The Garden Magazine 



Make Your Decision Now 



ALARMED by what appeared to 

 them as the apathy of the people 

 toward making food gardens, repre- 

 sentatives of the State Council of 

 Defense, the Chamber of Commerce, and of 

 some of the leading seedhouses met together 

 in Chicago on April 12 for the purpose of de- 

 vising some countervailing activities. That 

 was some months ago and events as they 

 developed later exposed clearly the utter 

 baselessness of the scare that those worthy 

 gentlemen then felt. 



In America to-day gardening is passing 

 through an expansion without parallel in 

 world's history. Previous wars generally have 

 had a totally opposite effect upon horticulture 

 than has the present conflict. They have 

 always stood for a decline of gardening, be- 

 cause the value of home gardens as a means 

 of increasing the general food supply was not 

 appreciated. 



The President's vision and recommendation 

 turned this war into the greatest single " boost" 

 that gardening has ever experienced! It 

 stimulated all concerned. It brought forth 

 a seed supply of staples adequate for all needs. 

 It brought forth an enthusiasm the like of 

 which the most optimistic never expected. 

 It was responsible for the invention of a 

 remarkable lot of labor-saving devices which 

 transformed gardening operations from a 

 drudgery into a delight. 



Millions of food gardens have been born. 

 That the flower garden of aesthetic joy should 

 temporarily have been eclipsed by the magni- 

 tude of food gardens is but a natural, though 

 surely a passing, phase. Men and women ap- 

 preciate the need of flower gardening as well 

 as of food gardening. Its practice is advocated 

 strongly even now in preference to no garden- 

 ing at all. 



Perhaps the pendulum is swinging back. 

 Many, whom the first enthusiasm brought 

 into the ranks of vegetable gardeners, may be 

 wavering whether to carry on that work 

 another season or whether to take more kindly 

 to some branch of floriculture as a refuge and 

 rest from strenuous life. Each type of garden- 

 ing has its possibilities and limitations. The 

 most conspicuous limitation in connection 

 with flower gardening is the element of time. 



A good flower garden cannot be created in 

 a hurry, less or more time is required according 

 to whether the start is made with seeds, bulbs 

 or plants. The time to start Iris, Peony and 

 Phlox gardens, or any other herbaceous 

 perennial gardens for that matter, is NOW, 



if you would want to enjoy the flowers next 

 spring. 



Decide NOW what sort of garden you want 

 another year. Remember that evergreens, 

 shrubs, trees, hardy plants of all kinds may 

 be planted from now on until hard frosts. 

 Some of them, like the evergreens, will begin 

 to give returns immediately, while the decidu- 

 ous and herbaceous plants will do their part 

 next spring to make the garden the true refuge 

 from the hard strain of the present times 

 which all nature intended it should be. 



Flowers in War Time 



"C*OOD will win the war, but food is not the 

 ■*■ goal. It is only ammunition. This 

 war is for the souls of people and of peoples. 

 And while we raise potatoes and cabbages to 

 feed the flesh, the spirit must not be forced to 

 wait till the second table. The soul should 

 sit at meat along with the body. 



Shall we banish flowers from our gardens? 

 Can we afford to cut music out of our war pro- 



The Food Administration Says: 



C1J Gardeners of America, serve your country 

 Til by raising more foodstuffs than ever before. 

 Urge your patrons to eat fruits and vegetables 

 fresh in season, instead of buying canned goods. 

 And urge them to can, against winter needs. 



f]T CAN! CAN! CAN! That is the appeal of the 

 Til United States Food Administration in this 

 hour of food shortage. Products in a country 

 as large as ours are too varied to single out 

 certain ones and advise that they be pre- 

 served- In general, can whatever fruits and 

 vegetables grow in your vicinity. 



f]T Can for yourself and for others. One Illinois 

 Til woman last year planted an acre and from 

 its produce canned enough to supply her own 

 homeand two charitable institutions all winter. 



fll Under the law. home preserved foods can- 

 Til not be purchased or accepted as gifts by the 

 Government, because absolute uniformity in 

 ingredients and containers cannot be obtained, 

 and inspection of small lots would be too diffi- 

 cult. Nevertheless, there is a way for patriot- 

 ic housewives to give direct aid to the men 

 in the trenches. 



fj{ Commercial canning companies will be 

 Til strained to the limit to supply our armed 

 forces, the Allies and the civilian population of 

 this country and Europe. Every can put up 

 in the home will mean one can less to buy at the 

 grocer's. It will mean the release of that can 

 at the grocer's for our men in uniform or for 

 export. To can your own goods instead of 

 buying them is like handing over the exact 

 equivalent to the soldiers. 



fllThe Food Administration will permit 

 Til housewives to have the sugar they need 

 for canning. Do not use more than is needed 

 to preserve, however. Avoid recipes calling 

 for extravagant use of sugar. 



GARDEN AND CAN ! 



gramme? Cabbages are of the rank and file of 

 the fighting forces, but Poppies are the 

 regimental band. Flowers are for solace in 

 the serious business of hoeing cabbages and 

 killing the worms thereon. Potatoes we need 

 for food, but Pansies we must have for 

 thoughts. 



It would be to Germanize our land if we cut 

 gay color out of our war gardens and left the 

 gardener only the drab business of serving 

 tables. The wondrous structure of the cab- 

 bage may be worth long meditation; but we 

 do not meditate upon it. The Rose compels 

 meditation. Flowers on the mantel are in- 

 cense offered to the soul of the house — the 

 home. If Germany had thoroughly sub- 

 dued America a home would not be needed. 

 A house and a cabbage patch would be suf- 

 ficient. 



War is sad business, but it needs no pro- 

 fessional landscape crepe-hangers. Dots and 

 dashes, belts and splashes of color are needed 

 in our landscape more than ever. We owe a 

 whole season of garden cheer to the eye of the 

 passerby in our neighborhood. Dooryard 

 color is Red Cross bounty. It is first aid to 

 the war-sick mind and the broken spirit. By 

 taking thought the householder can have a 

 succession of color growing about his house 

 from spring frost to autumn frost, and this 

 without subtracting at all from the time he 

 should give to the food garden. The heart 

 will find spare moments for flower culture. 

 Keep the home gardens b\oommg— Minneapolis 

 Journal. 



Fuel For Greenhouses Reduced 



THE United States Fuel Administra- 

 tion during the last few months has 

 held several conferences with repre- 

 sentatives of the commercial florists 

 of the country. The florists have shown full 

 appreciation of the problem involved in pro- 

 viding supplies of fuel to florists at a time 

 when there is a shortage for war industries. 



It is the hope of the Fuel Administration 

 that sufficient reduction in fuel consumption 

 of the lesser essential industries can be ob- 

 tained without demoralizing any of those 

 industries which, like the florists, are highly 

 esteemed by the public. It has been agreed 

 that a 50 per cent, curtailment in the use of 

 fuel, which, in general, means a curtailment 

 of hothouse space, will permit the florists to 

 preserve their most valued stock and keep their 

 business organizations intact during the war. 



As a result of these conferences, the United 



