598 



AMERICAN' FORESTRY 



I 



"Twould do me good to take the chap 



And kick him down the stairs. 

 And thus hestow a needed slap 



On these misguided pairs. 

 Id make each slacker heed the call 



To take a gun and fight 

 The foe whose cruel deeds appal 



All men whose souls are right. 



Similar editorial comment appeared in the Chicago 

 Evening Post as follows : "The Department of Agricul- 

 ture, as we noted recently, omitted from its crop report 

 any estimate of the home gardener's crops. The back- 

 yard farmers, however, are not lost sight of by their 

 Uncle Sam. Charles Lathrop Pack, of the National 

 Emergency Food Garden 

 Commission, after a care- 

 ful survey, reports that 

 there are more than three 

 times as many gardens 

 growing vegetables in the 

 United States today as 

 there were a year ago. The 

 increase represents a gain 

 of one million, one hundred 

 and seventy-five thousand 

 acres, and he estimates the 

 total home garden crop will 

 aggregate $350,000,000. It 

 you doubt whether the 

 home garden is a real fac- 

 tor in the food situation 

 ask the man who peddles 

 vegetables in your neigh- 

 borhood." 



It has not been alone in 

 the United States that the 

 work has gained recogni- 

 tion. Newspapers and let- 

 ters have been received 

 from Great Britain, 

 France, Italy, Australia, 

 Hawaii, the Virgin Islands, 

 Cuba, South America and 

 other far away corners of 

 the globe, showing that the 

 Commission's home garden 

 movement has attracted the 

 attention of the press of 

 the entire world. From 

 many of these countries 

 have come requests for the 

 literature issued by tlie 

 Commission. One such 

 request came from Nigeria. 

 British West Africa. Thi- 

 letter was from D. ( ). 

 Gunsdhlabor, of Opobo, 

 who wrote : "There are 

 signs here of inevitable famine and we are doing 

 all we can to save the situation. This means the 

 storing of food and the best way to preserve it. How 

 can I store and preserve such foods as are common in 

 this section of Africa?" 



It is needless to say that the full literature of canning, 

 drving, pickling and storing was sent Mr. Gunsdhlabor 

 by the first mail and that the Commission's experts gave 

 him all available additional suggestions that would ap- 

 ply to his particular conditions of climate and jiroducts. 



THE SLACKERS 



WISH I WERE the license clerk 



Who grants the right to wed. 

 For I'd bring up with vicious jerk 

 The man who hides his head 

 Behind the heart oi some poor girl 



Who little knows the craft 

 With which he s set her hrain a-w-hiri 

 That he may dodge the draft. 



I'll drive them to the garden patch 



AVith patriotic haste. 

 And make them hustle to the scratch 



To stop this sinful waste. 

 I'll make them get a wiggle on. 



And either can or dry 

 The garden truck, ere summer s gone 



For winter time supply. 



One of the whimsical, but impressive, suggestions 

 arising from the campaign was that if the season's home 

 canned jars should be placed in a pyramid with the 

 Washington Monument as a center, the structure would 

 completely hide the towering shaft which dominates the 

 landscape of the National Capital. It was also suggested 



that the jars do not have 

 iij be collected into a pyra- 

 mid in order to stand as 

 a monument to .-Vmerican 

 patriotism. Tucked away 

 on pantry shelves from 

 East to West and from 

 North to South they make 

 a fortress of impregnable 

 strength in this crisis 

 which demands all the 

 strength the nation can 

 muster. They are the 

 foundation of America's 

 wartime preparedness. The 

 food thus conserved has a 

 value as vital as the coun- 

 try's armed forces. In the 

 battle for world freedom 

 these household stores are 

 as important as our sol- 

 diers ; the jars as potent as 

 our blue-jackets and the 

 cans as powerful as the 

 cannon. 



.\mong the constructive 

 activities of the Commis- 

 sion none proved more use- 

 ful or attracted more wide- 

 spread attention than the 

 ofTer of $5,000 in prizes for 

 home canned vegetables 

 from home gardens. The 

 fund was divided into a 

 thousand prizes of $5 each, 

 awarded at local fairs and 

 food exhibits throughout 

 the country during Sep- 

 tember and October. The 

 competition was keen and 

 close observers agreed that 

 no single incident of the 

 food thrift campaign did 

 more to stimulate interest 

 in home canning than this contest. At state, county and 

 local fairs and at public exhibits of various kinds the 

 ])rizes were eagerly sought. With the close of this 

 month 1000 home canners from coast to coast will have 

 received the individual rewards in cash, together with 

 certificates issued by the Commission giving permanent 

 record of the holder's success in the competitive enter- 

 prise. 



While congratulating itself on the results achieved, 

 .■\merica is in no ])osition to rest on its oars. This point 



But since I have no license job. 



To catch this shameless shirk. 

 I'll form a little private mob 



And do some other work. 

 Twill give me joy to slug and swat 



The folks who help the foe 

 By wasting, or by letting rot. 



The stuff their gardens grow. 



There II be no slackers left alive 



If I can have ray -way; 

 For I will make a mighty drive 



And set them making hay. 

 The bridegroom slackers, conscience 

 knows. 



Deserve a deadly shaft; 

 But after all I m out for those 



Who dodge the Food Thrift Draft 



