10 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE | 
June 1, 1917. 
“Food Gardens” for the Little Folk 
How Little Mary Can Do Her Bit to 
Increase the Country’s Food Supply 
By LILLIAN McCANN 
Large streams from little fountains flow— 
Tall: oaks from little acorns grow. 
N May I asked little Miss Mary of the North Shore how 
her garden grew. I believe I am safe in saying that 
the little Marys are not like the traditional contrary Mary 
known to Mother Goose, but that they will go bravely to 
work to “do their bit” to “increase the country’s food 
supply.” 
_ Every little “food garden” on the North Shore this 
summer will help the great work of the National Emer- 
gency Food Garden Commission. You have heard how 
this commission of a few more than a dozen public- 
spirited men has spread the gospel of gardening. Their 
slogan has been “plant one million food gardens. this 
year.” John Hays Hammond of the Gloucester summer 
colony is a member of the commission. 
Of course the little Marys want to help win the war. 
Then get into the garden game, because if you cannot 
go to war you can “help win the war with a little food 
garden. 
Says Charles Lathrop Pack, president of the com- 
mission: “War has now made the planting of food gard- 
ens an imperative obligation upon every American citizen 
who has access to land, no matter how restricted its area. 
The man, woman or child who allows any soil fertility or 
available labor to go to waste this year deserves the op- 
probrium that goes to the military slacker. We are per- 
haps approaching the time when we must adopt meatless 
days, either voluntarily or by government fiat. Let us 
see to it that the food substitutes for meat are produced 
independently of the farms by a great host of home gar- 
deners. Because it is late in the season do not neglect to 
.plant a garden for that reason; prolific gardens may be 
seeded until July. Plant a garden now and help win 
the war.” . 
The Food Garde Primer gives the following ex- 
plicit reasons for gardening, and I hope that Mary will 
not let any one tell her it is just a fad or fancy of the 
hour she is following. 
1. The food garden is a patriotie duty 
onomic preparedness. ’’ 
it aids in ‘‘ec- 
2. The food garden not only makes the individual family 
largely inderendent of other supplies of food, but it takes away 
from the railroads a transportation labor that is needed for the 
movement of war supplies; and, equally important, it allows 
the general farmer to devote more land to growing breadstuf*s. 
3. Foot for foot, gardens in city or country yield 10 to 15 
times more abundantly than farm land devoted to general crops. 
The gardener is an intensive farmer on a small scale. A half- 
acre easily produces vegetables worth $100 at normal prices, 
while smaller tracts do even better. 
The Primer also says: 
Keep your garden everlastingly at it produeing food for 
you. Don’t let it loaf a single day. When you pull out rad- 
ishes or Onions or pick peas, spade the rows again and plant 
new seeds that will have time to mature before winter, In this 
Way a small garden can be made to do wonders. 
Perhaps the products of the little garden would add 
a good little “bit” towards the Red Cross. Mary might 
sell her vegetables to mother or to the market man and 
swell her Red Cross gifts. At any rate she will do with 
her garden products the thing most demanded at the time. 
Another thing, Mary must not let her brother beat her in 
this garden game. Out-distance him or at least keep up 
with him. 
You know your gardener will be your best friend 
in this venture. The: Breeze hopes that every little gar- 
dener will have a happy. and successful summer and that 
the “food garden” game will prove a great blessing. 
The fattovaltte oheral rules and suggestions are from 
the Food Garden Primer RUD UME in Washington, D. C., 
IQI7 
Garden Plan 
Have a plan for your garden—drawn on paper—before you 
start, to give proper ofder in planting and enable you to buy the 
right amounts of seeds in advance when the selection is good. 
Put small plants like beets, onions, lettuce, carrots, radishes, 
and parsnips in rows that are 15 inches apart; larger plants like 
corn, tomatoes, and potatoes in rows 30 inches apart. Spreading 
ground-vines like melons and cucumbers need even wider space. 
The Soil 
The back yarder must use the soil he has—but he can im- 
prove it if it is poor. Stable manure will help even the richest 
soil. You can not use too much of it. Professional gardeners 
spread as much as six inches in a single season, 
Loam is the best garden soil. Sand with manure gives good 
results. Clay is hardest to work, but manure and vegetable 
matter—ealled Ahumus—spaded in—greatly improves it. Sifted 
coal ashes, no cinders, will help loosen up clay when mixed 
into it. 
Long unused land, especially under lawns, is usually sour, 
needing air-slaked lime, 1 pound to 30 square feet, raked in 
after spading. 
The sweepings of pigeon lofts or chicken coops make valu- 
able fertilizer for gardens. 
Preparation of Soil. 
After the frost goes out of the ground test it by squeezing 
a handful of dirt. If it crumbles, the soil is ready for spading. 
If it packs into a mud ball, the eround is still too wet. 
Spade deeply, up to 15 inches, unless this depth turns up 
poor clay and buries the richer soil of the top. Powder the 
dirt deeply with a rake, breaking all clods under the surface. 
If clods are hard a Jawn roller may crush them. 
Indoor Planting. 
Earlier crops can be secured by planting certain seeds in- 
doors and setting the young plants out in the open garden after 
the weather becomes warm. Such plants are tomatoes, cabbage, 
lettuce, cauliflower, peppers, and eggplant, 
Any wooden box, shallow and wide if possible, will make an 
indoor garden. Put 1 inch of gravel or cinders in the bottom 
for drainage, and fill to the top with good soil. Rows of plants 
may be 2 inches apart. 
Plant 8 or 10 seeds to the inch, keep the soil damp, and set 
the box in a window. When the plants are an inch high pull 
most of them out, leaving the rest growing 1 or 2 inches apart. 
Before transplanting to the garden set the box outdoors in 
mild weather to harden the plants. Set out each plant with a 
ball of box dirt sticking to the roots. 
Flower pots, homemade paper pots, and round, bottomless, 
paper bands set on a cellar bench and filled with soil, are as 
good as seed boxes for indoor gardening, 
When to Plant. 
When heavy frosts are over, plant early peas (the smooth 
kind), onion sets (bulbs, not seeds), early potatoes, kale and, 
spinach. All of these will stand light freezing except potato 
plants, which must be covered with dirt when frost threatens. 
When frosts are about over plant lettuce, radishes, parsnips, 
carrots, beets, late peas (wrinkled seeds), and early sweet corn. 
When all frosts are over and apple trees are in bud, plant 
string beans and late sweet corn, and set out a few early tomato 
and cabbage plants from the indoor boxes. 
When apple trees blossom plant cucumbers, melons, squashes, 
lima beans, and set out the rest of the indoor plants. 
