II UT 1 C U LTU HK 



February H"., 1918 



FOOD WILL WIN THE WAR-PRODUCE IT! 



Kdltor HoKTuri.Tiiu:- 



1 wns Interested in the romarks of 

 our rrlen I Ui-orge C. Watson in Horti- 

 ( I i.TiRK for February 2 about the 

 slopnn Food Will Win The War- 

 Produce ill" 



I always like iritiiisni nf myself, or 

 of my work, especially if it is con- 

 structive, and if it is not constructive 

 it usually proves amusing. I must ad- 

 'hat I do not like Mr. Watson's 

 -tion at all! In the place of the 

 — ' :nn which we are now 

 • ction with many other 

 >. , ,, i.iiM- ..lul in connection also 

 with the Bureau of Increased Food 

 I»roduetion Mr. Watson offers the fol- 

 lowing: "Seeds will win the war. 

 Sow them." "Seeds rule the world. 

 Don't waste them." I say Seeds will 

 not win the war! And Seeds do not 

 rule the world! 



Mr. Watson goes further and says 

 that his slogans "would meet with 

 llie appro\al of the powers that be and 

 encourage cordial feelings towards 

 our business instead of suggesting 

 criticism cf jealous and patriotic of- 

 ficials." When I wrote you first I 

 think I stated that I considered the 

 slogan "Food Will Win The War" 

 rather bold. I never would have con- 

 sidered the use of such a broad state- 

 ment as this had not the United States 

 Government first placed upon it its 



stamp f'f approval. Of course food 

 alone will not win the war, but with- 

 out food it would be impossible to win 

 the war. And the United States Gov- 

 ernment has said that Food Will Win 

 the War. Therefore, it is the patriotic 

 duty of all seedsmen to impress upon 

 their clientele so far as possible the 

 fact that the United States Govern- 

 ment considers that Food Will Win 

 tho War and that it is their individual 

 duty so far as possible to increase the 

 Production of Food. 



It is not Seeds of which we are 

 talking: if we talk about seeds then 

 the public at large immediately thinks 

 that our motives are selfish, that we 

 want to sell seeds. Of course we want 

 to sell steds but the distribution of 

 seeds becomes patriotic only when it 

 enhances the production of food. 

 Sowing seed is merely incidental to 

 the Production of Food; it is the 

 means by which we obtain the result, 

 and it is the result which we must go 

 after! Therefore, again I say that I 

 personally do not like Mr. Watson's 

 suggestions. 



Upon further thought, however, it 

 seems to rae Mr. Watson must have 

 had in mind the great shortage of 

 vegetable seeds throughout the world 

 and perhaps his idea was somewhat 

 to impress upon the general public 

 this scarcity and to encourage them 

 to make the best possible use of what- 

 ever seed they buy. We have had that 



point In mind and I think already we 

 have done everything possible to en- 

 courage our customers to buy only 

 what seed they will need. In that 

 connection we are mailing to more 

 than a half million customers a print- 

 ed notice which reads as follows; 

 r(KM> 

 wii.r, WI.N TIIK WAIt 

 I'ltODL'CK IT'. 

 Wlllioul Kc'i'il 11 wuiilil lie Inipoaxlblv to 

 priidiic*' f*HHi-ainl simmI 1h «cnrcc! 



The (leiiiaiKl fur vi'K'i'tiilil"- Wf.l IuhI year 

 mure than (tuiibliMi, and abnoHt at the same 

 time the Nupply nf neeil from Knrupe was 

 rut olT. Wi- have ilime everything |iuM8lble 

 to Krow more seed in America, l>nt in spite 

 of our beHt elTort there in hariily enouKli 

 vegetal)lc seed to meet every deniMnil. Thi- 

 supply of Heed tliroii^-hout the whole worM 

 id extremely short : 



We advise that you order your seed Im- 

 mediately. And we ask that you he careful 

 with the seed you buy— malie every need 

 eiinnt ! 



SEi;ii 



WILL I-KIIDI'dO FOr)lJ 



DON'T WASTK IT! 



.1 am writing this not as a defense of 

 the slogan we have offered, but l)e- 

 cause the slogan "Food Will Win the 

 War — Produce It!" has already been 

 accepted very generally and because I 

 think that any deviation from its 

 singleness of purpose would weaken 

 our cause. 



W'. A. Manda, of South Orange, N. 

 .T., had a \ try inclement day and con- 

 sequent small audience for his lecture 

 on America's horticultural future at 

 Horticulture Hall, Boston, last Satur- 

 day. This was very regrettable for 

 the paper and subsequent discussion 

 was thoughtful and inspiring and 

 merited a crowded hall. There is no 

 man in this country more enthusiastic 

 or better qualified by experience and 

 intelligent observation to talk on this 

 subject than W. .•V. Manda. 



The lecttirer traced the development 

 of gardening art and horticultural 

 sentiment in America from the time of 

 the pioneer settlers down to the pres- 

 ent and based his conception of the 

 future possibilities upon what past his- 

 tory had shown and demonstrated that 

 all we need to attain superiority over 

 all the world in the home production 

 of all plants, seeds and bulbs, is time, 

 diligent labor and capital, every other 

 requirement being found in one sec- 

 tion or another of this country. He 

 said we are already beginning to ex- 

 port horticultural products and the 

 time is not far distant when this ex- 

 port industry will assume enormous 

 proportions. New Jersey alone can 

 grow all the classes of bulbs we are 



now importing from llollnnd. The 

 soil is there and ready. 



Mr. Manda mentioned among plants 

 that can be greatly improved by hy- 

 bridization and selection, our native 

 azaleas, rhododendrons, andromedas, 

 persimmons, pawpaws, cranberries 

 ("ornus florida, Rubus odoratus, mag- 

 nolias, chinquapins and other nuts. 

 Clematis naniculata. Chrysanthemum 

 frutescen;, hardy carnations, irises, 

 silenes, pentstemons, asters, sun- 

 flowers, etc. 



"Horticulture," he said, "is a profes- 

 sion and not a trade, branching into 

 science on one hand and art on the 

 other. It is a calling of which any man 

 may be proud, either as gardener, flor- 

 ist, vegetable or fruit grower, for it fur- 

 nishes him an honorable, interesting 

 and healthy occupation, bringing forth 

 something new and different every 

 day, according to the season of the 

 year, making it seem more like play 

 and recreation than work. Statistics 

 show that horticulturists have the 

 best ch-ince of a long life, exceeded 

 only by clergymen. 



"It has been said that the compara- 

 tive high wages in this country pre- 

 vents the successful growing of plants 

 for competition in the markets of the 



world. This is largely the case, but 

 nature helps us in that respect also. 

 We have a more favorable climate so 

 that a plant makes as much growth 

 in one season as it will make in two 

 seasons in Europe. The methods 

 adapted for our culture are by far the 

 simpler and best, also the use of im- 

 proved implements and machinery, so 

 that this item alone will even up the 

 difference of the extra cost of labor. 

 But above all we have extensive and 

 cheap lands with intellect and indus- 

 try to compete successfully against 

 crowded and used-up lands and cheap 

 labor of foreign countries. 



"Never before has horticulture stood 

 so prominently in the public eye as 

 during the str<inuous time at present 

 when every garden, large or small, is 

 contributing to the linal success of this 

 struggle. So let everyone do his 

 share, cultivate not only more ground, 

 but cultivate it intensively so as to 

 get double results. 



"The flower garden is as necessary 

 as fruits, vegetables or grain, for we 

 do not 'live on bread alone.' Do not 

 allow plants or flowers to be neglected 

 and lost to culture which have taken 

 generations to bring to their present 

 state of perfection. Do not let green- 



