594 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Through its aggressive and forceful campaign of stimu- 

 lation America has been thoroughly roused to the need 

 for increasing the food supply as a measure of wartime 

 preparedness. In the same way and by the same meth- 

 ods the people have been inspired to food conservation 

 on a scale never before approached. As a direct result 

 there was never a season that brought to the tables of 

 America such a wealth of health-giving vegetation F. O. 

 B. the kitchen door and never a winter which faced such 

 abundant stores of home-grown and home-prepared food 

 supplies F. O. B. the pantry shelf. 



The first duty of this enormous yield of garden stuff, 

 already accomplished, was 

 its tremendous value in 

 keeping down the cost of 

 summer living for the peo- 

 ple of America. That 

 household expenses have 

 been bad enough is pain- 

 fully obvious. That they 

 would have been far worse 

 without this garden crop is 

 equally apparent. Students 

 of economics agree that if 

 the war gardens had not 

 created this increased sup- 

 ply, prices for vegetable 

 products would have been 

 a great deal higher. The 

 average increase in prices 

 for garden stuff has been 

 little more than 20 per 

 cent while the increase in 

 the cost of grain products 

 has been several times as 

 great. This may well be 

 taken as direct evidence of 

 the worth of the home gar- 

 den movement to the peo- 

 ple of the United States. 



The significance of this 

 newly discovered planting 

 area does not end with the 

 summer season. The war 

 gardens will exert their in- 

 fluence on the cost of liv- 

 ing during the 

 months just ahead, 

 as well as the past. 



Copyright 1917 by Harris & Ewing. 



WINNER OF CANNING PRIZE NO, 



the first winner, receiving check No 



Winter 



Their value is a thing of the future 

 Conservation has been practiced on 

 a national scale. In the homes of America there has 

 been definite recognition of the importance of looking 

 ahead. The individual citizen has realized that the over- 

 .supply of the growing season must be translated into 

 terms f abundance for the winter. Food saving and 

 food conserving have been practiced on a national scale. 

 From a wasteful nation America has been remade into 

 a nation alert to the needs of the future. The keynote 

 of this new national spirit has been that nothing should 

 be allowed to go to waste that nothing useful should be 

 thrown away. How well this spirit has crystallized into 



As a stimulus to home canning the National Emergency Food Garden 

 Commission oiTered one thousand prizes of $5 each for home canned 

 vegetables from war-gardens. Miss Helen Tew, of Washington, D. C , was 



and a certificate of merit- 



action is shown by the plaintive cry of the garbage col- 

 lectors throughout the United States. The men who 

 make a business of converting waste into tangible assets 

 are agreed that the new cult of Food Thrift is playing 

 havoc with their profits. I know of one collector who 

 complains that although he covers twice as much terri- 

 tory as he covered a year ago his collections are actually 

 smaller. As a tribute to the American spirit of Food 

 Thrift nothing could be more eloquent. 



Of similar importance is the thrift shown by the peo- 

 ple of America in achieving winter preparedness. Can- 

 ning, drying and storage operations have filled cellars, 



storerooms and pantry 

 shelves with a tremendous 

 su]jply of foodstuffs for 

 winter use. It is a conser- 

 vative estimate that close 

 to half a billion jars of 

 vegetables and fruits have 

 been stowed away as a re- 

 sult of the season's can- 

 ning o])erations. To this 

 must be added the stuff 

 ])repared by drying, pick- 

 ling, fermentation and 

 other forms of conserva- 

 tion, and millions of bush- 

 els of vegetables stored in 

 their natural state. The 

 whole forms a national as- 

 set of tremendous volume. 

 In bringing about this 

 great movement for pro- 

 duction and conservation 

 the National Emergency 

 Food Garden Commis- 

 sion's ofiices in Washing- 

 ton have been a center of 

 activity second to none of 

 the wartime agencies at the 

 seat of government. The 

 commission's staff of ex- 

 l^erts and large office force 

 have worked under emer- 

 gency pressure during the 

 entire season. The man- 

 uals ])repared and issued 

 by the organization have been accepted as a notable con- 

 trilnition to the literature of food production and food 

 conservation. Free distribution of the books on home 

 gardening, home canning, home drying, home pickling 

 5nd home storage has been made to the extent of mil- 

 Jions of copies. The aim of the Commission was to place 

 this literature in every home in America. That this aim 

 has been approximated by results is apparent to those 

 in touch with the situation. No channel of distribution 

 has been overlooked. The manuals have been sent 

 through agencies of federal, state, county and city gov- 

 ernments, through school officials, through libraries, 

 through councils of defense, through women's clubs and 



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