Garden Instinct Revealed by War 77 



to do it without taking from existing farming opera- 

 tions either an acre of ground or the labor of a single 

 man, since both land and labor were already under 

 the fullest pressure. Not only so, but the railroads 

 were groaning under the heaviest demands and it was 

 essential that the vast increase of food supply should 

 be obtained without adding materially to the burden 

 of the railroads. How could the thing be done? Only 

 by inducing the people to utilize every piece of ground, 

 without remitting any of their regular work, which 

 was also in unusual demand. 



The scheme was chimerical, of course. Any sensible 

 person would have known it ! But Mr. Pack and his 

 friends did not know it. They believed that the great 

 spirit evoked by the war could do impossible things. 

 The event proved that they were right. 



Millions of gardens — more than five millions — 

 sprung into almost immediate existence. These gardens 

 blossomed not only in the workingman's back yard, 

 but on the millionaire's front lawn. Italian gardens, 

 which had been the pride of their owners, were beauti- 

 fied by straight rows of common vegetables and min- 

 istered yet more to pride. Public parks, which had 

 been mere fields for popular recreation, were dedicated 

 to a more sacred public purpose — that of feeding the 

 people and winning the war. The total product of this 

 war-gardening scheme between May, 1917, and June, 

 1919, reached the impressive figure of $1,250,000,000. 

 The plan served its immediate purpose; but its deeper 

 significance has yet to enter the consciousness of our 

 people. 



First, it revealed the affinity of our people for the 



