December, 1918 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



141 



Percival S. Ridsdale, 

 Secretary and Treasurer 

 © Harris y Evnng 



therefore, should exceed by 

 a big margin the "war gar- 

 dening" of 1918 and of 1917. 

 The need for food was great 

 then. Its needs next year 

 will be even greater. There 

 should be more gardens and 

 they should be more pro- 

 ductive. The National War 

 Garden Commission found 

 very little "slacker land" in 

 our cities and towns last 

 season. There was scarcely 

 a community anywhere that 

 did not have a relatively 

 large proportion of war gar- 

 dens. They were every- 

 where. You could not put 

 your finger down on the 

 map 1 without touching a 

 town that could boast of 

 its fine gardens. The 

 estimate of the Com- 

 mission, based on a 

 careful nation-wide 

 survey, showed that 

 there were 5,285,000 

 war gardens. Next 

 year there should be a 

 larger number of Vic- 

 tory Gardens. Every 

 city should strive to 

 outdo its record. 

 Many cities which set 

 out in the spring of 

 1918 to have a certain 

 number of back yard 

 and vacant lot "muni- 

 tion plants" surpassed 

 the figure set, just as 

 they did in the Liberty 

 Loan, Red Cross, Y. 

 M. C. A., and other 

 drives. Let the motto 

 be: "Double the Gar- 

 dens." Follow Emer- 

 son's advice and "hitch your wagon to a star." 

 Then when the returns are in at the end of the 

 next season it will be found that the American 

 people have planted 8,000,000 or 10,000,000 

 Victory Gardens instead of 5,000,000. This will 

 be a record to be proud of. 



J. B. White, of Kansas 

 City, Mo. 



Fairfax Harrison 



© Harris y Ewing 



(Above) James Wilson, Ex-Secretary of 

 Agriculture 



COME of the marvelous accomplishments of 

 ^ the United States, its stupendous task in 

 preparing, equipping and maintaining overseas 

 an army of millions, already is well known to 

 the American public. More of these achieve- 

 ments will be revealed in the months and years 

 to come. When all is told it will be a story 

 which the nation will cherish as long as freedom 

 lasts. The home food 



producers will want a 



„„,* ;« t-W,r. ,TT«^J^,f,,l Food! Food! Food! That is the 



part in tniS WOnaertUl hi „ question. And this is what the 

 account. Already they officials of the Texas Portland Cement 

 Company think of its importance 



All these gentlemen are active in the National War Garden Commission which has so thoroughly made good 



have performed a most important patriotic 

 service. What they have done entitles them to 

 the world's lasting praise. But they will not be 

 satisfied until they have done their all, until 

 they have added to their laurels won in their war 

 gardens the palm which will be bestowed upon 

 them for excellence in their Victory Gardens. 



Plan now for 1919 in a 

 garden way; and plan big. 

 That is the best advice to 

 the VictoryGardeners of the 

 United States. Plan early 

 by studying out methods 

 which will increase your 

 area and the amount of your 

 product. Every square foot 

 counts; and thousands of 

 them put together make 

 acres. Perhaps your past 

 experience or your study has 

 shown how you can make 

 two onions grow where only 

 one grew before. The more 

 food you can raise, the bet- 

 ter. It will be found that 

 muchearlyplanningisworth 

 while. A young officer once 

 asked his commanding gen- 

 eral what he considered 

 the most important 

 principle in military 

 tactics. "Study your 

 ground!" was the in- 

 stantaneous reply. 

 That applies to garden- 

 ing as much as to a 

 military campaign. 

 Every Victory Gar- 

 dener in the United 

 States, therefore, 

 should sit down with 

 paper and pencil and 

 carefully figure out just 

 how he can plant his 

 garden to obtain the 

 maximum results. That 

 is what the nation and 

 the world wants next 

 year — "maximum re- 

 sults." Let no one be 

 satisfied with anything 

 less. After reading a 

 letter like the following 

 no one should be satisfied with anything less. It is 

 from Mrs. Robert C. Thompson, of East Norwalk, 

 Conn., to the National War Garden Commission. 

 There was a service star at the top of the letter 

 which reads: 



"Will you send me your book on canning and 

 drying? I have a small garden and want very 

 much to preserve all surplus vegetables and save 

 a little for the coming day. I have two sons, all 

 the children that I have, at the Front and I 

 must do all that I can to help our boys who are 

 fighting in a just and right cause." 



No further word should be necessary to make 

 every man, woman and child in the United 

 States who has a bit of land which he can 

 cultivate, do the ut- 

 most to make it yield 

 Vere McGowan who won first „,,„_,, „„„,.:k1,> „„,,„J „f 

 Place with his Hubbard squashes ever ,y possible pound of 

 in Polk County, Oregon. Puzzle— food. 

 find Vere 



"The Furrows of Freedom" are just as impor- 

 tant as the "Frontier of Freedom." "Outpost" 

 of the General Electric Company at Schenectady, 

 N. Y. 



