THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 101 



sub-committee of the mayor's advisory war committee, 

 40,000 war gardens were planted in 1918. The city had 

 set out to make it 25,000 but went far beyond this 

 figure. George A. Schneider, chairman of the commit- 

 tee, mapped out a broad and comprehensive campaign 

 which resulted in a splendid record. Carl F. Knirk, 

 garden director, was untiring in his efforts to make the 

 work a complete success. A survey was made of every 

 vacant lot in the city and its suburbs, with high- 

 school boys aiding in this collection of data in their 

 respective districts. Six paid instructors were engaged 

 and each placed in charge of a certain district. Three 

 tractor plows prepared the ground in the larger tracts. 

 Other agencies cooperated in the movement. These 

 included women's clubs, schools, business houses, and 

 manufacturing concerns. Western Reserve Univer- 

 sity introduced a course in home gardening and it was 

 opened to some of the garden clubs and women inter- 

 ested in the work. Many of the industrial plants 

 provided land for their employes and hundreds of fine 

 gardens were the result. The companies also encour- 

 aged their men in the conservation of their garden 

 products. Thousands of the Commission's war vege- 

 table gardening and canning and drying books were 

 distributed to the city's home food growers through the 

 Cleveland Public Library and the Cleveland Public 

 Schools and through the Cleveland Trust Company, 

 the Citizens Savings and Trust Company, the Superior 

 Savings and Trust Company, the Guardian Savings and 

 Trust Company, and other public-spirited institutions. 



