrots, and
the strings from green beans. Pare squash, remove
seeds and cut into small pieces. Large vegetables

The Winter Food Supply 251

should be cut into pieces to make close pack possible.
Remove pits from cherries, peaches and apricots.

6. Blanch in boiling water or steam as directed.
Begin to count time when the product is immersed.

7. Cold-dip, but do not allow product to stand in
cold water at this or any other stage.

8. Pack in hot jars, which rest on cloths wrung out
in hot water. Fill the jars to within *4 to % inch
of tops. (In canning Lima beans, squash, corn, peas,
pumpkin and sweet potatoes fill the jars to within 1
inch of the top, as these vegetables swell during
sterilization. In canning berries, to insure a close pack,
put a two or three inch layer of berries on the bottom
of the jar and press down gently with a spoon. Con-
tinue in this manner with other layers until jar is filled.
Fruits cut in half should be arranged with pit surface
down.)

9. Add salt and then boiling water to vegetables to
cover them. To fruits, add hot syrup or water.

10. Place a new wet rubber on jar and put top in
place.

11. With bail-top jar adjust top bail only, leaving
lower bail, or snap, free. With screw-top jar, strew
the top on lightly, using only the thumb and little finger.
(This partial sealing makes it possible for steam gen-
erated within the jar to escape, and prevents breakage.)
On vacuum seal jars adjust spring securely.

12. Place the jars on rack in boiler or other steril-
izer. If the home-made or commercial hot-water bath
outfit is used, enough water should be in the boiler to
come at least one inch above the tops of the jars, and
the water, in evaporating, should never be allowed to

City Homes on Country Lanes

drop to the level of these tops. In using the hot-water
bath outfit, begin to count sterilizing time when the
water begins to boil. Water is at the boiling point when
it is jumping or rolling all over. Water is not boiling
when bubbles merely form on the bottom, or when they
begin to rise to the top. The water must be kept boiling
all of the time during the period of sterilization.

13. Consult time-table, and at the end of the required
sterilizing period, remove the jars from the sterilizer.
Place them on a wooden rack or on several thicknesses
of cloth to prevent breakage. Complete the sealing of
jars. With bail top jars this is done by pushing thp
snap down; with screw-top jars by screwing cover on
tightly.

14. Turn the jars upside down as a test for leakage
and leave them in this position until cold. Let them
cool rapidly, but be sure that no draft reaches them,
as a draft will cause breakage. (If there is any doubt
that a bail-top jar is perfectly sealed a simple test
may be made by loosening the top bail and lifting the
jar by taking hold of the top with the fingers. The
internal suction should hold the top tightly in place
when thus lifted. If the top comes off, put on a new
wet rubber and sterilize 15 minutes longer for vegetables
and 5 minutes longer for fruits.) With screw-top jars
try the tops while the jars are cooling, or as soon as
they have cooled; and, if loose, tighten them by screw-
ing on more closely. Vacuum seal jars should be placed
upright while cooling, and the clamp removed when the
jar is cool. Then lift by the top and turn upside down,
as a test for leakage.

15. Wash and dry each jar, label and store. If

The Winter Food Supply 253

storage place is exposed to light, wrap each jar in
paper — preferably brown, as light will either fade or
darken the color of products canned in glass. The
boxes in which jars were brought afford good storage.
Store in a cool, dark place, preferably dry. Exposure
to mold will cause decay of rubber, allowing the leak-
age of air into jars. Paper wrappings prevent mold.
Care should be taken to store canned vegetables and
fruits where they will be protected from freezing. If
the place of storage is not frost-proof, the jars should
be removed to a warmer place during severe weather.

254

City Homes on Country Lanes

Time Table for Scalding, Blanching and Sterilizing of Fruits and
Vegetables by One Period Cold-pack Method

Products

II

1 33

II

ii"l

JJHS«

Minutes

Minutes

Minutes

Minutes

Minutes

Fruits of all kinds

Apricots

1 to 2

16

12

10

5

Blackberries

No

16

12

10

5

Blueberries

No

16

12

10

5

Cherries (sweet)

No

16

12

10

5

Dewberries

No

16

12

10

5

Grapes

No

16

12

10

5

Peaches

1 to 2

16

12

10

5

Plums

No

16

12

10

5

Raspberries

No

16

12

10

5

Strawberries

No

16

12

10

5

Citrus Fruits

ly

12

8

6

4

Cherries (sour)

No

16

12

10

5

Cranberries

No

16

12

10

5

Currants

No

16

12

10

5

Gooseberries

No

16

12

10

5

Rhubarb (blanch before

paring)

1 to 2

16

12

10

5

Apples

iy2

20

12

8

6

Pears

ly

20

12

8

6

Figs

15

40

30

25

20

Pineapple

10

30

25

25

18

Quince

6

40

30

25

20

Special Vegetables and

Combinations

Tomatoes

1 to 3

22

18

15

10

Tomatoes and corn . . .

T.2;C. 10

90

75

60

45

Egg-plant

3

60

45

45

30

Corn on cob or cut off .

5

180

90

60

45

Pumpkin

5

90

50

40

35

Squash

5

90

50

40

35

Hominy

5

120

90

60

40

Cabbage or Sauerkraut

5

90

75

60

35

The Winter Food Supply 255

Time Table for Scalding, Blanching and Sterilizing of Fruits and

Vegetables by One Period Cold-pack Method
Greens or Pot Herbs

Asparagus 5 120 90 50 35

Brussels sprouts , . 5 120 90 50 35

Cauliflower 5 120 90 50 35

Pepper cress . 15 120 90 50 35

Lamb's quarters 15 120 90 50 35

Sour dock 15 120 90 50 35

Smartweed sprouts ... 15 120 90 50 35

Purslane or "Puslej" . 15 120 90 50 35

Pokeweed 15 120 90 50 35

Dandelion 15 120 90 50 35

Marsh marigold 15 120 90 50 35

Wild mustard 15 120 90 50 35

Milk weed (tender

sprouts and young

leaves) 15 120 90 50 35

Pod Vegetables

Beans (Lima or string) 5 120 90 60 40

Okra ;. 5 120 90 60 40

Peas 5 120 90 60 40

Roots and Tubers

Beets

6

90

75

60

35

6

90

75

60

35

Sweet potatoes

6

90

75

60

35

Other roots and tu-
bers, as parsnips or
turnips

6

90

75

60

35

Soups — all kinds

90

75

60

45

Shellfish

3

180

120

90

60

Poultry and game . .
Fish

20
5

210
180

180
180

150
150

60
90

Pork and beef

30

240

240

210

90

CHAPTER IV

LIVESTOCK FOR THE GARDEN HOME

IN earlier pages the claims of various kinds of small
livestock logically pertaining to the home in a
garden have been set forth from the standpoint
of so many elements entering into the luxurious table.
Something has been said of methods as related to the
small holding, since it would not be feasible to keep
chickens, for example, as they are usually kept on the
farm. The true garden home is a condensed farm, to
the extent of supplying many things for family use:
and livestock must be housed and fed in accordance
with this principle.

Housing methods have been touched upon in preced-
ing pages. In dealing with these and also with rations
for chickens, squabs, rabbits and goats, I have
followed formulas supplied by the Government, or
drawn upon the experience of persons with whose work
I am familiar, and whom I know to have been especially
successful. There are, of course, many different ways
of housing and feeding hens. Elsewhere I have spoken
of Charles Weeks and his methods of housing. His
suggestions for feeding laying hens are as follows :

Dry Mash: 4 parts cracked wheat; 1 part medium
cracked corn (Indian corn or maize) ; 1 part good qual-
ity dried-beef scrap; *4 part soy bean meal (coarse

256

Livestock for the Garden Home 257

ground) ; % part oil cake meal (linseed) ; ^ part
charcoal.

Grain mixture: 3 parts whole wheat and 1 part
Egyptian corn (perhaps Kaffir corn, where Egyptian
is not grown). If hulled oats and barley are added
to this in same proportions as Egyptian corn, it will
add variety. Mr. Weeks gets best results by keeping
this grain before his hens, the same as the dry mash.
He has a hopper with two compartments of equal size —
one filled with the dry mash, one with the mixed grain.
He never, under any circumstances throws the grain
on the floor, as the hens will eat more or less filth and
kick up a dust that is very bad for them.

Mr. Weeks gives the hens a variety of fresh green
feed. The three best are kale, wurzel beets and alfalfa.
Barley, beets, cabbage and rape for winter, and kale,
beet-tops and alfalfa for summer is his programme.
He says you must have plenty of rich soil and good
water and keep the green stuff growing and in front of
your hens to make them produce the eggs.

Mr. Clarence Ray King, of Hayward, California, one
of the most successful producers in the country, UFCS
this ration for squabs : Wheat, Egyptian corn, milo
maize, small yellow corn, dry peas, hemp seed and buck-
wheat, mixed in certain proportions which vary at dif-
ferent seasons. For example, he feeds more whole corn
in winter, because it is very heating. A little lettuce
once a week is nice, but not of vital importance, ac-
cording to Mr. King. Plenty of fresh water should
always be on hand, as they like to take frequent baths.

The experience of Mrs. W. W. Hevener as an incident
of acre-farming has been referred to elsewhere. She

258 City Homes on Country Lanes

makes the following suggestions with reference to the
delicate art of raising turkeys :

"Let them fast the first day after hatching, then for
two weeks feed them bread-crumbs, hard boiled eggs
(shell and all), and onion. Feed sparingly, as too much
is sure death. However, they may have all the lettuce
and onion they will eat. They must have grit, char-
coal and pure water at all times. When two weeks
old, mix in a little cracked wheat, and about six weeks
before Thanksgiving, start them on corn." Mrs.
Hevener started with five turkeys in a coop 10x12,
letting them range over about an acre of ground, when
they got older, allowing them to roost in the trees at
night. (This was in California.) Later she had
thirty in all.

In regard to rabbit rations, the United States De-
partment of Agriculture supplies the following :

Clean oats (whole or crushed), bright, well-cured
hay, and a small portion of some kind of greens daily is
the steady diet used in most rabbitries. Crushed barley
may be substituted for oats ; clover or alfalfa may be
used with green oats or timothy hay ; and the greens
may consist of carrots, rutabagas, prunings from apple
and cherry trees, and plantain, dock, burdock, dande-
lion, cauliflower, lettuce or lawn clippings. All grass
should be clean, and not fed when moldy or fermented.
A variety of feed is essential.

Warm mashes should be given daily to the nursing
doe and to young rabbits for a time after they are
weaned. All rabbits are benefited by warm mashes in
very cold weather.

The quantity of grain required by rabbits depends

Livestock for the Garden Home 259

on their age and condition, and also on the kind and
quantity of other feed they receive. Some rabbits re-
quire more grain than others. Only by noticing the
condition of each animal day by day can its feed be
properly regulated. They never should be allowed to
become heavy with fat unless wanted for the table.
Eighteen or twenty young rabbits from three to five
months old having a pint of crushed oats or barley a
day, in addition to plenty of dry alfalfa and greens,
will grow very nicely.

Fattening rabbits for meat may begin at any time
after they are 10 weeks old, and should continue 3 weeks,
the animals being confined in small quarters to prevent
their getting too much exercise. Reduce the propor-
tion of their green feed, increasing that of their grain.
By gradually replacing half the usual grain ration with
corn meal the rate of fattening can be increased.

Most breeders feed rabbits twice daily, giving greens
in the morning and dry and warm mashes in the evening,
but keep a supply of dry hay constantly before them.
Rabbits that are fed two or three times a day should
not be supplied with a larger grain ration than they can
clean up in a short time. Water should be given every
morning, but in freezing weather it should be removed
\vhen the rabbit has finished drinking. Salt should be
supplied with the oats two or three times a week; or a
small piece of rock salt may be kept inside the feeding
pan.

Hay, oats, or other coarse, dry feed should not be
fed to young rabbits before they are weaned, and only
limited quantities should be allowed them for a week
afterward, as such feed eaten in excess causes indigeg-

£60 City Hornet on Country Lanet

tion. Too much green feed is equally injurious to young
rabbits during this period. Should digestive troubles
result from over-eating either class of food, the bowels
may be regulated by bread and milk ; and an occasional
feed of dandelion leaves will prove beneficial.

Cabbage leaves are not good for young rabbits, and
should be fed sparingly to adults kept in hutches. In
open runs a larger variety of feed may be used with
safety than under hutch management. All dishes should
be cleaned and scaled frequently.

The Government uses the following daily rations for
goats at the experimental farm at Beltsville, Maryland :

A ration of grain, consisting of 4 parts cracked corn ;
4 parts oats; 2 parts bran; 1 part oil meal. This is
the average per cent, although it varies in some cases.
For roughage, alfalfa is much preferred, but any hay,
and even a little corn-fodder is all right. Beets, tur-
nips, carrots, etc. — the sort of stuff there is usually a
surplus of in the family garden — chopped up, makes
good feed. Of course when on pasture only the milch
goats get grain. Never pasture them where there is
laurel, as it will kill them to eat it.

An average high-grade goat gives 4 Ibs. of milk a
day for 10 months of the year. Goats thirty-one-
thirty-seconds pure bred are eligible to registry.
Saanens are preferred to Toggenburgs at Beltsville, al-
though there is little difference, except that the Saanens
are perhaps not quite so nervous.

Not much is known about the intensive pig; but one
can see at a glance that if pigs are to figure among the
livestock of a Garden Home, there must be not only an
intensive but an exceedingly sanitary pig. Some years

Livestock for the Garden Home 261

ago Dr. A. M. Ranck devised an odorless pigpen which
received the hearty commendation of the Department of
Agriculture during the War, when the movement for
home production was at its height. The odorless pig-
pen was fitted with a 6x6 ft. concrete floor inside, with
an outside concrete feeding floor of the same dimensions.
The pen was thoroughly screened with mosquito and
fly-proof wire. To the feeding floor connected a tile
drain to carry off the refuse, this drain being also con-
nected to the bottom of a large wallowing basin to be
filled with pure water for the pig's bath. A wooden
plug of about 6 inches in diameter was used to stop the
outlet in the bottom of this basin; the water-trough
at the right of the door inside the pen, being sunk into
the concrete floor. A door was constructed in the out-
side pen so that dirt and refuse could be thrown out
with a small shovel.

The pen was so arranged that it could be flushed out
every day from an inside tap to which a hose was
attached; though buckets of water could be used if
there were no hose connections. Ventilation was pro-
vided by three doors, opening South, East and West.
The house was located within 30 yards of the ba'ck of
the residence, for convenience in carrying the kitchen
waste to the pigs.

The cost of the house was as follows :

Lumber $15.00

15 sacks of cement 9.00

2 sq. yds. gravel 4.00

1 sq. yd. sand 2.00

Hardware 1.50

Labor 20.10

$51.60

S6S City Homes on Country Lanes

The above does not include 36 joints of tile and the
labor of putting in the drain. Two pigs weighing 50
and 54 Ibs. were placed in the pen and for 120 days
an average of 2 quarts of corn a day and from 14 to
40 Ibs. of kitchen waste, such as potato parings, the
outside leaves of vegetables, scraps from the table,
dishwater and skim milk was fed. The pigs gained 142
pounds weight, and were killed for home use.

CHAPTER V

THE BEST TEACHERS EXAMPLE AND EXPERIENCE

THERE is no text-book for the people of a garden
city so good as successful example. The foun-
ders of such communities owe it to themselves
and to their followers to see that this mode of teaching
is provided at the outset of the undertaking.

The ideal demonstrator is the man who has been
through the experience himself, for the purpose of sat-
isfying his own hunger for a home-in-a-garden. He
must be both believer and practitioner — even a devotee,
if you please. He must be possessed by the conviction
that of all the jobs a heedless civilization has left un-
done the biggest and most vital is the job of making
it possible for every ambitious, industrious family to
insure itself against hunger and want, as prudent men
insure themselves against other risks.

Find such a man — there are many to be had, and
there will be many more in the future — establish him at
the very beginning in a demonstration place fitted to
stand as a model for others to emulate, and the standard
of a thousand garden homes is set up, just as the flag
of our country is raised on the Fourth of July. This is
the first constructive step in true community-building.
It is worth all the books that could be written. The day
will come when such demonstration places will be as

263

264 City Homes on Country Lanes

common as public school-houses; and, indeed, they are
indispensable to any system of education in a nation of
free men.

The ideal demonstrator is a man with a wife who
shares with him both the ideals of the garden home, and
a comprehensive knowledge of its technique. This is
true because this sort of a home is in the highest sense
a domestic establishment. I love to think of it as the
perfect setting for domestic happiness — this enduring
provision for food and shelter in the midst of congenial
neighbors. To make it precisely that is the crux of
the demonstration.

The final test, the conclusive teaching, comes with
experience. The best text-book and the best demonstra-
tion can only show the way. There will be varying de-
grees of success; and there will be disappointments,
ranging all the way from partial to total failure. The
end to be aimed at is good average success. This
largely turns upon the psychology of the community,
and that is a matter which depends much upon the
quality and spirit of leadership in various departments
of the community life.

It has been well said that leadership is never con-
ferred; it is assumed. Happy is the community where
it is assumed by the right men and women — by those
who deeply realize that the New Earth is to be a holy
place, and that the opportunity to assist in its evolu-
tion, in a capacity however humble, is a call to holy
service.

266

City Homes on Country Lanes

The Best Teachers — Example and Experience 267

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City Hornet on Country Lanes

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L ENVOI

INDEX

Appendicitis often due to badly-
balanced food rations, p. 18.

Back-to-land movement a fail-
ure, p. 15.

Baker, Ray Stannard, p. 41.

Binder, Dr. Rudolph M., p. 43.

Burbank, Luther, quoted, p. 104.

Bussiere, Adrian, on methods
of mushroom culture, p. 237.

Calder, Senator, reports on
need of homes, p. 212.

Canning, methods of, p. 240.

Cape Cod District compared
with California, p. 100.

Co-operative stores, wisdom of,
p. 214.

"David Grayson," pp. 41, 60.
De Vries, Prof. Hugo, quoted,
p. 116.

Free, Miss Mabel, successful

gardener, p. 186.
Frank, Mr. and Mrs. George

B., work of, p. 117.

Golden Gate Park, p. 38.
Gottsch, John W., poultry ex-
perience of, p. 131.

Hall, Bolton, advocate of small

holdings, p. 221.
Hartranft, Marshall V., quoted,

p. 88.
Health in city and country,

p. 17-33.

Hevener, W. W., produces

turkeys intensively, p. 147;

feeding methods, p. 258.
Hobden, George, garden of,

p. 119.

Hookworm, p. 18.
Hoover, Herbert, in aid of

European children, p. 35.

Infant mortality, p. 19.

Kincaid, Hon. Moses P., p. 208.

King, Clarence Ray, successful
pigeon-breeder, p. 144; feed-
ing ration, p. 257.

Kraft, Miss Emma, breeder of
champion Nubian goats, p.
186.

Kropotkin, Prince, influence of,
p. 221.

Lane, Franklin K., plans for
reconstruction, p. 11; in-
augurates investigation of
rural life, p. 15; Annual Re-
port of 1919, quoted, p. 66,
"I am for the Chimes," p.
180; Soldier Settlement,
plans of, p. 206.

Land tenure not discussed, p.
222.

Letchworth, England, Garden
City of, p. 81.

Lincoln, Abraham, quoted, p.
83.

Malaria, a mosquito-borne
disease, p. 18.

269

270

Index

Massachusetts, preponderance

of urban population, p. 14.
Maternity, deaths from, p. 19.
Maxwell, George H., quoted,

p. 81.
Mead, Dr. Elwood, influence of,

p. 207.
Michigan, depopulation of

agricultural districts in, p.

14.
Middle West, rural decline in,

p. 14.
Milk supply purer in city than

in country, p. 17.
Minnesota, slight increase in

number of farms, p. 14.
Mormon Church, leadership of,

p. 204.
Mushrooms, culture of, p. 237.

National War Garden Com-
mission, p. 76.

New England farm abandon-
ment, p. 14.

New York State, abandoned
farms, p. 15; rural and ur-
ban population compared, p.
15.

Ohio, decrease in farm popu-
lation and habitable farm-
houses, p. 14.

Old-age pension for Govern-
ment workers, p. 68.

Pack, Charles Lathrop, Chair-
man National War Garden
Commission, p. 76.

Periodicals, urban and rural
circulation of leading, p. 28.

Phair, Gordon, experiments
with potted rabbit, p. 137.

Philo poultry system, p. 125.

Pilgrims, cheap land near where
they landed, p. 14.

Pneumonia, cause of, p. 18.

Quick, Herbert, quoted, p. 5§.

Red Cross assistance to city
mothers, p. 20.

Reichardt, Otto, intensive duck
breeder, p. 147.

Religion in city and country, p.
29-31.

Richards, Miss Irmagarde, au-
thority on milk goats, p. 154.

Rockefeller Foundation, social
surveys of, p. 18.

Ross, Douglas W., p. 47.

Rouge, Leon, expert mushroom-
grower, p. 164.

Rural Homes Bill, p. 207.

Schools, relative advantages of
city and country, p. 23-27.

Schufeldt, Prof. C. L., p. 97.

Sewerage, relation to health of,
p. 18.

Sherman, Mrs. G. M., maker of
rabbit fur garments, p. 141.

Smoot, Senator Reed, p. 207,
208.

Soils, various kinds and treat-
ment of, p. 227.

Soldier Settlement legislation,
p. 206.

Tenant farmers, p. 15.
Typhoid fever, p. 17.

Weeks, Charles, poultry system
of, 126 ; feeding ration, p. 256.

Williams, Dr. Henry Smith,
quoted, p. 106.

Wilson, Woodrow, quoted, p. 79.

Wisconsin, slight increase in
number of farms, p. 14.

Young, Brigham, leads the
pioneers to Salt Lake Valley,
p. 203; his qualities as an
empire-builder, p. 204.