AMERICAN FORESTRY 



VOL. XXIII 



IlllllllllllllllllUllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllll 



APRIL 1917 



NO. 280 



PLANTING ONE MILLION FOOD GARDENS 



IN the existing national emergency the American Forestry Association is "doing its bit." Realizing that the most 

 important feature of economic preparedness is to provide a sufficient food supply, and knowing that owing to 

 the demands from abroad, transportation difficulties at home, and a crop shortage last year there was an actual 

 deficiency in the food supply, the Association has lent the aid of its Conservation Department, its headquarters, 

 and its secretary to the National Emergency Food Garden Commission. This Commission, of which Mr. Charles 

 Lathrop Pack is the president, is for one thing inspiring and aiding the planting of 1,000,000 food gardens in cities, 

 towns and villages. The product of these gardens will supply more than 1,000,000 families, and be valued at 

 $250,000,000. The members of the American Forestry Association are asked to give their approval and their active 

 assistance in furthering this movement and adding to its success. 



THE country's food supply is less than the country's 

 need for home consumption and for export. Some- 

 thing must be done to increase it, and a plan, feasible, 

 rational, simple, has been worked out and given to the 

 people through the newly created National Emergency 

 Food Garden Commission, affiliated with the Conserva- 

 tion Department of the American Forestry Association, 

 which may mean the adding of $250,000,000 to the annual 

 food supply of the nation. It will mean also the creation 

 and tilling of a million more vegetable-producing gardens 

 in the back yards of thousands of towns, villages and 

 cities of the nation, the utilization of vacant lots and 

 idle land, and the creation of a condition which will 

 enable the civilian population to be helpful to the mili- 

 tary arms of the nation. 



Charles Lathrop Pack, of Lakewood, New Jersey, 

 president of the American Forestry Association, has been 

 made the president of the National Emergency Food 

 Garden Commission. He is the originator of the Com- 

 mission and of the idea of a nation-wide campaign for the 

 production of home-grown vegetables. He found upon 

 investigation that there are hundreds of thousands of 

 acres of vacant and untilled lots, neglected back yards, 

 and idle, tillable land accessible to those who might wish 

 to utilize it. He found further that the food supply of 

 the nation was dwindling, that prices for the necessities 

 of life were soaring and destined for still greater altitudes ; 

 that if war gripped the nation the great railroad systems 

 would be commissioned for troop and military supply 

 movements, that the products of the farm and stock from 



solve the problem. He conferred with eminent men 

 leaders of thought and they agreed unanimously that the 

 back yard movement was the solution of the problem, 

 and the National Emergency Food Garden Commission 

 was created. 



It was at once affiliated with the Conservation Depart- 

 ment of the American Forestry Association, which lent 

 its headquarters and business organization to the work. 



The main feature of this work is to supply thousands 

 of newspapers with articles inspiring the planting of food 

 gardens and with a daily service of practical advice on the 

 making and the care of these gardens, the selection of seeds 

 and the cultivation of the vegetables. By this means an 

 average of 10,000,000 people are supplied with daily infor- 

 mation for every 1,000 newspapers printing the informa- 

 tion. At this time some 2,000 papers are printing the 

 information, which thus becomes available for 20,000,000 

 people to whom back yards, school gardens or vacant lots 

 are accessible. 



Percival S. Ridsdale, secretary of the American For- 

 estry Association and editor of American Forestry, was 

 chosen as secretary of the Commission. The other mem- 

 bers of the Commission are Luther Burbank, perhaps the 

 most noted horticulturist in the world, Dr. Charles W. 

 Eliot, of Cambridge, Massachusetts; John Hays Ham- 

 mond, the noted mining engineer; Fairfax Harrison, 

 president of the Southern Railway; Dr. John Grier Hibben, 

 president of Princeton ; Dr. Irving Fisher, of Yale ; Emerson 

 McMillin, of New York; A. W. Shaw, of Chicago; assis- 

 tant secretary of agriculture, Carl Vrooman; Captain 



the ranch would have gwiiniiiiimiiwimiiiiiiiiiiimimi iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^ J. B. White, noted lum- 



THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY FOOD GARDEN 

 COMMISSION 



difficulty in finding an j 

 outlet and that a con- | 

 siderable portion of all 1 



foodstuffs WOUld be re- i CHARLES LATHROP PACK, President PERCIVAL S. RIDSDALE, Secretary 



quired for the fighting | luther burbank, Calif 

 forces. 



Mr. Pack conceived 1 

 the idea that the home | 

 garden, the back lot gar- | 

 den, as an adjunct to the | 

 school garden, would 



I berman and conserva- 



| tionist and now a mem- 



| ber of the United States 



| Shipping Board; James 



| Wilson, former secretary 



| of agriculture, and Hon. 



| Myron T. Herrick, of 



| Ohio. In this list of men 



| of action may be found 



| the foremost thinkers of 



j iniiiimmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiim iiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiimiiii^ America. They are men 



197 



DR. CHARLES W. ELIOT, Mass. 

 DR. IRVING FISHER, Conn. 

 JOHN HAYS HAMMOND, Mass. 

 FAIRFAX HARRISON, Va. 

 HON. MYRON T. HERRICK, Ohio 



DR. JOHN GRIER HIBBEN, N. J. 

 EMERSON McMILLIN, N. Y. 

 CHARLES LATHROP PACK, N. J. 

 A. W.SHAW, 111. 

 HON. CARL VROOMAN, 111. 

 CAPT. J. B. WHITE, Mo. 



HON. JAMES WILSON, Iowa 



