To exert any appreciable influence on the 

 actual volume of America's agricultural 

 products, millions of acres must be planted, 

 in addition to those under cultivation in 

 1915 and 1916. The increased output of 

 grain, potatoes, beans and all other staples 

 must be in millions of bushels to have any 

 measurable effect in meeting requirements. 

 Let us not fool ourselves with the belief 

 that the extent of our back-yard gardens, or 

 the quantity and kind of products raised 

 therefrom, can be more than the proverbial 

 "drop in the bucket." Again, those who 

 plant back-yard areas, aside from expect- 

 ing too much from their labors, will be very 

 prone to give more time and effort than the 

 actual returns can possibly justify, and 

 thereby waste energies that might much 

 better be directed to more effective pur- 

 suits. A particularly apt illustration of this 

 is shown by the picture at the top of the 6th 

 page of the Times Pictorial Section for 

 Sunday, April 29th. This depicts a body of 

 seventy or eighty — possibly more — stalwart 

 men engaged in spading up a plot of ground 

 that could be opened up much more satis- 

 factorily — and, of course, more quickly — 

 by one man with a pair of horses and a 

 plow. Xo criticism can be offered of the 

 patriotic impulses which prompt such con- 

 centration of "man power." but is it not 

 reasonable to suppose that the time and 



