4 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE SUPPLEMENT 
March, 1918 
War Gardens 
Read at the Sauk Co. Hort. So- 
ciety’s First Annual Meeting, 
Baraboo, Wednesday, Janu- 
ary 16, 1918, by C. A. 
Hofmann. 
The subject assigned me for 
this evening, “War Gardens,” is 
so expansive as to preclude the 
possibility of a thorough exposi- 
tion in the time at my disposal. 
I will, therefore, assail only the 
essentials, dwelling at some length 
upon the more necessary activi- 
ties and leaving to your thought 
and future experience the minor 
details. First : what does the 
subject imply ? Our Nation ’s Life 
and Liberty depends upon food. 
Every man, woman, and child who 
tills the soil, and produces food 
crops, must do the work of two, 
and yea — even more this year, if 
we are to remain a free nation. 
The demand for food, the world 
over, is far greater than ever be- 
fore — the millions upon millions 
of soldiers, sailors, ammunition 
workers and Red Cross workers, 
both men and women, have to be 
fed. Millions of our strongest 
and best young men have been 
taken from the ranks of the pro- 
ducers and it is therefore up to 
us, who remain at home, to do 
more than double duty, and do it 
quickly, if we would win this con- 
flict. Remember we have no food 
surplus carried over to help out 
should we face a crop shortage or 
failure this year. Everything de- 
pends upon what we, as “Soldiers 
of the Soil,” produce this season. 
Do not tarry with indecision, but 
put your whole patriotic effort in- 
to the work this year to grow the 
biggest and best bumper crops 
that you have ever grown. And 
if there are those among this 
gathering this evening, either 
large or small, who, in the past, 
have made no effort in this direc- 
tion, let them pledge themselves 
to-night to buckle on the armor 
and go forth, with the advent of 
Spring, to do their all for God and 
Country. 
Do not wait until it is too late — - 
make your plans immediately- — - 
start your field work earlier than 
ever, till your soil oftener and 
more carefully. And in making 
your plans and in prosecuting 
your work let one all important 
thought prevail, “Plant -Only 
Carefully Saved and Accurately 
Tested Seeds” — so much depends 
upon this. The original sin of the 
gardening cult is the waste of 
seed. This not only applies to the 
amateur, but also in a measure to 
the professional grower. Don’t 
do it. Hooverize ! Good seed is 
already scarce, and it is growing 
scarcer as days go by, for already 
thousands of the world’s best seed 
growers have laid down their lives 
for Liberty. 
I presume that all who are 
present this evening are deeply in- 
terested in this War Garden work, 
but should there be those among 
us who are here from idle curios- 
ity let me say to you, as well as 
the others, that if ; ou will but em- 
bark upon this work you will be 
amply rewarded, not only in dol- 
lars and cents, for your earnest 
work and thought, but better 
than that, you will have the con- 
scious conviction that you are do- 
ing, not only “Your Bit,” but 
“Your All” for the Life and Lib- 
erty of this Glorious Country we 
all love so well. Now let us con- 
sider the requisites for success in 
any garden, be it large or small. 
The first is the proper preparation 
of the soil which is to produce the 
crop. Be the plot, one which has 
never been cropped with vege- 
tables or has grown to grass and 
weeds, or has produced a hay 
crop for a number of years, or be 
it one which has been worked con- 
stantly it must either be plowed 
or spaded. A general mistake is 
the accepted shallow plowing or 
spading. 
My experience is that ground 
should be worked to a depth of 
from 10 to 12 inches and if pos- 
sible, the late fall is the better 
time to do this. But before doing 
this a thorough coating of good 
fertilizer should be applied ex- 
cept, perhaps in the case of land 
which has previously grown clov- 
er or timothy and even with that 
a light scattering of well decayed 
manure is beneficial. 
This is very necessary if good 
results are to be obtained. You 
would not expect your cows to 
produce milk if not fed, neither 
can you expect your soil to bring 
forth good crops without proper 
and judicious feeding. 
When possible use manure 
which has thoroughly decayed ex- 
cept perhaps in the case of heavy 
clayey soils, when that consisting 
of more litter, such as hay, straw 
or corn fodder, can be used to 
lighten up the ground. 
The more common manures, 
readily procurable, and their rela- 
tive plant food values are as fol- 
lows: Sheep, Hog, Poultry, Cattle 
and Horse Manures. Then where 
these are not easily obtained there 
are the commercial fertilizers or 
fertilizer ingredients such as 
Phosphates, Nitrates, Tankage 
and Muriates. The latter, how- 
ever, require a greater knowledge 
of application than the former and 
are not advised except with a 
thorough knowldge of the neces- j 
sity and use. 
Where it is expensive to secure 
a proper quantity of home-made 
