34 
THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 
States. The Marion (Indiana) War Garden Associa- 
tion placed it squarely up to the home food producers 
in this fashion: “Earn the Right to Stay at Home — 
Plant a Garden.” The honored title of “Soldier of 
the Soil” gave the home tiller the feeling that he, too, 
was performing a service for his country although he 
was not wearing the uniform; and when he was informed 
that “Every Garden is a Munition Plant” he knew 
that he was helping the boys over there to fight their 
battles, for “The Seeds of Victory Insure the Fruits of 
Peace.” The patriotic spirit is contagious and the war 
gardener helped mightily to spread it. 
Of especial value to the nation in its days of need was 
the habit of thrift engendered and built up into a com- 
mon trait by home gardening. Before the war, it is esti- 
mated, there were only 300,000 bond-buyers in the 
United States. More than 21,000,000 people subscribed 
to the fourth Liberty Loan. The significance of that 
fact is splendidly summed up in a single sentence by 
Fred H. Goff, president of the Cleveland Trust Com- 
pany and a member of the National War Garden Com- 
mission. “A nation that saves,” says he, “is a nation 
saved. ” Truly, war gardening is as full of hidden bless- 
ings as the widow’s cruse was of oil. 
