THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 99 
Louisville, Kentucky, $750,000; Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, $750,000; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, $500,- 
000; Dallas, Texas, $300,000; Scranton, Pennsylvania, 
$450,000; Rochester, New York, $350,000; Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania, $250,000; Burlington, Iowa, $250,000; 
Newark, New Jersey, $160,000; New Orleans, Louisiana, 
$125,000; Atlanta, Georgia, $100,000. 
Another gain which comes to a city from war gar- 
dening is the improvement in the appearance of the 
place; and added beauty means added worth. The 
poet who sang that “a thing of beauty is a joy for- 
ever” might have written with equal truthfulness — 
although, of course, we do not expect the minds of 
poets to run in such practical and commercial channels 
— that it is also a “ thing of value forever. ” In the long 
run those improvements which add to the beauty of 
a city or community add also to its material prosperity 
and to its civic progress. 
For this reason chambers of commerce and other trade 
organizations do good service for their communities 
when they urge the cleaning-up of all vacant lots and 
open spaces and their conversion into gardens. Travel- 
ers have noted how much better many towns looked 
during the past year or two because of the fact that 
most of the back yards “fronting” on the railroad tracks 
have been improved into clean, well-kept vegetable 
plots. The average back yard is bare of flowers, as 
these are reserved for the place of honor in front 
of the house; and so a vegetable garden in the space 
at the rear is highly to be commended as an attraction 
