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INTRODUCTION
Marion Margery Scranton,
Commander, War Services,
Pennsylvania State Council of Defense
The Victory Garden movement and its significance in our
wartime economy, both as a means of releasing food to our armed forces
and of improving the nutritional status of civilians can be appreciated
only by those who study the statistics and translate them into homely,
every-day meaning. When we hear that Americans produced eight million
tons of vegetables last year in home gardens, a quantity which was
one-fourth of the entire vegetable production of the nation, it can be
seen readily what would have been the state of civilian nutrition if the
Victory Garden had not functioned.
As a means of increasing our nation's food supply, both fresh
and canned or otherwise conserved for winter use, the Victory Garden has
more than justified itself. Not only have people had more food as a
result of this home effort, but also they have learned lessons of food
selection and preparation, of food values, of human nutrition and its
dependence upon proper food selection, which would never have been
taught so well in any other way. Millions of dollars of advertising by
commercial firms could never have been so effective in teaching the
consumer the value of vegetables in the dietary as has the wartime
experience of home vegetable production.
The War Services of The Pennsylvania State Council of Defense:
is proud of its Victory Garden Program and its accomplishments. By
conservative estimates based upon surveys by Council of Defense Block
Leaders, Boy Scouts, Victory Garden Committees, and other agencies the
number of Pennsylvania gardens for 1943 was found to be approximately
1,400,000 gardens. This doubled the number of home gardens grown in
1942, which in turn represented a considerable increase both in number
and size of gardens which pertained during the period immediately
preceding the present world conflict
Governor Edward Martin has asked for a 10 per cent. increase
in the number of Pennsylvania home gardens for 1944, or a total
1,540,000 Victory Gardens. The 1500 functioning Victory Garden
Committees of the State Council of Defense throughout the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania are pledged to reach or exceed this quota.
The State Council of Defense offers all possible help to
civilians on what to plant to add to the nutritional well-being of
families of all sizes and compositions. Through cooperation with the
various state agencies, notably the Department of Agriculture of the
Commonwealth and The Pennsylvania State College, the latter with its
County Farm Agents in every county, as well as other horticultural
groups, civilians are given whatever technical information they may
desire in selecting garden sites, testing soil, selecting seeds, and in
cultural methods.
As the season progresses, the home gardener is assisted in
canning, or otherwise conserving whatever his garden offers over and
above that which may be eaten fresh. If the housewife does not have the
home facilities or experience for proper home preservation of her
Victory Garden produce, the Pennsylvania State Council of Defense offers
the use of its Victory Garden Conservation Kitchens, scattered
throughout the state.
Surpluses in excess of family needs are canned for civic
purposes—the local hospital, and school lunch, and food banks.
An example of the democratic functioning of a local Victory
Garden Committee may be found in a recent report made by Mrs. Alexander
J. Barron, Victory Garden Chairman for Allegheny County, in which
Pittsburgh is located. The report, in part, follows:
"Supervisors were appointed not only for all of the large
plots which contained possibly 65 or 70 gardens, but for smaller plots
also. And these men and women proved of great assistance in staking out
gardens after plowing had been done, giving friendly advice throughout
the summer, occasionally prodding lazy gardeners, and in the fall
reporting on any neglected plots. Supervisors, of whom there were about
46, were called together occasionally during the summer and fall to
discuss problems common to all, and it is to many of them, who gave us
wonderful help in 1943, that we shall turn this year for continued
support.
"A downtown office in a room adjoining that of the County
Extension Service was maintained for several months in the spring, and
members of our committee gave assistance in testing soil and
serving as an information bureau. Gardens were given out directly
by the committees under this office. A special effort was made to care
for settlement and housing groups.
"Victory Garden chairmen were appointed throughout the county
in each municipality, suburb, and township, and were given help and
advice as needed, although each local chairman was encouraged to handle
his problems as he thought best. Of course, in rural sections everyone
had his own farm or garden. But in industrial centers like McKeesport,
Duquesne, and in Wilkinsburg, at the edge of the city, outstanding
Victory Garden programs were developed, as was the case in some suburbs
like Mt. Lebanon and Sewickley. Many of the large industrial companies,
including Westinghouse, Carnegie Illinois, the Lewis Foundry, Pittsburgh
Coke & Iron, Hagen Corporation, Homestead Steel, Allis-Chalmers, and
Gulf Research Laboratory, had large plots for employees and gave prizes
at the end of the year. It has been impossible to make an accurate
census of all the Victory Gardens in Allegheny County, but we estimate
that in 1943 there were at least 300,000.
"`Perhaps of even greater value than the amount of food raised
was the friendliness and breaking down of class distinctions among those
working in some of the large allotment plots. In one plot, for instance,
there was to be found an unusually interesting cross section of American
life, including seven doctors (one a woman), two dentists, several
lawyers, a college professor, a research man from the Mellon Institute,
the president of one of Pittsburgh's largest utility companies, a member
of the Stock Exchange, a councilman, a man in the City Water Bureau, a
street car conductor, a newspaper man, two Negro families, one Czech
family, several mill workers, white collar workers, housewives, and
garden club members.
"A canning chairman was appointed under each Victory Garden
chairman throughout the county and was urged to make a survey of the
needs of her community and to let this office help her arrange for
demonstrations by trained domestic science teachers, if necessary. The
committee cooperated with the Red Cross, the city and county schools,
the Agricultural Extension Service, and commercial companies who sent
out their own teachers.
"Under the Board of Education, the home economics supervisors
arranged for 26 demonstrations to be given in the public schools of the
city. Nine demonstrations in canning, dehydrating, and freezing were
held at the Pittsburgh Garden Center. The committee also: arranged for
canning lessons at five different settlement houses and eleven of the
housing projects. Regular canning sessions were held at the Woods Run
Settlement Home eight different days, as well as four demonstrations,
the women of the community bringing their own produce and canning it for
their own use. Under the county schools there were domestic science
teachers working constantly in several districts, among them West Deer
and Mifflin Townships. One especially interesting canning center was
held at the Liberty School where surplus produce was brought in and
canned under a trained teacher. Miss Isabelle Bewick of the Agricultural
Extension Service gave 74 separate demonstrations in different parts of
the county and reached 2388 people.
"The committee encouraged canning projects in Sewickley where
women canned vegetables that were donated to the Sewickley Valley
Hospital for hospital use, and in Kennedy Township, where a group of
women canned over 3000 quarts of vegetables and fruit for the Ohio
Valley Hospital. We feel that the teaching of canning and dehydrating
was so readily available throughout the county that anyone who wished to
learn had opportunity to do so."
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click for larger photo
Victory Gardens
Handbook of the
Victory Garden Committee
War Services, Pennsylvania
State Council of Defense
April, 1944
TABLE OF CONTENTS
page v
page vi
page vii
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