Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 168, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1915 — Home Town Helps [ARTICLE]

Home Town Helps

GARDENS IN LARGE CITIES No Reason Why Certain Difficulties Shrould Not Easily Be Overcome, With Proper Thought. There are a few things that must be provided if Omaha is to become famous for its gardens, and it is to be hoped that the agricultural expert who is coming here will attend to them, says the Omaha World-Herald. There would be fnany more gardens if there were some central agency established where men too busy to attend to all the work could call by telephone and get a reliable man when one is needed. The charity organizations have been relied upin, but the men who seek work through them are often inefficient and'unreliable. One business man said: “I have quite a large bit of ground in my back yard that I would like to put in a garden, but I cannot take a day off to spade it up and prepare the ground for the seed. I would be glad to plant the seed and care for the ground afterward. Last year I tried getting a man and after much worry got one. He was unreliable and the work that he did was hardly worth the time looking after him, so this year I have concluded to seed it down and avoid that sort of worry.”

The plan for children is good and should be boosted by every one, but a large number of gardens would be planted where there are no children if there were a place where the right kind of help could be secured. Lawns would be kept in better condition if a man could be called by telephone when a mower was out of order or needed sharpening and when bulbs and shrubbery were to be planted. Omaha gardens and beautiful lawns would add very much to the city in the satisfaction of citizens and visitors and to the value of property. It might be a good policy for some of the civic organizations to undertake to supply this want by establishing such a central agency. There is no doubs that it would be a paying enterprise.