518 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



canned vegetables and fruits have surpassed in like pro- 

 portion the amount saved from the 191 7 crop. The 

 estimates show that there was an increase of fifty-one 

 per cent in the number of war gardens, or 1,785,000 more 

 than last year when there was a grand total of 3,500,000 

 planted. And the value of the product this year is esti- 

 mated at $525,000,000, exceeding by more than fifty per 

 cent that of 1917. It is estimated that as a result of the 

 garden campaign and the consequent conservation move- 

 ment, the women of the United States this season have 

 stored away 1,450,000,000 quart jars of canned vegetables 

 and fruits. 



The war garden has come to stay. This is the testi- 

 mony which has come to the Commission from many 



game. It is true that the rules are comparatively few 

 and simple; but there are many fine points about the 

 proper care of vegetables which have to be mastered 

 before the war gardener's efforts can be crowned with 

 success. But the new tillers of the soil have studied. 

 They have gone to those who knew more of the task than 

 they themselves. They will continue to learn and as they 

 do so their results will be greater and greater. 



There is one branch of the work which was compara- 

 tively new this year. That was drying of vegetables. It 

 has made a good start this year, however, and by next 

 year no doubt much more attention will be paid to this 

 important phase of food conservation. 



Although drying is almost as old as the world itself, 



ON HISTORIC GROUND 



School boys under supervision cultivated this exceptionally fine demonstration war garden on the Boston Common. Thirty -five varieties of 

 vegetables, practically everything that can be grown in a garden except corn, was raised. R. P. Simmonds (standing at left) guided the boys in 

 their work. In the background are women from the "Food Facts" and canning demonstration cottages around the garden. 



sources. Those who have seen the work progress in 

 various parts of the country and the gains made this year 

 over last, have written to the Commission stating it as 

 their firm belief that the back yard and vacant lot will 

 continue to blossom and that more and more the waste 

 places will be made to yield their abundance of food. 

 The opinion of experts is that the city farmer "has 

 made good." He has proved his worth. His work this 

 year has been far better than last because of the experi- 

 ence gained. When he began in the first year after 

 America's entrance into the war he was an amateur. In 

 most cases he had to learn even the rudiments of the 



although the ancients are known to have practiced this 

 form of food preservation and the aborigines of America 

 laid by their winter supplies in this shape, although all 

 of our grandmothers always had dried apples to last 

 through the cold months, the art of drying has become 

 practically a lost art, virtually unknown to this age and 

 generation. There is no doubt, however, but that as its 

 advantages and merits become better known, it will con- 

 tinue to increase in importance and use. It has so much 

 to commend it that it is almost unnecessary to say this 

 will be so. Excellence of quality, compactness and ease 

 with which dried products can be kept, saving of space in 



