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CHAPTER II
THE STORY OF THE WAR GARDEN
How American Gardeners sowed the Seeds of Victory
While the organizers of the War
Garden Commission were optimistic and looked forward confidently to the
accomplishment of large results, they little dreamed that the war-garden
movement would grow so rapidly. The war-garden idea struck a patriotic
chord. The American people answered the call to help win the war by
producing food in their back yards with the same unanimity and enthusiasm
they had shown in responding to each other appeal the country had made for
service. One reason for the prompt and eager response to the National War
Garden Commission's appeal to "Sow the Seeds of Victory": was that
immediately after the United States entered the war everybody was
patriotically desirous of rendering help in some form. Millions of people
realized that they would never be able to take part as actual soldiers in
the great task of overthrowing Prussian militarism. Because of this they
wanted to take an active part in some effort which would show tangible
results in the struggle for right and justice.
War gardening offered the opportunity. Although small home
plots might not produce large amounts of food, such gardens made possible
the saving of some of the wheat and meat and other foods which were needed
by our army and which were practically the only kinds of food that could
be shipped to our allies. Every pound of beef that could be saved through
the growing of food at home, it was realized, would bring victory just so
much nearer; and in fact, without food conservation, there was positive
danger that the Central Powers would be able to have their way.
 The
Seeds of Victory Insure the Fruits of Peace
A POSTER SPREADING THE IDEA OF MILITANT WAR
GARDENS
The food shortage faced by Great Britain, France, and Italy during the
winter of 1917-1918, the seriousness of which was not realized by the
people of this country until long after the danger was passed, showed the
wisdom which led to the saving of every particle of food. The ability of
the United States to respond so magnificently to the appeal of the late
Lord Rhondda, then Food Controller of Great Britain, for 75,000,000
additional bushels of wheat early in 1918, was made possible in part by
substituting in the dietary, war-garden products for the customary
commercial supplies.
Once embarked upon participation in the war it became evident
that this nation would need to exert every ounce of her power in the
prosecution of the conflict. In various localities anti-loafing laws were
speedily enacted to put every man to work. Since food was even more
necessary than man-power, it was of still greater importance to put to use
every particle of "slacker land"–idle soil so located that it could
be worked. In our cities and towns, where the manpower was available to
cultivate these areas, were thousands upon thousands of acres of idle real
estate. Few people realized the
enormous aggregate acreage thus standing useless. There was probably no
town i the United States that did not have within its boundaries at least
fifty acres of idle soil. In the larger communities where garden space was
needed most, the aggregate area of vacant lots was astonishing. A survey
made in Minneapolis, shortly before the war began, showed more than 5,000
acres in vacant lots. In 1917 a survey disclosed 186,000 vacant lots in
greater New York. Altogether there were hundreds of thousands of idle
acres in or near our towns and cities–the only places where labor was
available for working them; and much of this land was suitable for
gardening. It was of the utmost importance, therefore, to place these
areas under cultivation.
In Great Britain steps had been taken very early in the war
to utilize similar open spaces for the production of food. Parliament
passed a law providing that any untaxed land which was not being used for
the production of food might be taken over by the authorities and parceled
out to those who were able and willing to raise food. Millions of
"Allotments," as they were called, were asked for, and the production of
vegetables increased incredibly. Thus the British were able in 1918 to
produce all the potatoes they needed, and even to send a slight surplus to
France. American possessed vast areas, in the aggregate, of these idle
lands; but the importance of utilizing them for food production had not
been generally realized, until pointed out by the Commission.
 Every
War Garden A Peace Plant
A POSTER FOR 1919, SYMBOLIC OF VICTORY
"Put the slacker land to work" became a slogan of the National War
Commission; and in response to its energetic campaign toward this end, the
people in 1917 put to work more than 3,000,000 pieces of such uncultivated
territory. In 1918 they ferreted out additional vast areas. The total
number of war gardens for this latter season is conservatively estimated,
after a careful survey, at 5,285,000.
With war's destruction occurring to an undreamed of and
terrifying extent, involving the destruction of all kinds of material
wealth as well as food, it soon became apparent that food shortage was
only one of many shortages the world was facing. Conservation of
everything became a crying need. The war garden offered an opportunity for
conservation along many lines. First came the conservation of food itself.
The daily ration of a soldier in our army consists of about four and a
quarter pounds of food. A million soldiers would require at least
4,250,000 pounds of food a day. At this rate a year's supply of food for a
million men would weigh 1,551,250,000 pounds–and we were planning to raise
an army of four or five million men. To take from the ordinary channels of
trade the colossal supplies necessary to feed such an army, with no extra
food to replace that thus subtracted, would mean that householders would
be forced to pay ruinously high prices for the food that remained. War
gardening offered an opportunity to offset, in part, this tremendous drain
on our commercial supplies, to eke out those supplies and make them go
farther–which is really conversation in its truest sense.
War gardening promised to make many other things go farther. There was the
matter of labor. There was only so much labor in existence. As the primary
requisite of war, food would have the first call on labor, although other
things besides food were needed. Cannon and shells and rifles and
cartridges and uniforms and innumerable other articles were demanded in
incomprehensible quantities. After taking four or five million men away
from productive industry, obviously we should not have sufficient
man-power left to create all that was needed of these various supplies.
War gardening, by adding to the food supply, released for work on these
lines men who otherwise would have been necessary on the farms. In short,
war gardening conserved labor by making labor go farther.
The conservation, however, did not end with lessening the
number of men needed on the farms. Commercial foods must pass through many
hands before reaching the consumer. They must go through the hands of the
farmer, the railroader, the wholesaler, the retailer, the city
deliveryman. For instance, a cabbage bought in the market is handled by
almost all the men enumerated. A cabbage grown in the back yard is "Food
F.O.B. the Kitchen Door." No one needs to handle it except the person who
produces it for he or she is also the one who eats it. Suppose that the
average backyard garden produces only a hundred pounds of food, which is a
ridiculously small estimate, as a single bushel of potatoes weighs sixty
pounds. Based on this the 5,285,000 war gardens of 1918 yielded at least
528,285,000 pounds of food. Actually, as we shall see later, the yield was
many times as great. Yet the handling of that vast weight of provender
called for hardly a single public carrier of goods. The army of men which
otherwise would have been needed to transmit this food from producer to
consumer was thus released for other essential labor. It probably would
not be possible to figure just how much was accomplished in this manner by
the war gardeners of the United States; but it is safe to say that the men
thus release for other work numbered many thousands.
 Can
Vegetables, Fruits and the Kaiser too
A POSTER WHICH WAS USED FIRST IN 1918 AND
WHICH, AMENDED–FOLLOWING GERMANY'S DEFEAT–WAS ALSO FORCEFUL IN 1919
While this conservation of labor was being accomplished there was a
concurrent saving in still another way, through the release of thousands
of freight-cars, motor-trucks, and wagons, for purposes other than the
hauling of food. This saving, too, was most vital. At a time when every
freight-car in the country was urgently needed for the hauling of raw
materials to be used in the manufacture of munitions of ar, for the
transportation to the seacoast of finished products, and for hauling
lumber and supplies to cantonments and army camps, it was essential that
not one foot of freight space should be wasted. War gardening released
thousands of cars for these essential needs. This saving, it must be
remembered, involved also the conservation of coal and steam-power
required in hauling, and prevented, as well, a great amount of wear and
tear on railroad tracks and equipment.
To secure all these ends a campaign of education was
necessary. This campaign had to be extensive in range and intensive in method.
As an educator of the masses there is no power equal to the public press; and
from the start, the Commission, had the cordial cooperation of the newspapers
and periodicals of the entire country. Inspiration and detailed instruction were
furnished through the columns of the daily newspapers. Articles and feature
stories which dealt with various phases of war gardening and sought to stimulate
the movement to the utmost were also prepared and sent broadcast.
These appeals soon bore fruit. Requests for instruction in
gardening and in the organization of community gardening movements poured in
from all sides. To the requests the Commission responded with carefully prepared
pamphlets which gave the information desired. In addition, representatives of
the Commission visited innumerable cities and towns to confer with the local
chambers of commerce or other organizations which were directing gardening
campaigns. As a result of this propaganda, war gardens sprang up as though by
magic. Gardening came to be the thing.
In order that all this enthusiasm might be transmuted into
substantial accomplishment, it was necessary that the army of would-be gardeners
should have instruction, for many of them had never before handled a hoe or
wielded a fork. Daily garden lessons were prepared therefore for the daily
press. These lessons were short and simple, shorn of useless technicalities, but
carefully prepared by experts. They were lacking in nothing essential. They gave
the fundamentals of good garden practice, which would enable even a beginner to
make a success of his endeavor. In addition a book was printed explaining how to
plant and care for the different vegetables. A copy of this book was free to any
one upon request and several million copies have been given away in response to
request. Many copies were also distributed through the agency of libraries,
chambers of commerce, trade bodies, women's clubs, banks, manufacturing concerns
and the like. Thousands of letters of appreciation prove how helpful were these
books.
 NO
"SLACKER LAND" HERE
Not a square foot of vacant space has been allowed to go to waste. Vegetables
are growing right up to the edge of the walks and the walls of the surrounding
buildings. This home food producer in East Liberty, Ohio, could almost gather
his garden products without stepping off the porch.
To encourage the conservation of garden products canning an drying manuals were
prepared and distributed through the same channels which had handled the garden
books, and daily lessons on canning and drying were sent to the newspapers for
publication. The results were most gratifying. Editors everywhere devoted
generous space to the articles sent them, including news stories, technical
matter on canning and drying, and ample illustrations. Cartoonists, paragraphers,
and writers of comics also made gardening their theme; and some of the
productions the Commission scattered broadcast, to keep alive the interest in
home food production and preservation.
The prose poem, so popular these days, was used to catch the
eye and arouse the interest of "city farmers." Here is one, entitled "Let's Dig
and Dig and We'll be Big:"
When I go down the village street in
my perambulations, most every other chap I meet is asking for donations. They're
seeking funds for Red Cross work, for hospitals and motors; they're holding up
with constant jerk, all wives and kids and voters. I'm helping out from day to
day, with no delays or pauses, tobacco funds, Y.M.C.A. and other worthy causes.
I'm told that war bonds I must buy, in twos and fours and dozens, enough to make
a full supply for all my aunts and cousins. For war stamps, too, those signs of
thrift, I dig into my pocket, to give my Uncle Same a lift in cleaning up his
docket. I'm taxed for building wooden ships with good, old-fashioned rigging,
and in my little daily trips I'm constantly kept digging. I dig to pay tobacco
tax, and tax for railway travel. I'm always chipping from my stacks; they keep
me scratching gravel. But I've no kick for those who come with all their pleas
beguiling. It never makes me sad nor glum. They always find me smiling. I know
that I'm too old to fight; I can't be caught renigging. So I regard it just and
right that I should keep on digging. And then besides, it's proved to me that
every man is bigger if he will teach himself to be a willing war-time digger.
It's not enough for us to sing about the joy of giving. We've got to dig for
everything we need to keep on living. We've got to dig in our back yards for
carrots, beans, and 'taters' we've got to dig both long and hard as garden
cultivators. So take your trusty hoe and spade and start your spring-time
sowing. Just dig and get a garden made and set the foodstuff growing.
 ONE
OF CLEVELAND'S WAR GARDENS
Working under pressure to produce munitions for the armies did not keep
the great industrial centers from developing their war gardens. Cleveland
was notable for its success in "growing munitions of war at home." The
Xavia garden on East Sixty-third street is here pictured as a typical home
muntion plant.
In order to catch the attention of
the man in the street, several striking posters were prepared by the Commission
and placed in conspicuous places in communities in every part of the land. On
bulletin-boards, in railway stations, libraries, stores, at factory entrances,
and even in clubs, banks and commercial houses, these striking posters met the
eye. They were also reproduced in newspapers and magazines and thus scattered
throughout the length and breadth of the land. Many were even sent to foreign
lands in answer to requests for help in stimulating gardening.
These posters were the work of artists of national
reputation. One of the posters, most beautiful in its richness of coloring and
most striking in its patriotic appeal, was drawn by James Montgomery Flagg. It
was entitled: "Sow the Seed of Victory." At the bottom it bore another of the
slogans of the Commission: "Every Garden a Munition Plant." This poster without
doubt was a powerful influence in persuading many an American citizen to get
into his back yard and help grow some of the "ammunition" needed in fighting the
enemy. Another poster, by Frank V. DuMond, showed the Goddess of Victory.
Maginel Wright Enright created two striking posters for the commission. They
were entitled: "War Gardens Over the Top," and "War Gardens Victorious."
One of the posters used by the Commission in arousing the war
gardeners of the country to the importance of conserving vegetables for future
use, was popularly known as the "Can the Kaiser" poster. Most appropriately this
famous poster was the work of a Belgian, J.Paul Verrees, a soldier-artist, who
was wounded in one of the early battles of the war while helping to defend his
country, and who, incapacitated for further military service, later came to the
United States to follow his profession.
One of the most inspiring and satisfactory features of the
rapid growth of the war-garden movement was the spread of the idea to foreign
countries. Advice was gladly given to foreign inquirers, the Commission
furnishing detailed information concerning the methods which had resulted in
such general enthusiasm for war gardening in the United States. In response to
numerous requests which came to the Commission from all parts of the world,
large quantities of printed matter, including garden and canning books, posters,
and pamphlets, were sent broadcast throughout the world.
"Kia Ora," the Maroi way of saying, "Salutations to you all,"
was the greeting which came to the Commission from far-off New Zealand, in a
letter of thanks from F. Carr Follett, of the Auckland Herald, for data
and material that had been sent. From Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the
opposite side of the globe, C.D. Middlebrook, of the Sociedad Anonima La Blanca,
wrote a hearty letter of appreciation for posters and other literature sent,
saying that the posters were prominently displayed on the occasion of the
entertainment of two hundred American bluejackets who visited this South
American capital. "Down here we appreciate this class of propaganda," said Mr.
Middlebrook, "and we are in a position to exhibit the posters where they can
readily be seen by the public. Practically every American home and sympathizer
displays them. We will do our part in making this propaganda public."
 NO
WONDER SHE SMILES:
Thousands of men and women who had never before the war raised a cabbage or a
potato were just as much pleased as is Miss Dorothy Primm, of Minneapolis, over
the results of their labor. They found that even amateurs could succeed.
From South and Central American countries, from Cuba, India,
China, Japan, the Philippines, Alaska, Hawaii, South Africa, and from a number
of European nations cam requests for information and instruction on war
gardening. Even Lord Rhondda, as British Food Controller, cabled a request for
5,000 copies of the Commission's book on gardening.
No new movement could have spread with such rapidity and been
rewarded with such results as were achieved, had it not been for the loyal and
whole-hearted manner in which state, county and town committees and officials of
all sorts, as well as numerous individuals, cooperated with and supplemented the
work of the Commission. With this help the results surpassed the most sanguine
anticipations of those who initiated the war-garden movement. The first season
saw the planting in the United States, according to the Commission's estimates
based on reports from all parts of the country, of approximately 3,500,000 home
food producing lots. The reports gathered in 1918 showed the number had
increased to 5,285,000.
Furthermore, there was more intensive cultivation and a
greater proportion of large-yielding gardens in 1918 than during the preceding
year. The food value of the 1917 products was estimated at something like
$350,000,000. In the second year the value reached an estimated total of
$525,000,000.
It is estimated, likewise, that as a result of the garden and
canning campaigns, there were put up and stored away on pantry shelves in 1917
more than 500,000,000 quarts of canned vegetables and fruits; while in 1918 the
number of such jars is believed to have been fully 1,450,000,000.
Assuredly tall oaks from little acorns grow.
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