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 exercise in play and labor, and an abundance of fresh air and sunshine are conducive to happiness, especially as the clothing may be of a primitive kind, or need not conform to the dictates of fashion.

A teacher remarked:  “It is noticeable that since these school children are engaged in lucrative work which does not go beyond their strength, and since they see with their own eyes the results of their labor, a sense of responsibility is engendered which has a beneficial influence upon school work also.  Respect for all kinds of labor and a decrease in the destructiveness so often found among boys are