6 THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 



soldier was sharply reduced a measure to which resort 

 is had only in situations of direst necessity. Indeed, 

 many well-informed persons attribute the disaster of 

 1917 on the Italian front to the lowering of morale con- 

 sequent upon the cutting of the bread ration. The 

 soldier well knew that if his food was cut his family 

 must be well-nigh starving to death. 



All Europe had to resort to meatless days. French 

 milk production, as early as 1916, had fallen off sixty 

 per cent. Dairy products were so scarce in England 

 that cream could be secured only upon a physician's 

 certificate declaring it necessary to the health of the 

 recipient. Sugar consumption had to be rigidly re- 

 stricted. The English, who before the war were the 

 greatest users of sugar in the world, with an average 

 consumption of something like ninety-three pounds a 

 person a year, were restricted to twenty-six pounds per 

 annum, and this ration was later cut to twenty-four 

 pounds. The French were limited to thirteen pounds a 

 year, and the sugar ration of the Italian was drastically 

 cut to nine pounds a year. That is to say, persons of 

 these nationalities were allowed to buy the quantities 

 named when the foods were to be had, but often the food 

 was not to be had. There were entire districts in France, 

 for instance, where for days no bread at all was to be 

 obtained and not much else. The actual consumption, 

 therefore, was less than the ration allowed. Our own 

 consumption, too, was sharply reduced. Through meat- 

 less and wheatless days our use of wheat and flesh was 

 greatly lessened, while the high prices of butter, eggs, 



