SOME ACHIEVEMENTS IN FOOD 



'597 



that did, the prices were from 50 ])er cent to 75 per cent 

 hig'her than we had formerly paid for similar coal. So 

 we jiroceeded to cut our own wood and while we are not 

 quite throut^h with the wood cutting- proposition we are 

 far enouiih alony- with it to know that we will, without 

 s^'reat inconvenience, l)e alile to secure all the wikhI 

 needed for city schools and the city generally and at the 

 same time effect a great saving in the revenue of the citv. 

 I-'rom h^lyria, Ohio, came tidings that Mrs. Thomas 

 Edwards was believed to be the oldest woman in the 

 United States to raise a war garden. Mrs. Edwards is 

 94 years of age and her garden was planted .-ind culti- 



Through the bureau of education the campaign was 

 carried into the public schools of the nation. In co- 

 ojjeration with School Commissioner P. P. Claxton the 

 Commission sent about 25,000 copies of its manuals on 

 canning and drying to su])erintendents of public schools 

 and co-operating with Commissioner Cato Sells, of the 

 Indian Office, thousands of copies of its manuals were 

 sent to the Indian schools in various ])arts of the coim- 

 try. It was felt that a great deal could be accomplished 

 with the aid of the school children just as hundreds of 

 thousands of vegetable gardens had been ])lanted by 

 pupils earlv in the sjjring. The bulletins on canning and 



i-'.rt < 







^ 'M \ tMK9^' 



r.\RT OF THE INSriRATION OF INSPI K.M'ION, ARIZONA. 



If tlie gardening season of 1917 lias left any person unconvinced of the value of child labor in war gardens the skeptic would do well to make 

 a trip of exploration to Inspiration, The advantage of child labor of this type is that it is as valuable to health as to the cause of food pro- 

 duction. Those who think to the contrary are cordially inviled to submit pictures showing a healtliier band of young people than liere shown. 

 Every boy and girl shown in the group worked in t!ie biggest war garden in the West and tlieir rugged health is as eloquent as the pictured 

 crops as to the value of garden work. 



vated entirely bv herself. Early last spring she sent for' 

 the food garden primer issued by the Lomniission and 

 carefully followed instructions given in this complete 

 manual, lier success attracted national attentifm. 



At East f )range. New Jersey, L. G. Hinsdale, librarian, 

 distributed 5000 manuals on canning and drying to the 

 housewives of the citv on Food Kegistr.ation l)av. These 



drying were given to the i)U])ils with instructions that 

 the booklets were to be taken home so that their entire 

 households might be benefited by the helpful informa- 

 tion. Advices received in \\'ashington during Septem- 

 l)er and C)ctober indicated that these manuals were eager- 

 ly used l)y the school communities and that results of 

 great importance were achieved along the line of food 



manuals were given at the polling ])laces as a heljjful conservation. 



contributifjn to the women in the food conservation work Tyiiical of the recognition accorded the Commission's 



for which they were being registered. work is this editorial comment from the New York 



In Chicago the public libraries entered with genuine World: "The announcement of Charles Lathrop Pack, 



enthusiasm into the work of stimulating canning and president of the National Emergency Food Garden Com- 



drving operations. In reipiesting the co-operation of mission, that housewives this year have canned 400,000,- 



the Commission, Assistant Librarian C. P). Roden wrote 000 jars of fruits and vegetables indicates a very large 



that 10,000 manuals would not last a week in the 40 addition to the nation's food sujiply. Like the perish- 



branch libraries in their distributinn of the 1 klels lo abk' product of the small home gardens, it is not to be 



the housewives of Chicago. Impressed with the spirit 

 shown by the request the Commission sent 20,000 man- 

 uals instead of the 10,000 that had been asked for — 

 making the biggest single consignment sent to any li- 

 brary system in the United States. 



measured accurately, but no one can question that the 

 impetus given to individual effort through public agi- 

 tation has been of immense help. No government census 

 can ever fully cover so wide a lield f)f activity or give 

 exact figures for the total output." 



