THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 
93 
These lessons began with the preparation of the soil 
and the sowing of seed in the house for early vegetables, 
and dealt with one or more vegetables daily, setting 
forth in simple language the proper cultural methods 
for the vegetables in question, and pointing out the 
diseases and enemies of the particular products under 
discussion, together with methods of combating them. 
Though simple in language and shorn of all useless 
technicalities, these daily gardening lessons lacked no 
essential cultural directions; and even a beginner could 
have become a successful gardener by following care- 
fully the directions given. 
The publicity campaign did not end with telling 
gardeners how to raise vegetables. As soon as the 
garden season was well started, appeals were made 
through the newspapers for the conservation of all 
excess garden products. The necessity for such conser- 
vation was first pointed out, and then methods of 
canning and drying garden products and fruit were set 
forth simply and completely. These publicity cam- 
paigns in the public press went hand in hand with the 
issuance of the Commission’s various books, which 
were offered free to any one upon request. 
Despite the wonderful response of the public to 
appeals to raise garden products, it was apparent that 
the need for food increased rather than decreased, 
because production so constantly fell off in Europe. 
The constant dripping of water will wear away even 
the hardest stone, and the Commission believed that 
the endless repetition of the garden appeal would 
