PLANTING ONE MILLION FOOD GARDENS 



201 



in Lexington, Kentucky; 

 Chester, Pennsylvania ; Wil- 

 mington, Delaware; George- 

 town, and in Michigan, 

 South Dakota, Ohio and 

 other states and cities the 

 movement has made its im- 

 press on the minds of the 

 thinking people. 



The Commission which 

 has aroused the nation to 

 the realization that millions 

 may be saved annually 

 through the employment of 

 agencies which in the past 

 have been neglected, feels 

 that the future of American 

 agriculture is largely de- 

 pendent on the bojrs and 

 girls of today, and it is the 

 purpose of this institution 



MAKING DAME NATURE HURRY 



With a saw, a hammer and an empty grape juice box, this boy has the equipment 

 which will vie in effectiveness with the expensive hot beds and forcing frames 

 of the scientific market gardener. From the deep bo.x he makes three shallow 

 seed boxes, bores holes in their bottoms for drainage, falls them with rich earth, 

 and plants good seed. Then, if he sets the boxes in south windows of his house, 

 by the time the spring sun warms the outdoor soil he will have thriving tomato 

 plants for his garden. 



to assist the other forces 

 now at work to interest, in- 

 struct, and direct the youth 

 of the country in the possi- 

 bilities of garden raising as 

 a profitable and dignified 

 pursuit. 



The Commission does 

 not undertake to make an 

 accurate estimate of the 

 value of crops grown in the 

 food gardens of the United 

 States, but from careful in- 

 vestigation it is enabled to 

 say that a well-kept garden 

 will yield a return ten to 

 fifteen times greater than 

 would the same area and 

 location if devoted to general 

 farm crops . A little work and 

 a little land will easily 



THE COOPERATIVE GARDEN 



Here in a Massachusetts town we see the neighborhood cooperating in a garden, 

 the cheapest and easiest plan. Cooperative funds paid for the plowing and 

 fertilizing of the lot and then the individuals planted whatever they chose and 

 took care of their own crops. The National Emergency Food Garden Commis- 

 sion is calling this plan to the attention of apartment house dwellers who can 

 have access to large vacant lots. 



HELPING OUT IN THE LIVING PROBLEM 



This boy has a task better for himself and more profitable than seUing news- 

 papers to help out his father's weekly pay envelope. His garden, on land 

 the use of which he got for the asking, is the pleasantest spot in this dreary 

 street of workmen's houses, and the most productive, for it furnishes the 

 vegetables which his hard-working mother would have to buy at high prices 

 or go without. 



