CHAPTER IX 



COMMUNITY GARDENING 



Putting "Slacker Lands" to Work 



AMERICAN war gardening, like every other de- 

 velopment in life, has gone through a process of 

 evolution. Because the exigencies of the situ- 

 ation necessitated haste, that evolution has been rapid. 

 Contending with the most wonderfully organized force 

 the world has ever seen, it was necessary, since so much 

 depended upon the American war garden, to apply to 

 it the principle of the best organization, and to unify 

 it in order to strengthen it. As a result there speedily 

 came into existence the community garden. 



Many are the advantages gained through community 

 gardening. To begin with, community gardening is 

 practically the only method by which all available 

 garden space can be put to work. Genuine community 

 gardening, where all available lands are surveyed and 

 allotted to gardeners, hardly falls short of land con- 

 scription. Community gardening played no small 

 part in helping to win the recent war. To get enough 

 food to win, the Allied peoples had to utilize every pos- 

 sible garden spot. In America back-yard areas were 

 readily worked by patriotic owners. The enormous 

 areas of "slacker lands," idle, vacant town lots, could 

 not be put to work without considerable difficulty. 

 At the very least, the owner's permission had to be 



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