A little land and a living

Foreword

INTEREST in the "little lands" from which men may make a living continues to grow and spread. A money panic does more than scare people — it sets them thinking how they can protect themselves against a recurrence of this thing. That necessarily turns their thoughts to the land as the source of wealth and independence. It is because of this growing desire on the part of the people to know what can be done with small areas, that the author has written this book. Every chapter has been submitted to some expert for correction and revision, and the author gladly acknowledges indebtedness to Mr. George T. Powell, President of the Agricultural Experts Association; Professor W. G. Johnson, of the Orange Judd Co. ; Mr. R. F. Powell, Superintendent of the Philadelphia Vacant Lots Association; Miss Kate Sanborn, Mr. Howard

FOREWORD

Goldsmith, of the Suffolk Farms Co.; Mr. Samuel Milliken, and others for valuable aid and suggestions. The footnotes give credit to other sources of information.

The reception accorded by press and public to my book, Three Acres and Liberty^ which Macmillan published a year ago, was a pleasing proof of the interest already awakened in this matter. Six editions of that book have been issued, and indications are that others will follow.

But no one volume could begin to exhaust so fruitful a subject, and the readers of Three Acres and Liberty will not find A Little Land and a Living in any sense a repetition of its predecessor. The reasons for its publication at this time are numerous and cogent, many of them being set forth in Mr. Borsodi's letter, which follows this foreword. Others may wisely be left to its readers to infer.

Those who are facing the problem of rearing a family on a weekly wage, with the purchasing power of the dollar decreasing, will find much in this book to encourage them to reach out for a better, saner living, through cultivating the little lands.

FOREWORD

Those who know most of farming believe that it is only a question of once learning what to do and how to do it, to draw many of the city workers to the outlying lands. This A Little Land and a Living aims to do; not to induce the unfamiUar to rush headlong into farming, but to encourage those who feel the pressure of city life to study how they may get away from the overcrowded city into nearby country, where the gardens may first be made an adjunct to the income and later, perhaps, prove the source of the income.

Mr. George T. Powell writes:

" You have brought together many facts and information that should be helpful and be an aid to many who, for the want of specific information, do not realize what they might do on a small land-holding.

"If there could be lectures given on this subject in the tenement districts it would be of special value. I advocated this in a lecture at the United Charities Building on *How to Help the City Poor to Get Out to the Land.'

" They do need specific instruction, first, where

FOREWORD

they are, and should then be given some aid in reaching cheap land, so that they might make a start. I believe that if a regular course of instruction of the simple, plain kind could be given in these parts of the city it would be of real value."

That is sound sense.

BOLTON HALL.

Contents

"A Little Land and a Living" ... . .Frontispiece

PAGE

The Letter That Prompted This Book Written to the

CHAPTER I Life Not Merely Making a Living 77

Opportunities Past and Present — Chances Lost — New Chance — Intelligence — Slums a Symptom — The Origin of Wealth — Capital — ^An Acre Enough — Possibilities — Thoroughness — Available Land — New Methods — Intensive Farming — Trucking — ^Dairying — How They Do In Japan — Denmark — Jersey — 'We Can Do Better.

10 CONTENTS

Chapter II Page

Buying a Garden 85

Ownership — Sources of Information — Agents— Wliere Not to Go — Fertility Secondary — Soil Never Barren — What to Buy — -Run-down Farms — Cheapness Relative — Where to Buy — How to Buy — Don't Fear Debt — Borrowing Money — Insurance — The Monopoly — Unpi'oductive Lots — Use and "Improvements" — Make Unused Land Pay — To Buy or to Build.

CHAPTER III Vacant Lot Gahdening 95

Charity vs. Self-Help — Opportunities — Assistance — Co-operation — Little Government Needed— Cost — Health and Success — A Variety of Returns — One-half Acre — Large Profits — Land, not Capital, Necessary.

CHAPTER IV Reasonable Prospects 105

Living- Costly — Hunger — ^Value of Food Products — What a Man Wants to Know — Fortune in an Acre — Stony Wold Record — Old Methods — New Methods — Acre Profits — Irrigated — Shearer's Success — O'Brien's — Hartman's — Small Gardens — A Woman's Patch — A 40 x 50 Garden — • A City Backyard — Five Cents per Square Foot — Glade Lands — An Illinois Plot — A Michigan Experiment — Farmers as Robbers — Youthful Gardeners — ^With Brains — Average Yields — Census Reports — ^WTiat Averages Imply — Bailey's Estimate — Philadelphia Gardens — Uncommon Vegetables — Other Callings Similar — Scientific Farming — The Farmer's Returns — ^What Could Be Made — What He Makes.

CHAPTER V Record Yields 131

Possibilities — Production and Cost — A Standard — Records — A Garden for Five — School Gardens — Small Plots — Yields of " Poor " Soil — Celery — Texas Onions — Corn Record — Strawberry Yields — Rhubarb — Christmas Trade — A House-Cellar Patch — Forcing Cellar — Onions by New Culture — Asparagus.

CHAPTER VI Ways of Working 149

The Home Garden — First — Working the Soil — A Beginner's Garden — Save Labor — Fruit — Planting and Transplanting — One Crop Risky — Companion Cropping— Specialties- — Marketing — Succession Crops — Deepening Cultivation— Subsoiling — Soil Enriches Itself — Insects Smothered by Ashes — Winter Plov/ing to Kill — Spraying — Fertilizers — Irrigation — Drainage — Dry Farming — Fancy Packing.

CONTENTS 11

Chapter VII Page

MoxEY AND Time REauiRED 173

The Teacher of Fools — Success — Failure — " Thlnk-box " Secrets — Large Capital Not Needed — -Specialties as Money-Makers — The Value of Money — Equipment — Outlay and Income — Five»-Acre Investment — Ten Acres Costly — Cost of Starting — Union Wagea in Different Cities — Hand vs. Horse Cultivation — Crops Every Month — The Condition of the Farmer.

CHAPTER VIII Growing Under Glass 187

Early Vegetables — A Sample Hot-bed — Heating by Fire — Cost and Returns — Flowers Better Than Vegetables — Greenhouses — Success.

CHAPTER IX Animals for Profit 194

Animals on the Farm — A Snail Park — Frogs — Turtles — Bass — Pheasants — Dogs — Cats — Silver Foxes — Expenses and Receipts — The Busy Bee.

CHAPTER X Fruit Growing 211

American Supremacy — Development — Improvement — Apples, Quality, Thinning — Peaches — Chances of Success- Protecting Grapes — Pears — Plums — Quinces — Cherries — Persimmons — Small Fruit — Extra Culture — Strawberries — Bush Fruit — Exceptional Returns.

CHAPTER XI Horticulture 227

The Market — Violets — Greenhouses — Diseases — Roses — Chrysanthemums — Poppies — Flowers in the Street — Sweet Peas and Wild Flowers — Orchids — Plants for Renting — Floriculture.

CHAPTER XII Building 237

Clearing the Land — Lumbermen Buy — Profitable Trees — Building a Home — " Hickory Bungalow " — Portable Dwellings — Remodeled Buildings — Comfortable Cabins — Water Supply.

13 CONTENTS

Chapter XIII Page

Co-operation in Opeeation 24.7

Toll Without Reward — " Back to the Land "—How to Get Land — Co-operation — Man's Natural Job — Organization — In Europe — In America — Fellowship Farm — The Arden Colony — Farming a Business — Changes Imminent.

CHAPTER XIV To Start Sanitarium Work 259

Outdoor Life Effective — Dr. Trudeau's Plan — Bad Conditions — Convalescents Work — The Earth for Men — Loaction Important — The Superintendent's Value — The Money Needed — Supplementary Industries — ^Preserving, Baking, Selling, etc. — Start Now.

CHAPTER XV The Profession op Farming 269

Agriculture, Past and Future — The Average Farmer — The Boy and the Garden — The Trained Farmer — Salaries Await Him — Fresh Discoveries — Fields for Investigation — Grown from the Best — The Profit of the Earth — Monopoly Conditions — The Value of the Farm — How to Proceed—The Aim of This Book.

Introduction To The Third Edition

HAVING seen the independence, health, education and prosperity that come from free direct use of land, I ordered a large number of the first edition of " A Little Land and a Living " sent to a list of leading moulders of public opinion. Although I had not at that time read the book, I knew that Mr. Hall saw " the Land Question " and would bring it out in theory as well as in the practice of those who might be induced to get back to the land.

The effect of the book, if I am to judge of its reception by the press, from the letters that I have had, and from the reports of those who have availed themselves of its instruction, has more than justified the expenditure.

The natural thing would be to have our cities surrounded by small homes, each with its bit of garden; beyond that the truck farms; beyond that the pasture lands, and beyond that again the forest and the wilderness. Instead of this, our crazy system of taxation gives us wildernesses in the heart of the city, the workers piled one on top of the other in tenements, and the farmer usually pushed to outlying lands where the difficulties and disadvantages of living are greatly increased.

INTRODUCTION 14

TO THE THIRD EDITION

The immediate remedy for this is to show how land can be used to produce a living and how land alone is necessary that men may live. To learn how to use such lands as are available near the cities is a long step to this end, and if all the little lands were furnishing a living for some one, we would be able to accommodate in our country hundreds of millions more than the eighty millions that we now think of as overcrowding us.

I have made a beginning of this practical teaching at our Mayland, near Southminster, England, which is becoming a model village, with small or intensive cultivators predominating. There is growing there an open air school, and consequently an object lesson to the grown people throughout the county and the country. The establishment of this new type of school for children means that when the children come to an age for selecting their occupation they will probably turn to land cultivation, with a better chance of success than their fathers.

I believe in catching the farmer when he is young. We must give the child an education under the right auspices if we are to continue to keep his interest in the land. I hope that in future the greater part of the people in the country will continue to live in the country, but we have got to show them the advantage of doing so. Where the school comes in is this: We cannot well take the children of farmers and small cultivators, who are used to an out-

15 INTRODUCTION

TO THE THIRD EDITION

door life, and imprison them within the close walls of a school for the greater part of a day, if we hope to retain their health while we instruct them. The new school is simply giving facilities for teaching in the open air what is taught at present in a closed building. That is of course when the weather permits, though at Mayland we shall have a building protected from the weather, to be used when it is too cold or too wet for outside work. There will be sheds, however, in which the children even then will spend most of their school time. In connection with the school there will be a bath-pool. That is to keep them clean outside, while we fill them with knowledge inside. I have simply applied to the county to provide the ordinary teaching staff and equip a larger school. I am going to provide the bath, and skilled teachers for the purpose of giving the children good school garden instruction.

Mr. Hall has warned his readers against thinking that a living on the land can be had without both careful and intelligent work and thought. He has given instances of extraordinary yields and even of average crops with a caution that these results may be repeated, but that they can be repeated only through work of hands and head; nevertheless these points can hardly be over-emphasized. The dunce and the sluggard are less likely to starve in the country than in the city, but they are just as unlikely to secure a competence.

INTRODUCTION 16

TO THE THIRD EDITION

In " A Little Land and a Living " Mr. Hall has sho^vn

the principles which must be mastered in order to secure

a living from the land, and in " Money Making in Free

America " he has shown the principles with which one

must master, either consciously or unconsciously, in order

to secure a great fortune.

Joseph Fels.

Philadelphia.

By Way of Introduction THE LETTER

THAT PROMPTED

THIS BOOK

Written to the Authof

BY

WILLIAM BORSODI

My Dear Mr, Hall:

In making myself acquainted with your book, " Three Acres and Liberty," I have done a great deal more than just fingering it. I am convinced that this work will fill a pronounced want and become, in its line, an epoch-maker.

I thank you for referring to me in your autograph introduction as your " co-worker." You certainly hit the nail on the head. So far as concerns the desire of getting the people back to the farm, I am your " forerunner," and nothing would make me happier than to be your "co-worker" in a practical way and to see crowds taking advantage of the proposition your book so ably puts before them. If I were wealthy I would circulate this book broadcast. The needy would profit by its suggestions, and I should feel amply repaid for the money expended.

More than thirty-five years ago, I started to think and to reflect. Since then, naturally, I have found out my early mistakes. I was attracted for the most part of that long period by the teachings of our conservative, reactionary, liberal Henry George, and even " my " own sacred " policies " and ideas attracted me. Socialism in Germany is very good ; anarchism in Russia is not a bit less good, but these " isms " are not good everywhere, nor are they good for all the time. There are other remedies and policies for the alleviation of the degrading social conditions that confront us everywhere ; but there is one which is as efficient now as ever, in every land, in all places and at all times — farm life.

A MANY-SIDED PROBLEM OF INTERNATIONAL SCOPE.

1 have in mind a problem, complicated and far-reaching in its being and influence, because it vitally concerns every large city of all countries; a problem of international scope — the over-crowding of large cities with unadaptable laborers, all seeking a livelihood where the opportunities don't increase in proportion. And as soon as practical methods expedite the solution of this many-sided problem, the lives and destinies of millions of working men, women and children now living only half -lives will be enlarged and improved.

HOW POVERTY, INSANITY, VICE, MIGHT HAVE BEEN PREVENTED.

In all countries and climates I have found that all people would benefit to a surprising degree by keeping close to the land, and that thousands of those now in the hospitals, lunatic asylums and penitentiaries, or who are living in abject poverty, or on the borders of that state, could have kept in healthful conditions had they gone back to the land in good time and remained there.

OBJECTIONS TO THE CRY "BACK TO THE FARM."

Mine is not a mere judgment or opinion based on a moment's observation or consideration. I have spoken with all classes and grades — the " under dogs,", the middlemen, professional men, statesmen, philanthropists and sociologists, socialists and retired farmers, and even with politicians, only to find that the majority of them have something against the " back to the farm "

proposition. The preponderance of opinion is that while it is desirable to own a plot of land and a home, farming does not pay, and that you cannot keep the people on the farm once their " ambitions " are aroused by the alluring so-called " opportunities " of the city, and that you cannot induce them to go back to the farm again after a taste of city life, however disagreeable.

YOU SHOW HOW TO MAKE FARM LIFE PAY.

Your book proves that farm life does pay. If the city dweller can be made to see this and to realize what a small percentage city life pays, it will be easy to arouse sufficient interest in a movement which will eventually bring us to healthful conditions and to a race that will feel content on the farm. Money-making attracts every one; those with much money, yet want more; those with some, wish to increase it; and those with little or none are ever in a maelstrom of passion for money. Certainly it would attract a large number of those who now shovel snow for the mere purpose of self-preservation, and those of starved physiques, who can only look on while the world moves, and others whose life is incessant toil with practically nothing to show for it but ill health, a wife and children in stuffy and gloomy half- furnished, broken down boxes of flats in " houses " where twenty to forty families live in similar circumstances.

DOES THE CITY GIVE COMFORT?

New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and practically every large city in the United States, are the scenes of heart-rending struggles for existence. Not only in our country, but in every country is this so. It is only at our own doors that such scenes strike our sympathies and awaken our pity, and bring to our face a glow of shame that such is the living of millions of our countrymen.

Take a trip through the " living " sections of our large cities — not only the slums and sections where foreigners herd together like so many cattle. I mean the homes of the poor American bred or the naturalized Americans, be they Irish, Scotch, English, German, Italian, or what not — those who are making the United States what it is ; the toilers, proud to call themselves Americans. Yes, take a trip down any of those avenues or through those streets — they are found everywhere. Look into the apartments through the dilapidated shutters, you will see all that is necessary. You go by hundreds of houses not properly protected by the windows against cold, nor against the burning sun in summer. The landlord gets " only " enough to pay his taxes, to make only absolutely necessary repairs on the buildings — more to protect the property from dilapidation than to give comfort to the tenants - — and for a few incidentals, so he cannot afford to keep them in good shape. In most cases you will be shocked by the scanty and broken-down furnishings that fill these rooms; or, if the furnishings are in any way respectable-looking, you are safe in believing them to be the outfit of some instalment house, on whose basis many of the tenants of three or four rooms furnish their homes.

THE CURSE OF *' CREDIT "

There are hundreds of these house-furnishing firms selling on credit in New York and other cities. Some of these houses carry thousands of such accounts, so you can judge for yourself how many persons are sleeping on what the marshal may take away in the morning because four weeks' instalments of fifty cents or a dollar are in arrears.

WHERE "home" is NOT " SWEET HOME."

During the sfummer their houses are practically untenantable. In the evenings you will find the occupants sitting in the streets, on the roofs, in the parks, or in other places more attractive to the body and soul. " There's no place like home " is a farce to more than 75 per cent, of the inhabitants of every large city.

Has it not come to a bad pass when cities like New York or Chicago and others have to grant special permission for the millions of tenement dwellers to utilize the public parks and piers and playgrounds as lodging houses, because their homes are so stifling during the dog days as to make it a torture for a human being to sleep in them? Is it not as revolting to see families sleeping on fire-escapes and roofs in summer ; or in winter to read of persons freezing to death in the streets and even in their scanty, ill-protected houses? Or to listen to the thousand appeals from as many charitable organizations and institutions, calling for aid in the relief of the untold misery of the poor, all the year round?

NO "SWEETNESS AND LIGHT" HERE.

Picture the " happy homes " of hundreds of thousands of poor, who live in dilapidated structures that occupy the space needed for ventilation and light — the back yards. Thus sandwiched in they are surrounded on all sides by higher houses, shut off from sunlight all day, their only view of the outside world being the back windows of the flats of families little better situated than themselves; their avenue of entrance into their little world being a dark, gloomy, foul alley, often used as a refuse dump. There is where you can also see hard-working Americans " living " — freezing well-nigh to death in winter and fairly roasting alive in summer! And these are the people who are the first

THE LETTER THAT PROMPTED THIS BOOK objects of charity if the man of the house be out of work. They live without thought of the morrow; they cannot do otherwise, for their income hardly covers living expenses. There is where the children, if they survive, are compelled to help out by working in factories at an early age, stunting their youth, undermining their health, and befitting themselves for only the meanest sort of labor in after years.

"OH, THE COLD AND CRUEL WINTER!"

This winter proved to be one of the severest in misery for the poor and unemployed — every winter is, more or less. But this year's scenes of misery were more pronounced. Everywhere workers were cast out, the army of street beggars and vagrants and fakirs increased apparently an hundredfold, and the free municipal and mission lodging houses, not counting the five, ten and fifteen cent varieties, turned away thousands of men and women, whose only refuge from the cold and storms were alleys, doorways, vacant lots and unused trucks. In Pittsburg a conservative observer estimated the unemployed alone at 15,000; in Chicago 75,000, while here in New York it was reported that 90,000 members of organized labor were without jobs and that there were 30,000 vagrants.

WAITING FOR JOBS THAT DO NOT COME.

At the time the mercury was at its lowest, I happened to pass along Union Square early in the morning, plowing my way through several inches of snow, which had fallen the night before. I noticed on one corner a group of four poorly-clad men, hands stuffed deep into pockets, while they shivered and shivered, nose, cheeks and lips blue and purple from the cold. From what I could see they were trying to secure work at shoveling snow. Three houi'S later, returning down-town, I passed the same group — still waiting for the " job."

"THE BREAD LINE" AND OTHER LINES.

The old bread line at midnight in New York is a favorite topic of the writer on sociological subjects, but such strings of workless and starved beings were to be seen everywhere. I saw a new kind of a line after the big snow-

^torm. I glanced along it and saw that it extended fully a block. Every man in that line was waiting to get the few dollars, or few cents, he was entitled to for his share in cleaning away the snow. Such frost-bitten, hungry looking individuals it has not been my lot to look upon in years.

THE MISERY SEEiN IN MISSIONS.

Still another picture of the " abounding comforts " of the big city was to be seen here in the Metropolis, and photographs of it have been scattered far and wide by an enterprising photographer, as if the scene was one to be proud of! The municipal lodging houses being filled, a Bowery mission opened its doors to 500 unfortunates. There were no beds, but these people were permitted to sit in the mission all night until seven a. m., so as to be out of the cold. Many of these found the welcome opportunity to snatch a few hours of sleep in a sitting posture.

COLD WAVES, WARM HEARTS.

They should go together at the thought of thousands of women and children in our city, shivering, hungry, sick, through no fault of their own.

They are sent to us by teachers, doctors, churches, city officials, neighbors.

An instance: " I am an ironworker laid off two months ago.

My wife is sick; there has not been a crumb in our house for two days. I can't bear to go home."

We relieve suffering at once and then try to get people on their feet.

$20,000 are urgently needed for food, coal, rent, clothes, bedding, medicine. We have over 3,000 families in charge to-day.

N. Y. Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor.

LEND A HAND.

This storm means suffering which will last for days.

You would cheerfully help to get a fallen horse upon his feet. Will you do as much for a man?

Many in our city have heavy burdens and a very insecure footing. An accident, temporary loss of work, brings quick suffering to dependent women and children. We know over 2,500 such families to-day. Will you help relieve at least one; details if desired? $20,000 urgently needed. Send $1.00, $5.00, $10.00, $50.00, $100.00, and let us tell you what it does, to R. S. Minturn, Treas., Room 210, No. 105 East 22d St.

N. Y. Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor

These two advertisements, which have recently been appearing in the New York papers, are appealing on behalf of people who would not be a burden on the public at large — who would not lose their own self-respect, if they would remain on or return to the land.

THE LETTER THAT PROMPTED THIS BOOK

"THREE ACRES" WOULD MEAN "LIBERTY."

Just why all these people should not live on your " three-acre " farm, even in a large dry goods box rather than increase the value of real estate in Manhattan or Philadelphia or the great city on Lake Michigan, or than swell the ranks of the objects of charity, I cannot see. Why should not these people live upon a farm near the city, to come daily to their business, whatever it be, and occasionally for amusement, and to spend their spare time in the profitable and healthy occupation — farming? At this time when the news of the day gives us startling instances of top-heaviness in population in reports of the destitution almost everywhere, the benefits of the " back to the farm " movement are apparent on its face. If these people for whom the land is crying could be induced to locate in the rural districts, the cause and results of much of this suffering would be done away with. Not only would the country districts be benefited by such a change, but the cities as well. Much of the distress which now prevails in the cities is a detriment to all in these days when country and city are so knit together in a subtle bond of action and interaction.

CITY AMUSEMENTS AND OTHER "ELEVATING" THINGS.

Talk to the young men or women here in New York (of course not ALL of them), especially those born and brought up in town, and before anything else tliey will tell of the great fun they are having. They work hard, and have long hours. Yet these young people, inclined toward fun, spend every cent they can spare on clothes and amusements.

STATISTICS THAT GIVE FALSE IMPRESSIONS.

I will cite here a few instances which show what the city offers the poor. I call "poor" every one who cannot afford to be sick for a few weeks, or who has not over four weeks' wages in the savings bank. The savings bank reports show how many hundreds of thousands of people have deposited in the hundred odd savings institutions on Manhattan Island alone. If you walk into any worker's home, even on Third

Avenue, you will at once know the real truth of those savings statistics.

While the habit of thrift is being cultivated to a larger extent than heretofore, these statistics leave false impressions; and it is only when you get in touch with the people that go to make up our large cities that you become informed as to the impossibility of saving among workers. There are few bank accounts to be found among the toilers, the clerks, the stenographers, the bookkeepers, the tradesmen, and even some of the professionals of our great cities, who earn barely enough to give them a living, much less a decent home, or to give them opportunities for saving. The younger ones know not the value of money; the call of the great white ways is too strong to resist. They will stint themselves, week in and week out, in order to scrape together enough of their meagre earnings to go to the theatre, dances and dinners. I discussed this subject recently with a young man, nearly twenty years of age, and he told me in all confidence that one day's outing with his " lady friend " a few days previous cost him all told a little over ten dollars — and his salary is just twelve dollars per week! If this was a thing to be indulged in once or twice a year I should be able to see how he does it, but to repeat tlie same performance about once a month and sometimes more, and all on that small salary, is past comprehension or belief.