CHAPTER VII 



I 



HOW THE RAILROADS HELPED 



War Garden Activities of Management and Employes 



AS soon as America became a belligerent the rail- 

 /\ roads of the country sought to help relieve the 

 food shortage and the traffic situation by 

 encouraging the cultivation of all vacant lands along 

 their rights-of-way. They called on their employes to 

 plant this unused acreage wherever it might be found. 

 To railroad managers the double value to be gained was 

 quickly manifest. The movement would not only add 

 to the nation's food supply but be an important and 

 direct factor in relieving the demands on the carriers 

 for the hauling of freight. The result was that nearly 

 all the railroad lines ran through gardens of growing 

 vegetables which were soon seen flourishing every- 

 where, along the tracks, around the cosy little watch- 

 boxes of the crossing flagmen and even alongside sta- 

 tion platforms. 



The railroads furnished the land to their men free of 

 charge or at nominal rental, and in many cases further 

 assisted them by supplying quantities of seed and by 

 aiding in the preparation of the soil. They placed 

 posters in their stations calling attention to this oppor- 

 tunity for patriotic service, and distributed tens of 

 thousands of copies of gardening and canning manuals 

 furnished them, by the National War Garden Cotnmis- 



