MAKE YOUR WAR GARDEN 

 A GARDEN OF VICTORY 



By CHARLES LATHROP PACK, President 



National War Garden Commission 



AMERICA'S responsibility for 

 the world's food supply did 

 ^ not stop with the ending 

 of the war. In peace, as in conflict, 

 this country must carry the burden 

 of Europe's food problems. With 

 the advent of peace these problems 

 have become intensified. America is 

 now expected to furnish the solution 

 and this can be done only through 

 the continued application of high 

 pressure food production and un- 

 wavering food conservation. 



For two years of war the War 

 Gardens of America produced food- 

 stuffs which helped establish the 

 balance of power between starvation 

 and abundance. In the spring of 

 1918, General Haig declared, "We 

 stand with our backs to the wall." 

 Of that call to the civilized world no 

 phase was more vital than its inter- 

 pretation and answer in terms of 

 food. During that year the answer 

 was given by the American people 

 with true American spirit. The war 

 gardeners of the United States re- 

 sponded with a vigor which carried 

 the War Gardens over the top to 

 victory. By the addition of more 

 than five hundred million dollars of 

 crop value to this country's food 

 production they made it easier for 

 America to feed her own people and 

 the people of France and Belgium. 



The Victory Garden is now as 

 vital as the War Garden. Peace 

 brings new food needs. In reclaim- 

 ing territory from the enemy France 

 and Belgium have greatly increased 

 the number of their people who must 

 be fed. By restoring these former 

 expatriates to citizenship these coun- 

 tries have also assumed the burden 

 of feeding them. This will mean a 

 vast increase in the demands on 

 America as the source of Europe's 

 food supply in 1919. Europe can- 

 not feed herself during the first year 

 of reconstruction ; Russia faced famine 

 conditions in the winter of 191 8- 

 1919, and Mr. Hoover says that the 

 world's food shortage will last for 

 another seven years. 



The war gardener's responsibility, 

 therefore, did not end with the com- 

 ing of peace. His War Garden must 

 now be made a Victory Garden in 

 the full sense of the words. It must 

 help solve the problem of feeding 

 people rendered helpless by years 

 of ruthless and terrible war. 



The garden crop of 1919 must be 

 even greater than that of 1918, and 

 there must be more canning and dry- 

 ing for winter use. The people of 

 America have a real duty to perform 

 in this respect and the nation counts 

 confidently on full measure of in- 

 dividual response. 



