66 THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 



tivating under the shadow of the mill, he can put him- 

 self into this work. It is for his own good. What he 

 grows there will be his own property. It will go to 

 support himself and his family. How much or how 

 little of it there will be depends upon himself, upon 

 how intelligently and how faithfully he cares for the 

 plants. He takes an interest in watching every develop- 

 ment from day to day because he is to reap the reward. 

 This work is his own. It means that he will take a 

 deeper interest thereafter in the work he is doing for 

 his employer. It is only natural that a man should 

 feel a more real concern and show greater pride in 

 doing something where he will share in the profit. It 

 is not in any sense disparagement to a workman to say 

 that he cannot display the same sense of gratification 

 in his regular work. 



There is greater diversity in the cultivation of a 

 garden than in most other tasks. It offers, in fact its 

 successful prosecution demands, good judgment and 

 the display of sound sense. This is healthful exercise 

 for the mind, which makes it more alert and more able 

 to grasp and figure out other problems arising every 

 day of the workman's life. Combined with this mental 

 activity is the invigorating bodily exercise than which 

 there is none better than digging in the earth and get- 

 ting close to nature. 



While the reports to the National War Garden Com- 

 mission show that the methods adopted by various 

 manufacturing concerns which encouraged gardening 

 among their men diflFered somewhat in detail, as would 



