Bridgeton pioneer., 1917-04-19
BOY SCOUTS WILL
FEED OUR TROOPS
Enlist Their Aid TO Plant
100000 More Gardens.
on POUND FOR A MEAL

Youths to Store Large Quantities OF
Foodstufss All Over the Country and
at Call For Help Will Flood the
Army With Good, Palatable, Nourish-
ing Food.
Two million home gardens, cultivat-
ed under the auspices of the Boy
Scouts of America are going to prove
invaluable to the United States during
the war period and help to end the
high price of food here, according te
o. II. Benson Of the United States de
partrnent of agriculture,
Mr.. Benson, Who IS in charge of the
governments agricultural extension
work, conferred in New York with Off,
cials Of the boy scouts on the plans
for mobiiizing the 275,O00 scouts and
officers for food production. He said
the back yard gardening campaign is
sweeping the nation and that the
movement to a great extent will prove
the solution Of the food problem that
now confrOnts this country.
If these new resources are properly
conserved, Mr.. Benson says, they will
force prices down next fall and also
furnish reserve food supply that will
be invaluable to the country In its
prosecution Of the war.
"This boy scout movement alone
means more than 100000 new gar
dens II: :"ughout the country this
spring." sad Mr.. Benson '1n addi-
tion to raising garden himself, each
scout is pledged to persuade nine 9th
er persons not scouts to raise gar
dens. That makes ten, gardens per
scout, and there are 21S,O00 scouts, not
counting the adults in the organization.
These millions Of gardens will furnish
an addition TO the food supply which
the nation will appreciate more next
fall than it does now"
Boys to Ration Army.
A plan by which the United States
army can be furnished with millions
Of pounds of balanced rations on few
hours notice through the cooperation
Of the boy scouts was revealed by Mr..
Benson. Boy scouts all over the coun-
Try will be instructed III scientific meth
ods Of preserving the surplus food
Products OF their gardens. They will
be taught how to prepare balanced
ration in one pound packages especial
ly for army use ss
One OF these packages will be sufi-
cient to feed soldier for one day, il
on short rations. Normally soldier
would eat one at a meal The food
will be compact aud a marching sol
der could carry several days provi-
sions In his knapsack.
Millions of these one pound packages
OF food will be stored by boy scouts
under the direction of the scout mas
ters. When the government needs the
food for its soldiers the war depart
ment will communicate with the boy
scout headquarters. Immediately tele-
grams will be sent to scout masters
all over the country They will at
once ship the rations from their dis
tricts to central distributing point
named by the government Within a
few hours ratious enough to equip a
great army viii be pouring in.
The basis OF the one pound ration
will be either spaghetti, rice or hom-
my. With this, in scientifically bal
anced proportions, will be meat, pota-
toes, tomatoes, carrots and onions. The
ration can be heated in the can, thus
furnishing Il soldier a quick, appetiz-
ing and nourishing meal
Increase In Gardening.
The interest being shown throughout
the country in the gardening movement
is indicated, Mr. Benson said. by the
fact that TIE department of agriculture
has already distributed more of its
pamphlets on gardening this spring
than ii did throughout all last year.
Equally as important as the efforts
to increase this countrys production
OF fo0dStuffs, said Mr.. Benson. is the
necessity Of preserving the surplus and
avoiding waste. This can be done by
canning under modern methods he de-
cleared.
Making 2.000,00O gardens is to be
only u part OF the boy scouts work.
They are 10 make their gardens 100
per cent efficient by not allowing sin
gle pea or potato to so to waste. Mr..
Benson strongly urges all amateur
gardeners TO do The same