14 THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 
age thus standing useless. There was probably no 
town in the United States that did not have within its 
boundaries at least fifty acres of idle soil. In the larger 
communities where garden space was needed most, the 
aggregate area of vacant lots was astonishing. A survey 
made in Minneapolis, shortly before the war began, 
showed more than 5,000 acres in vacant lots. In 1917 
a survey disclosed 186,000 vacant lots in greater New 
York. Altogether there were hundreds of thousands 
of idle acres in or near our towns and cities — the only 
places where labor was available for working them; and 
much of this land was suitable for gardening. It was of 
the utmost importance, therefore, to place these areas 
under cultivation. 
In Great Britain steps had been taken very early in 
the war to utilize similar open spaces for the production 
of food. Parliament passed a law providing that any 
untaxed land which was not being used for the produc- 
tion of food might be taken over by the authorities and 
parceled out to those who were able and willing to 
raise food. Millions of “ Allotments,” as they were 
called, were asked for, and the production of vegetables 
increased incredibly. Thus the British were able in 
1918 to produce all the potatoes they needed, and even 
to send a slight surplus to France. America possessed 
vast areas, in the aggregate, of these idle lands; but 
the importance of utilizing them for food production 
had not been generally realized, until pointed out by 
the Commission. 
“ Put the slacker land to work ” became a slogan of the 
