PLANTING ONE MILLION FOOD GARDENS 



199 



AMERICA'S MAN WITH THE HOE— 1917 



This American man with the hoe happens to be wielding a rake tidying up the 

 paths m a community garden, and his age happens to be 11 years, but never- 

 theless, in this time of short food supplies and fearful prices, he may be the hope 

 of the nation. There are 4,000.000 graded school children in the United States. 

 Put them all to work in gardens and America's food problem would be solved. 



CABBAGES AND KINGS 



Some years ago the Walrus got a big laugh with that line, because kings then 

 were so much more important than cabbages. This year kings are a drug on 

 the market while cabbages by the ton bring about the same price as gold ore. 

 If America is to have enough cabbages and other vegetables this year, men, 

 women, and children must turn to and raise them in town and city home gardens. 



there are hundreds of acres 

 of land in the form of back 

 yards and vacant lots that 

 might profitably be used 

 for the production of food 

 necessities. In these same 

 cities there arc thousands of 

 bovs and girls who, with 

 proper guidance, would be 

 willing to utilize this non- 

 productive land. Further- 

 more, now that the Com- 

 mission has enthused the 

 nation, these same cities no 

 longer will be importing 

 yearly thousands of dollars' 

 worth of vegetables, but 

 wiU be raising foodstuffs 

 themselves. 



Considering the low 

 average labor income, the 

 amount spent for fresh 

 vegetable and small fruit 

 foods is large, an average 

 outside of large cities of 

 $138 per year for a family 

 of five persons. About 

 thirty per cent of such 

 families have home 

 or vacant-lot vegetable gar- 

 dens, but the method of 

 planting and cultivation are 

 not intensive, and the money 

 value of the product is small. 

 But this condition, which 

 existed during the past 



THE FOOD CRISIS 

 BY CHARLES LATHROP PACK 



President of the National Emergency Food Garden Commission and 

 President of the American Forestry Association 



THE National Emergency Food Garden Commission aims 

 to assist in making food more plentiful in villages, towns 

 and cities by inspiring the planting of food gardens this 

 year. This is a measure of economic preparedness of vital 

 importance. It will release, in case of military necessity, 

 the use of thousands of trains otherwise required to carry 

 food; it will relieve transportation difficulties which even 

 now cause a deficiency in food supplies; it will reduce the 

 high cost of living. 



Hundreds of thousands of individuals, thousands of or= 

 ganizations, would raise vegetables in home gardens, school 

 gardens and vacant lots if they were aroused and if they knew 

 how. The National Emergency Food Garden Commission 

 will arouse them and will tell them how. It has secured the 

 cooperation of hundreds of newspapers which will publish 

 daily instruction and advice on when and how and what to 

 plant. It is being assisted by thousands of city and town 

 officials, civic bodies and planting organizations. 



We face a national emergency — a food deficiency. The 

 way to meet and overcome it is by enlisting our boys and 

 girls and men and women to plant vegetables on any plot of 

 ground available. 



European nations cannot supply their own needs for food — 

 they must buy from the United States. This buying depletes 

 our own supply. Crops were short last year and the year 

 before. Scarcity of labor will make them short this year. 

 The problem is serious. Patriotic Americans wish to help 

 their country. They can best help by relieving the govern- 

 ment of this food problem. They can solve this economic 

 crisis and benefit themselves financially and physically by 

 planting food gardens. 



Patriotic words are empty air. Patriotic acts alone will 

 help. Plant a food garden and do your part towards the 

 economic victory. 



We expect to induce more than one million young people, 

 women and elderly men this year to plant a food garden who 

 have not done so before. This alone should add much more 

 than two hundred and fifty million dollars to the food value 

 of this season's crop. Those who have made such gardens 

 before should increase their efforts. 



You are anxious to do something patriotic because you 

 feel that way. You want to help your country. You can plant 

 a vegetable food garden. Are you doing so? Start now. 



several years, now will be 

 overcome when it is realized 

 that the need of intensive 

 food gardening is knocking 

 at the door of nearly every 

 home in America. 



In twenty of the iinpor- 

 tant cities of the country 

 last year the pubHc school 

 officials, recognizing the im- 

 portance of the gardening 

 idea, voted appro]Driations 

 to carry on the work. Phila- 

 delphia spent nearly $20,000 ; 

 Los Angeles, California, 

 $19,000; Cincinnati, $8,000; 

 Pittsburgh, $7,000; Kansas 

 City, $5,000; Chicago, 

 $4,000; St. Paul, $3,500. 

 Other cities inchidcd in the 

 Hst, and which spent $1,000 

 or more in the work, were 

 Portland, Oregon: Crockett, 

 Texas; Cleveland, Ohio; 

 Birmingham, Alabama; 

 Brockton, Massachusetts; 

 Framingham, Massachu- 

 setts; Hartford, Connecti- 

 cut; Marshall, Texas; Mil- 

 ton, Massachusetts; Pasa- 

 dena, California- Marlin, 

 Texas ; MinneapoHs, Minne- 

 sota; Tampa, Florida. 



Minneapolis, since the 

 Garden Commission began 

 its work of education, is at 



