THE PATRIOTIC GARDEN 



FOOD FOB THE 



He also Fights w/io 



. ANP- SiWE' SUGA I\- 



KITCHEN DQDR 



helps a Fighter Fight 



EAT- NUTS»AWD ^ i7F ? riVr 



"Read}? for Next Tear" 



That's How the War Gardeners Answer the Roll Call from Sea to Sea — 1919 a Still Bigger Garden Year 



.~W"F ANY Central Empire or other foreign 

 minister still has lingering hopes of putting 

 over any peace notes in this country, it 

 might be well for him to canvass the war 

 gardeners for they too have a message for him 

 and, keeping to the fashion set by President 

 Wilson, it also is short and to the point. The 

 message is this: "We are getting ready for next 

 year." And that is just what the gardeners are 

 doing for (while you still hear the announcement 

 of awards of canning prizes and the storage in- 

 structions are being studied with care) the home 

 gardener of America is making plans for 1919. 



# ♦ ♦ 



At the Michigan State Fair in Detroit, 500 

 enrolled with C. E. Smith of the Forestry De- 

 partment, Detroit Parks and Boulevards 

 and Mr. Smith says he will have 50,000 war 

 gardeners on his rolls before the snow is off the 

 ground next spring. Similar reports from other 

 places are coming to the National War Garden 

 Commission at Washington all the time. 



* * * 



One of the remarkable instances of "get 

 ready" can be found in the office of Richardson 

 Webster, register of Kings County, New York. 

 Now^the position of register of Kings County seems 

 far removed from a war garden campaign but 

 strange as it may seem Mr. Webster finds himself 

 in the very centre of it. By virtue of his office 

 Mr. Webster can put his finger on every vacant 

 lot in Kings County. The people of Kings 

 believe that slacker land will not win the war. 

 Consequently they want permission to put that 

 land to work. Webster is the man they go to. 

 The line in waiting got so long that the register 

 had to have blanks printed to keep up with his 

 work. He is now giving out those blanks and 

 enrolling war gardeners with the snow on the 

 ground. Mr. Webster of course does not come 

 in contact with the great army of gardeners who 

 have land of their own. 



* * * 



Perhaps the most unique campaign for garden- 

 ing in the country was conducted in New York 

 City where "cliff dwellers" are not supposed to 

 know anything about gardens except the ones 

 on the roofs. But, like the Allied armies once 

 they get going, nothing can stop the war gardener 

 of Manhattan when he gets the rock cleared away. 

 Park Commissioner William F. Grell believed 

 something could be done and he appointed 

 A. X. Gitterman, chairman of the War Garden 

 Committee of Manhattan. Knowing the value 

 of publicity Mr. Gitterman established a demon- 

 stration garden in Bryant Park on Forty-second 

 Street. The National War Garden Commission 

 put up the " little garden house" midway between 

 the Y. M. C. A. hut and the Public Library. 

 Here information was given out and a model garden 

 planted by Edward J. Miller, Ph.G., who has 

 studied the soil of Manhattan every time he could 

 find any. That garden is working all winter 

 for it has been put under glass and thousands 



upon thousands of people have seen the garden 

 and stopped to ask questions as to how they 

 could plant "Food FOB The Kitchen Door." 



In his report Mr. Gitterman shows that 

 1,550 gardens were listed by the Park Depart- 

 ment. The value of the produce, complied 

 from reports every supervisor had to turn in is 

 placed at $22,385. The gardens were planted 

 on hillside and along river front, in fact every- 

 where that soil could be found deep enough to 

 take the seed. Another garden was maintained 

 for demonstration purposes in Union Square be- 



Brooms are a dollar apiece. The crop of broom com at Camp 

 Dix will be worth a thousand brooms. In the photograph. Gen- 

 eral Hugh L. Scott, Col. G. H. White and Mr. Charles 

 Lathrop Pack, president of the National War Garden Commis- 

 sion 



cause there is only one foot of soil above the 

 roof of the Subway. 



1 he big point in Chairman Gitterman's report 

 is the outline of his plans for next year. He is 

 organized to carry on the work and in this look 



114 



ahead he points to the importance of having 

 four castor bean plants in every war garden to 

 help find castor oil for the airplanes. This 

 plan he has submitted to the aeronautics division 

 of the Army. 



"Get ready," is the note everywhere. Through- 

 out the land the county fairs made special pro- 

 vision for informing the people on war gardening 

 and the canning and drying of their product. 

 One of the biggest campaigns of education as to 

 the importance of food close to the point of con- 

 sumption has been put on by the Mid- West Hor- 

 ticultural Show at Des Moines, Iowa, the first 

 week in November. With the poster from the 

 National War Garden Commission called "Win 

 the Next War Now" as a centre piece, the Cham- 

 ber of Commerce is putting out big placards in 

 every town in Iowa calling attention to the war 

 garden canning and food conservation exhibits 

 to be put on in conjunction with the show. The 

 same sort of campaign was put on through Mis- 

 souri, Kansas, and Nebraska and other states in 

 the West by W. I. Drummond, chairman of the 

 Board of Governors of the International Farm 

 Congress which was held in Kansas City in 



October. 



* * * 



The demonstration garden at Camp Dix, N. J., 

 where soldiers planted food "close to the mess 

 tent door" has been one of the greatest agencies 

 for impressing the importance of eliminating 

 transportation as far as possible from the food 

 question. The other day a "harvest luncheon" 

 was given. At this luncheon were Gen. Hugh L. 

 Scott and Charles Lathrop Pack, the president of 

 the National War Garden Commission which had 

 given the quartermaster's corps the seeds and 

 implements with which to get started last spring. 

 Of course these two men took great pride in the 

 success of the gardens but even greater interest 

 was shown in the work of Capt. E. V. Champlin 

 and Lieut. John F. Bonnor who had active charge 

 of the "soldiers of the soil." The importance of 

 big camp gardens was at once seen by S. W. 

 Hartley, who was at the luncheon representing 

 Gen. Drake of the Motor Transport Corps, and 

 Capt. R. T. Rasmussen of the same branch of 

 the service. Others who attended the luncheon 

 and the inspection that followed were: W. S. 

 Tyler, food administrator for New Jersey; Col. 

 H. E. Wilkins, depot quartermaster at New 

 York; Col. E. R. Tompkins of the Quartermas- 

 ter's Department; Col. J. E. Mcintosh, subsis- 

 tence officer, and known as the man who feeds the 

 army; Col. Morris Slayton, quartermaster gen- 

 eral's office; Dr. J. H. McNeil, assistant secretary 

 of agriculture for New Jersey; Maj. Chas. R. 

 Van Ettan of the Inspector General's Depart- 

 ment; Maj. R. C. Griswold of the Quartermas- 

 ter General's office. Maj. A. C. Jensen, Camp 

 Dix Quartermaster; Cap. William Bethke, the 

 camp's subsistence officer; Capt. J. E. Lee, 

 Quartermaster General's office. These men are 

 all tremendously interested in food and big plans 



