14 THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 



age thus standing useless. There was probably no 

 town in the United States that did not have within its 

 boundaries at least fifty acres of idle soil. In the larger 

 communities where garden space was needed most, the 

 aggregate area of vacant lots was astonishing. A survey 

 made in Minneapolis, shortly before the war began, 

 showed more than 5,000 acres in vacant lots. In 1917 

 a survey disclosed 186,000 vacant lots in greater New 

 York. Altogether there were hundreds of thousands 

 of idle acres in or near our towns and cities — the only 

 places where labor was available for working them; and 

 much of this land was suitable for gardening. It was of 

 the utmost importance, therefore, to place these areas 

 under cultivation. 



In Great Britain steps had been taken very early in 

 the war to utilize similar open spaces for the production 

 of food. Parliament passed a law providing that any 

 untaxed land which was not being used for the produc- 

 tion of food might be taken over by the authorities and 

 parceled out to those who were able and willing to 

 raise food. Millions of "Allotments," as they were 

 called, were asked for, and the production of vegetables 

 increased incredibly. Thus the British were able in 

 191 8 to produce all the potatoes they needed, and even 

 to send a slight surplus to France. America possessed 

 vast areas, in the aggregate, of these idle lands; but 

 the importance of utilizing them for food production 

 had not been generally realized, until pointed out by 

 the Commission. 



" Put the slacker land to work " became a slogan of the 



