THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS ioi 
sub-committee of the mayor’s advisory war committee, 
40,000 war gardens were planted in 1918. The city had 
set out to make it 25,000 but went far beyond this 
figure. George A. Schneider, chairman of the commit- 
tee, mapped out a broad and comprehensive campaign 
which resulted in a splendid record. Carl F. Knirk, 
garden director, was untiring in his efforts to make the 
work a complete success. A survey was made of every 
vacant lot in the city and its suburbs, with high- 
school boys aiding in this collection of data in their 
respective districts. Six paid instructors were engaged 
and each placed in charge of a certain district. Three 
tractor plows prepared the ground in the larger tracts. 
Other agencies cooperated in the movement. These 
included women’s clubs, schools, business houses, and 
manufacturing concerns. Western Reserve Univer- 
sity introduced a course in home gardening and it was 
opened to some of the garden clubs and women inter- 
ested in the work. Many of the industrial plants 
provided land for their employes and hundreds of fine 
gardens were the result. The companies also encour- 
aged their men in the conservation of their garden 
products. Thousands of the Commission’s war vege- 
table gardening and canning and drying books were 
distributed to the city’s home food growers through the 
Cleveland Public Library and the Cleveland Public 
Schools and through the Cleveland Trust Company, 
the Citizens Savings and Trust Company, the Superior 
Savings and Trust Company, the Guardian Savings and 
Trust Company, and other public-spirited institutions. 
