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THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS ITS WAR TIME NEED AND ITS ECONOMIC VALUE IN PEACE Willyou have a part jaiiiCi (uc-n-nsoBiiu^ ^kjMic "Every Garden a Munition Plant" THIS POSTER, USED IN 1918, AND WITH DIFFERENT SLOGANS IN 1919, WAS POF'ULAR WHEREVER IT APPEARED AND DID MUCH TO EXTEND THE WAR GARDEN MOVEMENT The War Garden Victorious BY CHARLES LATHROP PACK ILLUSTRATED ORIGINALLY COPYRIGHTED 1919 BY THE NATIONAL WAR GARDEN COMMISSION 2020 EDITION COPYRIGHT ©H.A.F. PUBLISHING 'T^HIS book is dedicated to the War Gardeners -- of the United States and Allied countries in' admiration of their success in adding to the world's supply of food during the World War. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. How THE National War Garden Commission Came into Being i II. The Story of the War Garden 12 III. How War Gardens Helped 24 IV. Types of War Gardens 35 V. Uncle Sam's First War Garden 46 VI. How Big Business Helped 53 VII. How THE Railroads Helped 68 VIII. The Army of School Gardeners 73 IX. Community Gardening 79 X. Cooperation in Gardening 89 XI. War Gardens as City Assets 96 XII. The Part Played by Daylight Saving 105 XIII. The Future of War Gardening 109 XIV. Conserving the Garden Surplus 121 XV. Community Conservation 126 XVI. Conservation by Drying 134 XVII. Why We Should Use Dried Foods 145 XVIII. The Future of Dehydration 155 XIX. Cooperation of the Press 165 APPENDIX " War Gardening," Victory Edition, 1919 " Home Canning and Drying," Victory Edition, 1919 EDITOR'S NOTE "There is nothing new except what has been forgotten." - Rose Bertin The year is 1917. Woodrow Wilson is President of the United States. After more than 2 1/2 years of fighting, the food supplies of Europe are at a critical low. Farms have long since been stripped of their male workers, and the farms of so much of France and the low countries lay in waste. Rationing isn't enough. With large swaths of Europe on the verge of famine, creative solutions are being sought... Charles Lathrop Pack (1857-1937) was a successful 3rd generation timberman, and one of the 5 wealthiest men in America prior to World War I. He served as president of the American Forestry Association, one of the principal advocates of the early forest conservation movement, and later founded the American Tree Association, contributing some of his millions to further research in forestry and forest education. In March of 1917, some weeks before the US entered the war, Pack organized the US National War Garden Commission, to encourage men and women on the homefront to contribute directly to the war effort by converting urban spaces into productive gardens and mini-farms. This is the story of the movement he founded. Initially referred to as War gardens, the name was changed to Victory gardens after the conflict had ended. This name was resurrected with the onset of World War II when, once again, food production would become critical to the war effort. It is my sincere wish that this volume will be of help once again, in these times of growing uncertainty. Detailing both food production and food preservation methods, part narrative and part instruction manual, this classic little book is as timely now as it was 100 years ago. Learning the skills of food gardening at home is a worthy and meaningful undertaking for both adults and children alike. Putting these skills into practice gives one a sense of empowerment, independence, and, maybe in some small way, a measure of control over our circumstances. Together, let us channel that pioneering spirit of a bygone era, and each do our part, by growing our own "Victory" gardens. Will you have a part in victory? Patrick Masterson H.A.F. Publishing April, 2020 THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS THE WA R GARDEN VICTORIOUS CHAPTER I HOW THE NATIONAL WAR GARDEN COMMISSION CAME INTO BEING The Need of Making Every Garden a Munition Plant ^ war garden was a war-time necessity. I "^HE This true because conditions I was war made it essential that food should be raised where it had not been produced in peace times, with labor not engaged in agricultural work and not taken from any other industry, and in places where it made no demand upon the railroads already overwhelmed with trans- portation burdens. The knowledge that the world faced a deficit in food, that there existed an emergency which could be met only by the raising of more food, was apparent to every well-informed and thinking man and woman during the early months of 1917. The author, wishing, as every patriot wished, to do a war work which was actually necessary, which was essentially practical, and which would most certainly aid in making the war successful, conceived the idea in March, 1917, of inspiring the people of the United States to plant war gardens in order to increase the supply of food without the use of land already cultivated, of 2 THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS labor already engaged in agricultural work, of time de- voted to other necessary occupations, and of trans- portation facilities which were already inadequate to the demands made upon them. In March, therefore, some weeks before the United States entered the war, he organized for this work a commission known as the National War Garden Commission. What were the causes which led to the world's lack of food and the need of a largely increased production by the United States to prevent world starvation? When the drums sounded the call to the colors in the summer of 1914, three million Frenchmen shouldered their rifles and marched away from a large proportion of the five million farms of France; and mostly these were one-man farms. Russia, a nation almost wholly agricultural, mobilized perhaps eight millions of men. All the men of fighting age in Belgium were summoned to the army. England, possessing only a "contempt- ible little army," straightway began a recruiting cam- paign which within a few years swelled the ranks of her military forces to five millions. Germany called out her entire fighting force of military age, an army of several millions. Austria, Bulgaria and Turkey like- wise mobilized their full fighting forces. Altogether, twenty or thirty million men were called away from their usual pursuits. The vocation of the majority of them was farming. Thus, at one stroke, practically all the farms in the embattled nations were swept clear of male workers. THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 3 At the same time the harvests were maturing or al- ready ripe for the sickle; and over these laden acres swept the millions of soldiers, trampling, burning and destroying vast stores of food. In Belgium and France on the west front, and in Hungary, East Prussia, and Russia on the east, thousands upon thousands of crop- bearing acres were devastated and laid waste. In a few short weeks this was the situation: the food supply was largely decreased, vast areas of farming land were rendered unproductive, and the farms were practically stripped of their accustomed tillers. The world's food supply was thrown entirely out of balance. Ordinarily the food-supply system was as nicely adjusted as the parts of a watch. Production was balanced against consumption. Given markets were supplied from given sources. So unfailing was this system that each of the belli- gerent nations absolutely depended upon other nations for certain parts of its food, and had received its expected supply as unfailingly as our daily milk and newspapers are delivered at our doors. Thus England procured most of her sugar from Germany, and Italy got wheat from Russia, by way of the Dardanelles. At one stroke, this nicely balanced system was destroyed. Worse than the wrecking of the system of distribution was the unbalancing of production itself. Millions of farms, stripped of their male workers, necessarily became either wholly unproductive or able to raise but a fraction of their normal output. In a moment's time, as it were, the food production of Europe was 4 THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS lessened by millions and millions of bushels. Since food production is not, like Aladdin's palace, the creation of a night, this inevitably meant a shortage in the world's food supply. Before the European deficit could be made good by increased production elsewhere, months and perhaps years must elapse. Then came the submarine, further to complicate matters. By hundreds of thousands of tons the world's shipping was sent to the bottom of the sea, so that in a short time the food situation wore an entirely new aspect. No matter what mountainous piles of proven- der might accumulate in the distant parts of the earth, it was not available for the nations at war. Ships could not be spared for long and distant voyages. If the 120,000,000 people of the Entente nations were to have food, if they were to procure enough to keep them from actual starvation, that food must come from the nearest markets. Only by sending their ships back and forth from these markets, back and forth like shuttles in a loom, could food be transported rapidly enough to keep this great population from starvation. Prior to the war England had produced but one-fifth of her own food supply, France one-half of hers, and Italy two-thirds of what she consumed, and now their home production was fearfully decreased. The nearest possible markets where food could be produced were in North America, and principally in our own country. Thus the burden of feeding the Entente fell very largely upon the United States.

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