rbor colonies." The tenements in Berlin are as bad as in our
own big cities, only better policed.

Not all of these arbor gardens are occupied by families during the
night. Thousands return to their city homes evenings. Some parents,
unable to free themselves from toil in town, send their children
under guidance of servants, and spend only occasional Sundays and
holidays with them.

The people, especially the children, getting some information
concerning the treatment of the crops from competent advisers in
school and out in the arbor colonies, derive great good from their
horticultural and floricultural work. Families who are aesthetically
inclined devote their space to flowers and trailing vines
exclusively; others, utilitarians from necessity, plant potatoes,
carrots, turnips, beets, beans, strawberries, and the like. The
feeling of ownership being strongly developed in the children in
seeing the results of their own labor, the crops are respected by
the neighbors and pilfering rarely occurs, except perhaps in a case
of great hunger.

Several hundred or a thousand of such patches of land, or gardens,
situated in close proximity to each other, form an arbor colony,
which has a governor, or mayor, who is an unpaid city official. He
arranges the leasing of the land, collects the rents, and hands them
over to the gratified landowners who don't even have to collect
them. There is always a retired merchant or civil officer to fill
the office, to which is attached neither title, emolument, nor
special honor. He is assisted by a "colonial committee" of trustees
selected from the colonists, who act as justices of the peace, in
case disturbances should arise. If colonists prove frequent
disturbers of the peace or are found incapable of living quietly,
their leases are not renewed. Of course there are such cases, but
they are rare.

Since the size of an "arbor garden" is from about two sixteenths to
three sixteenths of an acre, say two or three New York City Lots,
those forming a colony make a considerable community, in which the
authority of the committee, or board of trustees, is absolute, and
the few cases they have had to adjudicate have generally been caused
by nagging women. It is claimed in the press that these colonists
are literally without scandals, and that the life led by young and
old is a most peaceful and happy one. People who are hard at work
are not likely to be quarrelsome: good wholesome food, much exer