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THE WORKERS' CABBAGE PATCH.

THE WOEKEES' CABBAGE PATCH.

(By Hugh Fraser.)

London, August 13. Thojgli this war may have brougnt ii burning sadness to many of them, the Londoners of the poorer classes are in many ways happier folk to-day than they were in other years. I am going to'' tell about one new occupation the war has found for them, and how they art better oil' and happier for the industry they have applied to it. Picture the typical narrow street in a London suburb where the builder has left no suspicion of beauty, but has made the locality completely unattractive with two rows of buildings all joining ono another and none offering the least pretence to interest the uniformity of dull plainness of architecture. If there were no numbers on the doors the most respectable dweller in the street would be fully exonerated from entering his neighbour's dwelling, even on a Saturday night. The steps leading up to the door is their balcony and the street the children's playground. If there was a back-yard it was seldom more than a place for rubbish to collect; you could not make it a garden because the houses crowding on it prevented the sun from having a full view of this patch of ground. It was not a cheerful place for a tired working man to come home to, and those who did go 'home sat on the steps, smoked their worn pipes, and watched their children play in the haTd, dirty streets. But this has all changed now, and the long summer evenings have found these dreary streets deserted, for the parents and their children have found something better to do. They are all away in the parks busy in their allotments, which cover many acres in every public common around London. For the small sum of half-a-crown a year the working man who before never knew what it was to have Jiis own garden can now lease a good-sized plot of ground in which he can grow sufficient vegetables to supply his table for many months. Out where I live, where Hampstead Heath stretches for miles until it is lost in the wooded hills of Highgate the picture is one of a vast market garden, where all kinds of vegetables are grown. And they all belong to the people who live in this neighborhood. Early in the evening, when the day's real work is over, you will see men going to the Heath carrying their spades, their hoes, or their rakes. Their wives and their children have already been at work for an hour or more. And then in the long, cool evenings that make the outskirts of London pleasant at this time of the year you will see these happy family parties working with a new enthusiasm. The children are | brighter and healthier, because even I those who are too young and noisy to improve "the cabbage patch" find tfoesei fresh surroundings a much more congenial - playground than the barron street they live In. Their father and their mother take a pride in their allotment, because there, is a fine, neighborly rivalry. And when the sun has gone behind the Highgate Hills they wend their way home with a happy heart, and what is even more important these days, a couple of healthy cabbages or a bunch of tempting lettuce. Or it may be onions, carrots, or potatoes, and all of a splendid quality, grown by these hard working' people in their leisure hours, and at a very small cost. This time last year vegetables were scarce and costly in London; to-day the meanest home has an ample supply of all kinds of good vegetables, and the Pood Controller is not the worry to them that he used to be.

The "vegetable kingdom" was never | wrapped in such importance as it enjoys in London to-day. Not only has it full control of London's public parks, but onions arid cabbages to-day have their place in Kew Gardens. The thousands who were attracted to Kew by the glorious sunshine of last Sunday found as much to admire in the fine show of vegetables as they did in the rose gardens and the orchid house! It is wonderful what a war can do, isn't it J

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19181004.2.40

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, 4 October 1918, Page 7

Word count
Tapeke kupu
715

THE WORKERS' CABBAGE PATCH. Taranaki Daily News, 4 October 1918, Page 7

THE WORKERS' CABBAGE PATCH. Taranaki Daily News, 4 October 1918, Page 7

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