2 PRIZE GARDENING 



area and to list and value all tools and supplies, all 

 accounts to be kept in a record book of convenient size. 

 The less important details were left to individual 

 judgment. 



Every one of the five hundred contestants whose 

 reports were received had his or her own method of 

 keeping the record and making out the report. Some 

 were brief, giving only the barest summary of the work 

 done, methods employed, expenses, receipts and prod- 

 ucts, while others were very elaborate and covered two 

 or three hundred pages of manuscript or typewritten 

 copy and were fully illustrated with photographs, 

 sketches and drawings. Some were ornately bound. 

 Nearly all grasped the idea to give a report that would 

 bring out the actual product and returns from the 

 garden, receipts and expenses and methods pursued. 

 The ages of contestants ranged between ten and ninety 

 years. Some of the winners were women, and their 

 experience suggests anew the idea of the lighter out- 

 door pursuits for the weaker sex. Some of them did 

 all the work, light or heavy. Others secured help from 

 the men folk for such work as plowing and carting. 

 Increased health and strength were among the price- 

 less benefits secured, although women's gardens did 

 not compare unfavorably for general good results with 

 those worked by man power. 



Close to five thousand people in all parts of the 

 country gave notice of their intention to compete, and 

 five hundred and fifteen actually sent in reports of the 

 season's work. Many who did not officially enter the 

 contest were encouraged to keep better gardens. Prob- 

 ably at least five thousand well-kept gardens in nearly 

 as many towns were due to this contest — each one an 

 object lesson to many other people. A good garden 

 in a neighborhood is like seed sown upon good ground 

 — it wakes up the neighbors to follow suit and try a 



