56 THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 
what the superintendent of one of the Carnegie plants 
wrote the National War Garden Commission: 
The plots were taken by men in all classes of employ- 
ment. Laborers, skilled operators, clerks, and execu- 
tives — a large number of them without previous experi- 
ence — went into the work. A great variety of produce 
was raised. Much spirit and rivalry developed among 
the gardeners, this being increased by the offer of prizes 
for the best gardens. In spite of the fact that the river 
twice flooded part of the gardens during the growing 
season, two of the prizes were taken by workers in the 
flooded areas. The general average of the gardens was 
above eighty per cent., and thirteen of them above 
eighty-four per cent. Only one was adjudged a failure. 
The committee of judges was compelled to revisit the 
gardens twice after the first marking in order to decide 
on the winners, and even then had to place several of 
them on a par. 
The gardens were not only an assistance to livelihood 
and a decided profit to the average worker, but were 
also an inspiration and fascination, as well as a means 
of pleasure and healthful education and exercise. 
From the rock-bound coasts of New England to the 
far-flung shores of the Pacific, the war gardens of the 
workers in industry stretched in an almost unbroken 
line. The lumber camps of Washington and Oregon 
and the mining settlements of Arizona boasted their 
war gardens. The iron, cement and motor-car makers 
of the Middle West had their garden plots. The cop- 
per regions of Michigan, the shipyards of Texas, and the 
roaring mills of the East, all beheld the sudden up- 
springing of great gardens. 
