The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1917-06-16
NEW JERSEYS PART IN
FOOD PREPAREDNESS.
Essay by Miss Catherine
Wynia of the Pleasantville
High School.

The old world and the new world
are face to face with a food problem
so vast in its proportions and so
threatening in its aspect, as to cause
the deepest concern among all think
ing men and women. And it has only
been within the last few months that
we as a nation have begun to realize
the Importance for modifying all re-
sources of labor and soil fertility and
the necessity for the organization of
country and town alike for the pur-
pose of c%ultivating all tillable land
all food materials against decay and
other forms of waste.
New Jersey as a community has
done much in the line of agriculture,
but nothing in comparison with it's
wonderful possibilities. It's unique To-
cality, its harbors, its unrivalled
transportation facilities, it's varying
types of soil, make a combination sell
dom to be found.
Recognizing the need for prompt
and vigorous service, the agricultural
department of New Jersey has plan
ned to aid the farmers by giving a
generous supply of farm labor and by
insuring a more prompt delivery of
seed and fertilizer. In bringing this
aid to the farmers, five plans have
been agreed upon: (1) To relieve high
school students in farm districts and
to organize them for farm work. (2)
To call to farm service all men who
car be spared from other work. 90
To appeal to owners of all farm trac-
tor and other machinery to make
them available to farmers of their vi
cinity so that the greatest possible
area may be plowed and made ready
for planting. (4) To register for SER
vice as instructors, foremen, ETC., all
elderly men having farming knowl-
edge, but not actually employed. (5)
To recommend motor truck service in
the delivery on fertilizer and nipple
ments and to relieve farm teams and
their drivers for other work.
But these plans made by the de-
partment will be of no value without
the cooperation Iof the people of New
Jersey. 1t is essential that every far
mer should cultivate during the pres
ent season the largest area practical.
But in this crisis it is not sufficient
for him to cultivate the land-the va
riety of crops which he raises must be
considered. He must turn his thoughts
toward those crops which will pro-
duce the greatest food value per acre
and which are readily stored. Among
these are such staple crops as corn,
potatoes, beans, roots of various
kinds, and alfalfa, the most valuable
of all hay crops.
1t is impossible to plant too much
corn. This crop produces a large food
value, lends itself readily to c~ultiva-
ton on different types of soil, does
not call for a large outlay of seed
and fertilizer, and does not require as
thorough tillage as some of the other
crops.
There are large tracts of land in
South Jersey which will grow pota-
toes, planted in July. On such soils it
is the practice of many progressive
farmers to begin with an early crop
of peas and to follow it with a second
crop of blight resisting potatoes.
bic of being greatly extended.
The production of large crops Of
peas, beans, mangels and cowpeas, is
important, for they are necessary not
only for human consumption, but for
that of cattle as well. Since by in
creasing the food supply of live stock,
the production of meat and dairy pro-
ducts car be materially enlarged.
Not only can the acreage of tillable
land be increased but that of the I'M
tillable as well. The BURBERRY, more
commonly known as the huckleberry,
has a fungus growth upon its roots
that requires an acid soil. 1t thriyes
best in one composed of leaf peat and
sand. The pine barrens of New Jer-
sey afford just that kind of soil, with
every variation in soil from perma-
nent bog to areas of pronounced aridi-
ty. Under such favorable conditions
as exist in pine barrens, therefore,
BURBERRY culture is to be classed as