September, 1918 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
7 
Milwaukee’s War Gardens. 
Joseph Barr. 
The Poet has said that some men 
are great, some are born great, and 
some have greatness thrust upon 
them. I belong to the latter class. 
It is a great honor indeed to be 
asked to come here today, and 
speak to you about the Garden Vis- 
itors of Milwaukee and their work. 
War Gardens without visitors 
would be as useless as jugs with- 
out handles, for War Gardens are 
born of necessity. So the Garden- 
ers must be officially recognized, 
and a regiment of 920 men and 
women from every walk in life, 
have volunteered their services to 
supervise, aid, instruct, and urge 
on the 11,000 children who have 
planted Gardens, and whose enthu- 
siasm was first aroused by their 
teachers, in the public and paro- 
chial schools of the city. 1 am a 
Garden Visitor myself. Did you 
ever meet a Scot who was not a 
Gardener? 
Now the War Garden movement 
serves a twofold purpose. When 
you and I were in school, the 
teacher did the hard work, we lis- 
tened, but today we teachers know 
better, for we have learned that it 
is better to “learn by doing.” 
And this great wave of Patriotism 
sweeping over this great land of 
ours, is ouc of action on the part 
of every individual, and we are 
more interested because we have a 
real part in it. And it is the 
same with the children and their 
War Gardens, they are learning 
what true Democracy means, but 
they are not aware of it yet, and 
they are becoming desirable Amer- 
ican citizens, working out their 
own salvation. In Milwaukee, the 
Agricultural Commission sold and 
gave away 11,000 packets of seed. 
9,000 tomato plants were distrib- 
uted free of charge, 14 bushels of 
potatoes given to worthy folks, 
and 20,000 leaflets and Bulletins 
distributed. A course of lectures 
to prepare the visitors for their 
work 'was given, and Mr. Adams, 
our County Agent, had general 
supervision and planning of the 
movement, he deserves great credit 
for his work. All the children’s 
gardens were card catalogued and 
a duplicate card given to the visi- 
tor. It is too early vet to estimate 
what has actually been accomplish- 
ed but no doubt the results will 
be amazing. The children’s gar- 
dens are of all shapes and sizes, 
from 30 foot lots down to a square 
foot. I managed to interest 25 
boys who had no garden space, and 
they all have one potato plant 
growing and thriving. Do not 
smile please, “great oaks from lit- 
tle acorns grow,” they are learn- 
ing something worth while. The 
lot of the city boy is not smooth, 
his pleasures, the ball park and 
the movies. One of the funny 
papers had a picture of a garden 
full of weeds, with the sign, “War 
Garden help preserve it.” The 
funny man had changed the word- 
ing and it read "War Garden, help 
find it.” This could not be said 
of our gardens however. From 
the literature distributed and the 
talks, given by teachers and others, 
the little folk were well prepared, 
and generally speaking the gar- 
dens are well kept. In some of 
the back yards, sunless, and with 
bricks and stones instead of good 
rich soil it is a hard matter even 
to grow weeds, yet in spite of this 
handicap it is surprising what has 
been done. A lady visitor reports 
to me that in a back yard on Reed 
street on a little plot of ground 
surrounded by high buildings, 
there is the finest stand of sweet 
corn she has ever seen. Children 
love to be praised, and to have 
a special visit. The arrival of a 
visitor is considered a compliment 
by the family. In the poorer 
homes, it has been an event that 
will long be remembered. Tony 
and Rosie had real ladies and gen- 
tlemen visiting them. And this 
movement must not be allowed to 
die out. That nation will always 
he the greatest who encourages 
its youth in industry and noble 
living. Its efforts pay big divi- 
dends, not in silver and gold, but 
in firm flesh, red blood, and happy 
hearts, attuned to the services of 
the Creator. A great mail has 
said: “He is great who makes 
two blades of grass grow, where 
one grew before,” so we are en- 
couraged. And There is another 
phase of the question that I wish 
you to consider. Inspecting the 
gardens, I went to one home, poor 
and miserable it certainly was. 
Joe was the boy’s name; he as 
ten years old and he had a gar- 
den 6 by 12 feet, planted to c .- 
cumbers entirely, the plants one 
inch apart and the rows six inches 
apart. Blest as I am with ready 
speech, for the moment I was 
speechless, but I noticed that the 
rows were perfectly straight and 
not a weed in sight. He was a 
bright little fellow, and I asked 
him to spell cucumber, which he 
did correctly. I asked him a 
great many questions about the 
soil and its preparation, and his 
answers were correct every time. 
And so advising him to thin out 
his plants, and giving him all the 
encouragement possible, I left him 
and in that ’hour there came to me 
a vision of what this War Garden 
Movement can become in the life 
of the nation. Tn keeping his lit- 
