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RECONSTRUCTION CAMPS 

 IN GREENHOUSES 



Educating the American soldiers who were maimed in the fighting in 

 France in some work that they are able to do is one of the things the United 

 States government has undertaken. Growing flowers in greenhouses is one 

 of the courses taught. Here is how they do it at Fort McPherson, Ga. 



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HEN the maimed among the 

 many thousands of wound- 

 ed American soldiers reach 

 home during the next few 

 months they will find that 

 Uncle Sam and his neph- 

 ews are prepared to receive 

 them. Not only will they 

 get the enthusiastic wel- 

 come that is their due, but 

 they will find that preparations have 

 been made to take care of them until 

 they have regained their strength and 

 that then opportunities will be at hand 

 to re-educate them in some useful and 

 profitable occupations that they can do 

 to become self-supporting. 



Through the cooperation of the Amer- 

 ican Eed Cross, Federal Board for Vo- 

 cational Education, authorized by an 

 act of congress, and the U. S. War De- 

 partment, aided by many public spirited 

 citizens, reconstruction "camps," as 

 they are caMsd, have been and are be- 

 ing established in many parts of the 

 country. 



Here the maimed soldiers, after they 

 have been discharged from the hospitals 

 and convalescent camps, will be wel- 

 oome and given an opportunity to learn 

 any one of many voca- 

 tions that they physic- 

 ally are able to follow. 



Teaching Our Work. 



One of these voca- 

 tions that already is 

 being taught is that of 

 growing flowers. So far 

 few maimed soldiers 

 have been returned to 

 this country, and are 

 attending 'the schools 

 that have been estab- 

 lished in greenhouse 

 ranges near the army 

 camps. There are, how- 

 ever, hundreds of sol- 

 diers who are conval- 

 escing from sickness 

 and injury in the train- 

 ing camps attending 

 the classes in floricul- 

 ture. And to these 

 pupils will be added as 

 soon as they are able 

 the men who have lost 

 an arm or a leg, or 

 otherwise have become 

 unfitted for the occupa- 

 tion they followed be- 

 fore they entered the 

 army. 



This system of "re-education" was 

 first adopted in the European countries 

 that were at war with one another. 

 Early in the hostilities the problem of 

 caring for the maimed soldiers engaged 

 the attention of the governments and 

 schools of all kinds were established. 

 What the armless, the legless, the blind 

 and the otherwise mutilated men have 

 accomplished is one of the many amaz- 

 ing things the war has produced. The 

 results of this plan, however, have justi- 

 fied the belief that, except in extreme 

 cases, there are things that these men 

 can do to earn their living and some- 

 thing beside. It also solved the problem 

 that has followed every war — caring for 

 the disabled. 



Profit by Europe's Experience. 



When the United States entered the 

 war, far-sighted men, profiting by the 

 experience in the European countries, 

 set out to establish similar reconstruc- 

 tion schools in the United States. And 

 many of them now are in operation. 



One of these is located at Fort Mc- 

 Pherson, near Atlanta, Ga., in connec- 

 tion with U. S. Army General Hospital 

 Xo. 6. After the various courses of in- 



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Teaching the Maimed to Grow Flowers. 



struction had been planned, and green- 

 house flower and vegetable growing had 

 been included in the curriculum, it was 

 necessary to find a suitable "school- 

 room" for the latter. For this purpose 

 the C. A. Dahl Co., Atlanta, offered the 

 use of a range of 60,000 square feet 

 of glass. The illustration on this page 

 shows the convalescent soldiers at work 

 in the greenhouse. The illustration on 

 the following page shows the Dahl 

 range, where the soldiers daily attend 

 "school." 



The work at the Dahl range is de- 

 scribed by Major John L. Eiley, U. S. A., 

 chief educational officer at the hospital, 

 as "for curative purposes of convales- 

 cent patients of U. S. General Hospital 

 No. 6, Fort McPherson, Ga." Of the 

 work Major Riley says: 



' ' The greenhouse work of U. S. Army 

 General Hospital No. 6 is only one of a 

 half dozen courses in agriculture con- 

 ducted by the Reconstruction Division 

 for the benefit of disabled soldiers. 

 Among the other courses are vegetable 

 gardening, on an 8-acre plot adjoining 

 the hospital, cotton growing and fer- 

 tilizing, conducted chiefly by excur- 

 sions to surrounding farms and plants, 

 farm mechanics, con- 

 ducted within the hos- 

 ]iital, where several 

 thousand dollars' worth 

 of machinery is used 

 under a temporary tent, 

 and farm tractor opera- 

 tion, which is taught in 

 the midst of the wards, 

 where a small plot of 

 ground is being used 

 for practice in running 

 tractors. 



Business Men Lend Aid. 



"The machines for the 

 course in farm mechan- 

 ics and the farm trac- 

 tors have been loaned 

 to the Reconstruction 

 Division by generous 

 businest men of At- 

 lanta, who are deeply 

 interested in promoting 

 the welfare of the pa- 

 tients. All the work in ' 

 agriculture carried on 

 by the Reconstruction 

 Division is in charge of 

 Sergeant George M. 

 Darrow, who, before 

 coming into the service, 

 was employed in the 

 United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture aa 



