16 GROW YOUR OWN VEGETABLES 



the Committee, and cultivation went on during school 

 hours. 



The Volunteers were approached, with the result that 

 digging took the place of drill. The girls in factories did 

 their part as did those engaged in large shops, the heads 

 of the establishments arranging with the Committee for 

 land and organising their own staffs in cultivation. 

 Men, also, who had been exempted by the Tribunals, 

 gladly gave spare time to the work. 



Birkenhead estimated that these activities accounted 

 for one-fifth of the town's vegetable needs ; such is their 

 splendid record which other authorities might well copy. 



As a rule, the would-be allotment-holder will be 

 offered no choice in the selection of the plot offered him. 

 Should, however, he be able to exercise a preference, he 

 ought to make as careful a survey of the ground as time 

 will permit. The plot should be situated as close to his 

 house as possible. Unless it is within convenient dis- 

 tance, it will be robbed of countless little visits during 

 the season which are so necessary to the nursing and 

 tending of delicate plant-life. It should enjoy an open 

 situation. Overhanging trees cause a deal of trouble ; 

 they cut out the sunlight, they ruin crops by dripping 

 on to them, they scatter their leaves in the fall and their 

 flowers in the summer, and so cause unnecessary and often 

 harmful litter, and their roots rob the ground of moisture 

 and nourishment. Walls and fences, too, are unwelcome 

 when they screen the sunny-side of the plot, but they 

 certainly prove advantageous in keeping out trespassers, 

 both human and otherwise. If the ground is not flat, a 

 plot in a dip or hollow should be avoided, as it will 



