12 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



August. 1917 



any such waste this year will be nothing short 

 of criminal — and yet that is just what is 

 bound to happen unless steps are taken in 

 each individual community to do something 

 beforehand to prevent! it. No Government 

 Commission can do this work for us — any more 

 than it could have done the work of getting 

 all these little gardens started. The Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture is doing all it can in the 

 way of educating people to utilize the surplus 

 products of their gardens, just as it did in the 

 spring in telling people how to plant. 



Now, just as the work of planting had to be 

 taken up and pushed as an emergency neces- 

 sity by all kinds of local organizations and 

 clubs, so the task of utilizing to the full the 

 things that have been grown must be directed 

 and handled in the same way. 



Whether or not we are to cash-in at par 

 on what our war gardens have produced, or 

 to suffer a loss that is needless, and in the 

 aggregate for the whole country tremendous, 

 will depend upon the efforts of a few individ- 

 uals in each community. Every reader of 

 this magazine should immediately appoint 

 himself or herself (and from what I have seen 

 during the last few months, I know that the 

 women are doing a very big half of the emer- 

 gency garden work!) a committee of one to 

 see to it immediately that the garden club 

 food committee, Woman's Aid Committee, 

 Chamber of Commerce, or. whatever organiza- 

 tion has had charge of the "food gardens" 

 work in his or her locality, at once give care- 

 ful consideration to the question of pre- 

 venting waste. 



First Aid to Wasteful Gardeners 



nPHE waste almost universal in small gar- 

 *■ dens is generally due to the fact that the 

 gardener does not know how to prevent it, 

 or that the general overproduction of some 

 particular vegetable is so great that it will 

 really not pay to attempt to do anything. 

 The latter reason is not likely to hold good this 

 year. It is up to those in each community 

 who do know better to attend to it and, through 

 proper organization, see that nothing goes to 

 waste merely because the grower lacks infor- 

 mation as to how to conserve it. The efforts 

 of individuals in this direction will be good as 

 far as they go, but they will not go far enough. 

 In the following paragraph there are four 

 definite suggestions, one or more of which 



Packages neatly put up will find a ready sale at all times, 

 even during gluts 



can be utilized to advantage in every city or 

 town where extra gardens have been planted 

 this year. Before taking up these suggestions 

 in detail, however, emphasis must be laid on 

 the importance of getting this work started 

 immediately. MoSt gardens were planted 

 late this year and will be at the height of their 

 bearing season for the next few weeks. If 

 we have hot, dry weather things will mature 



and "go by" very quickly; therefore, every 

 day counts. Immediate action now will save 

 the day in harvesting, just as it did last 

 spring in planting! Will the people rise to 

 this occasion as they did to that? 



In every town or city there should be at 

 least one organization in a position to take 

 up and push one or more of the following 

 plans. But, as is always the case in such 

 matters, it will take a strong push by some in- 

 dividual to get the organization started. So 

 either do it yourself or keep after some one 

 who can until something is started somewhere! 



An Exchange for Every Group of War Gardens 



nPHE spirit of cooperation and the idea of 

 A doing all that can be done to help and 

 encourage the individual in gardening must 

 not stop with the planting. 



When there is one garden plot in which the 

 owner has planted more beans than he can 

 possibly use himself at one time, while fifty 

 feet away, in another plot, there are heads of 

 lettuce threatening to go to seed because the 

 person growing them cannot eat them as,fast 

 as they mature; and, in a third, perhaps, rad- 

 ishes and turnips will have to be pulled out 

 and thrown away if they are not soon made 

 use of — under these conditions, certainly the 

 common-sense, practical thing at hand is to 

 establish some agency for trade and exchange 

 between the different plot owners. 



As to what would be the best way to ar- 

 range the details of this exchange will depend 

 upon the conditions to be met in each particu- 

 lar place. Most of the war gardeners do 

 their work in the evenings and on Saturday 

 afternoons. A large table made out of plain 

 inch boards, and supported by rough 2 x 4's 

 on which to display produce for sale, is all the 

 equipment really necessary. Some near-by 

 merchant, however, will probably be only too 

 glad to furnish one of the large advertising 

 umbrellas, such as are used on open market 

 and truck wagons, to afford some protection 

 from rain and sun. It would not be neces- 

 sary to have this "exchange" open for busi- 

 ness more than a few hours a week; say, be- 

 tween five and six Tuesday and Thursday 

 afternoons and from four to six on Saturday. 

 The complications of delivery and a credit 

 system should, of course, be avoided; those 

 bringing the vegetables would state the price 

 at which they were to be sold. In some 

 places, it might be desirable to charge a slight 

 commission, but, as a rule, this would prob- 

 ably not be necessary, as it should be possible 

 to get volunteers to take charge of the ex- 

 change table for the few hours a week required. 

 Either a credit slip or' a receipt memorandum 

 might be given for any of the vegetables 

 brought in, but they would* not be paid for 

 until sold, as any that were not disposed of 

 would be, of course, the grower's loss, just as 

 though they had remained in his garden plot. 

 There should be a simple set of rules covering 

 the requirements as to whether the vegetables 

 need be washed or not, limiting the amount 

 any one could leave and so forth. 



The main object of the exchange is to pre- 

 vent good vegetables from going to waste ! What- 

 ever method in any particular case seems to 

 be the best for accomplishing this purpose is 

 the one to use. 



Enlist the Boy Scouts for the Job! 



ANOTHER "channel of distribution" 

 *^" available which could undoubtedly be 

 used to advantage in many cases is through 

 the boy scouts. They could be employed in 

 connection with an exchange like that men- 



tioned above, or without it. These boys have 

 already done yeoman service in many ways 

 with the war crisis, and a good part of their 

 training has been that they have been led 

 to realize that there are just as important 

 things for them to do at home as if they were 

 at the front. They have been of help in the 

 production of food supplies, first in working 

 gardens, later in policing others, and here 

 they can be of assistance in the equally im- 



As a patriotic gift or presentation basket surely good fresh 

 vegetables will be quite welcome 



portant work of distribution and preventing 

 food waste. Their assistance here could 

 consist in ascertaining where available sur- 

 pluses existed, in taking orders and in de- 

 livery. The "organization" needed would be 

 some central point, through which they 

 could find out what vegetables were available 

 and where they could be obtained. If the 

 whole matter were in charge of a scout master, 

 he could make it part of the boys' work for 

 them to get this information for themselves. 



A " Dry What You Can and Can What You Can't" 

 Club! 



'TPHE lines suggested above are to prevent 

 ■*■ vegetables from going to waste in the 

 garden. Equally important are the steps to 

 be taken to prevent them from going to waste 

 in the home. Your vacant lot garden club or 

 other organization should arrange, first of all, 

 for an educational campaign on the proper 

 ways for saving for winter use all the surplus 

 things that can be grown in the garden, or 

 that can be bought cheaply. If it is possible, 

 get up a meeting on drying or — de-hydrating, 

 and on canning of vegetables. If you do not 

 know whom to get, ask your county agent or 

 write to the readers' service of The Garden 

 Magazine. A good lecture with demonstra- 

 tions on this particular subject will usually 

 "start things" a great deal more quickly than 

 any number of leaflets or circulars. But 

 such a talk, no matter how good or practical 

 it may be, is only a start. This work should 

 be taken up and pushed by a club started for 

 the purpose, or by a committee of your local 

 garden club. This committee should not 

 be restricted to furnishing information or 

 inspiration, it must actually work in whole- 

 sale purchasing of supplies. Such an organ- 

 ization could operate a community drying 

 plant. 



