34 THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 



States. The Marion (Indiana) War Garden Associa- 

 tion placed it squarely up to the home food producers 

 in this fashion: "Earn the Right to Stay at Home 

 Plant a Garden. " The honored title of "Soldier of 

 the Soil" gave the home tiller the feeling that he, too, 

 was performing a service for his country although he 

 was not wearing the uniform; and when he was informed 

 that "Every Garden is a Munition Plant" he knew 

 that he was helping the boys over there to fight their 

 battles, for "The Seeds of Victory Insure the Fruits of 

 Peace." The patriotic spirit is contagious and the war 

 gardener helped mightily to spread it. 



Of especial value to the nation in its days of need was 

 the habit of thrift engendered and built up into a com- 

 mon trait by home gardening. Before the war, it is esti- 

 mated, there were only 300,000 bond-buyers in the 

 United States. More than 21,000,000 people subscribed 

 to the fourth Liberty Loan. The significance of that 

 fact is splendidly summed up in a single sentence by 

 Fred H. Goff, president of the Cleveland Trust Com- 

 pany and a member of the National War Garden Com- 

 mission. "A nation that saves," says he, "is a nation 

 saved. " Truly, war gardening is as full of hidden bless- 

 ings as the widow's cruse was of oil. 



