"KEEP THE FOOD COMING" 



197 



land Cement Company, with plants at Pittsburgh, Du- 

 luth, Minnesota, and Buffington, Indiana ; the United 

 Coal Corporation, Pittsburgh ; the North American 

 Motors Company, Pottstown, Pennsylvania ; the Dela- 

 ware and Hudson Coal Company, and a long list of other 

 large industrial concerns are again furthering war gar- 

 dening among their men. 



The railroads of the country are encouraging and as- 

 sisting their men in the same way, allowing them the use 

 of such land 

 along the right 

 of way as is 

 not needed for 

 actual railroad 

 purposes. As 

 an illustration 

 of this co- 

 operation, the 

 Pen nsylvania 

 Railroad Com- 

 pany distrib- 

 uted among its 

 employees this 

 spring more 

 than 10,000 

 copies of the 

 war vegetable 

 gardening 

 booklet furn- 

 ished to them 

 by the Nation- 

 al War Garden 

 C o m m ission, 

 and posted in 

 its stations 2,- 

 000 copies of 

 the Commis- 

 sion's poster, 

 ''Sow the 

 Seeds of Vic- 

 tory." All divi- 

 sion superin- 

 tendents and 



other officials were supplied with the garden books and 

 they were given out all along the line. Similarly the 

 Missouri, Kansas and Texas and other roads are work- 

 ing with the Commission to produce a big supply of food 

 f. o. b. the kitchen door. 



The appeal to the railroad employees was particularly 

 strong because they realized better than any other class 

 of people the great benefit which home gardening 

 brought to the freight transportation situation. They 

 had seen the congested freight yards with cars standing 

 there by the hundreds and unable to move and with many 

 other tons of supplies waiting to be loaded for shipment. 

 They knew that thousands of cars would be relieved for 

 other essential war work if every community would raise 

 as much as possible of its own food. With the practical 

 value of home gardening thus impressed upon them, it 



is not to be wondered at that the railroad men eagerly 

 took advantage of the opportunity to plant gardens when 

 it was offered them. 



The banks of the country, which have stood behind 

 the government so loyally in every movement to win the 

 war, Liberty Bond selling and all the rest, have taken an 

 active part also in stimulating the war garden campaign. 

 Hundreds of these institutions, in large cities and small, 

 have distributed to their patrons copies of the Commis- 

 sion's garden 

 booklets ; and 

 in this way 

 have spread 

 the gospel of 

 food produc- 

 tion broadcast. 

 In many cases 

 the banks have 

 organized gar- 

 den clubs of 

 their own and 

 have furnished 

 plots of land 

 which their 

 clerks, and fre- 

 q u e n 1 1 y of- 

 ficials of the 

 banks, culti- 

 vated. In other 

 ways, too, the 

 banks have co- 

 operated. The 

 New York 

 State Bankers' 

 Assoc iation, 

 for instance, 

 sent out a no- 

 tice to all its 

 members, call- 

 ing their par- 



The little god on the top of the fountain must look down with happy contentment on the fine array of ticular atten- 

 beans which this war garden has produced. And so it will be with every bit of land in the United 



States which is working to "make the world safe for democracy." In addition to its practical and tion to the Val- 

 utilitarian value the home vegetable plot is to be pointed to with pride for its actual beauty. 



ue of war gar- 

 den work and to the good they could accomplish by en- 

 dorsing and encouraging it in their communities. 



Superintendents of schools all over the country have 

 stressed the home garden movement. They have urged 

 upon the teachers under them the benefit which the chil- 

 dren would derive from this form of combined study, 

 exercise and service to country. That the lessons will 

 be lasting there is no doubt. Thousands of school chil- 

 dren who had been asking what they could do to help 

 their country win the war, have found a satisfactory 

 answer to the question in their home gardens. There 

 they are building for their own future a happiness and 

 a joy which nothing will be able to take from them. 

 They are helping to make the world a safe place for 

 themselves and their companions to live in, and for the 

 generations which will follow. 



A GARDEN THAT COUNTED 



