402 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



are back in normal channels of productive labor. Con- 

 servation must continue not only during the war but 

 after its close, if the needs of the various peoples are to 

 be taken care of. 



The people of the United States have had the necessity 

 for conservation called to their attention in many ways. 

 They have not felt the food shortage as have the in- 

 habitants of many other countries. In England, for 



the camps and much of the food now being grown there 

 will be stored away for winter use. This work was 

 started at Camp Dix, New Jersey, where early in May 

 the National War Garden Commission planted a "real 

 war garden" of 400 acres. Similar projects were soon 

 under way at other camps. With the American soldiers 

 ready to serve their country not only in the fighting 

 line but in the production and conservation of food, the 

 duty of those back home is plain. If the war is to be 

 won there must be continual saving. All the products 

 of the summer gardens that are not needed as they ripen, 

 must be preserved for winter use. There must be "winter 

 gardens" on the pantry shelves as well as "summer 

 gardens" at the kitchen door. The garden can be made 

 to supply a large part of the family's food during the 

 entire twelve months of the year. 



In looking back over the four years which have passed 

 since the titanic struggle began, we see how each year 

 there has been less to eat and prices have been higher. 

 It is not a temporary or local scarcity with which we 



SHE HAD NEVER CANNED BEFORE 



Mrs. John Totterd^le, of Stafford, N. Y., whose husband does the war( 

 gardening end of the work, confesses that she had never had any \ 

 previous experience in canning until the importance of raising and saving * 

 food in this way came to her attention through the campaign of the 

 National War Garden Commission. Her case is like that of thousands 

 of other American housewives who are doing their share in spite of 

 previous inexperience to help in the great fight for right and freedom. 



instance, so great is the shortage of meat that people 

 buy bones at the butcher shops at the rate of five pounds 

 for one shilling. In the United States bones and even 

 precious scraps of meat go into the garbage pail. But 

 more and more have the people here come to realize the 

 vital part they can take through conservation in help- 

 ing to win the war. 



The demands of Europe have become more and more 

 pressing and with a constantly increasing American 

 army on foreign shores, the call for food has grown. 

 The French army had prepared this summer to take care 

 entirely of its need for vegetables and greens through 

 the war gardens which had been planted back of the 

 line; but these along with a lot of land which the 

 British army was cultivating for a similar purpose were 

 destroyed in the German drive. This meant that the 

 food had to be procured from other sources. 



The American army has set a fine example to the 

 people of this land. The soldiers are helping to feed 

 themselves. War gardens have been planted at most of 



BACKING THE BOYS "OVER THERE" 



This is what all the women in the United States are doing who are 

 helping to save the food which is grown in the war gardens so that the 

 vegetables may be substituted as far as possible for the beef, wheat and 

 other concentrated products which must be shipped abroad. This shows 

 Mrs. E. Guy Mundy, of Mt. Carmel, Illinois, busily engaged in packing 

 away "ammunition" for future use. 



have to deal. On that account it is not enough for any- 

 one to conserve merely what may be needed for his own 

 or his family's use. If there is more surplus from the 

 war garden than the individual needs, the balance should 

 be given to some one else, sold or conserved by canning 

 or drying for some future use. 



Reports to the National War Garden Commission, 

 which is affiliated with the American Forestry Associa- 

 tion through its Conservation Department, indicate that 



