The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1917-05-18
WOMEN AND CHILDREN TO ASSIST
IN INCREASING THE FOOD SUPPLY
Engage Campaign for Bigger Crops-Federa Department Of
Agriculture Trying to Interest the NOnarming POpu-
aon in the Food Problem-MoTe Hands
Needed to Help Till the Soil.

New York.-The farmers cannot
work any harder-only women and
children and men whose regular work
is not agriculture can increase the
crops of tho nation.
This is n truth which impresses IL
self on anyone who investigates the
experiences of the warning nations and
the problems of our own.
In Germany and the other central
powers the problem is not one of more
land, but more labor. With the farm
hands limited mostly to women, chill
dren, wounded or otherwise inca
pacitated men, old men and prison
ers, it is found impossible to produce
n usual crop, even with ordinarily fa-
vorable weather.
In this country similar problems are
met. 1t is useless to explain the crisis
TO the farmer and his "hired men,
They are going to get up at four o'clock
in the morning and work as long
as it is light in the hot months.
But they were going to do that wheth-
er or not the United States went to
war. They can do no more.
1t is only by bringing in hands which
in other years would not be devoted to
the cultivation of the soil that the
earth's bounty can be increased.
Therefore, the experts of the de-
partment of agriculture, and of state
farm bureaus, and various official and
semi-official organizations throughout
the country, are trying to interest the
non-farming population In the food
problem.
Nowhere are they meeting with
greater success than on Long Island.
This stretch Of nearly level soil, very
rich when fertilized, bids fair to be
one continuous garden this year and
make new name for itself as a
truck produce center.
1t is the promised land of the COM
muter. 1t is country Of small hold
ings, besides many large estates.
Women and children are assisting in
many ways to increase the yield.
Suffragist Shows Her Worth.
One of the most interesting points
on the island, from food-increase
standpoint, is Mrs. Ruth Lifts mag
nificent 125-acre estate, Jackwill farm,
named after her two boys. 1t lies
on Great South bay, near East Pat
chogue.
Here the suffragist is finding new
way of proving herself fit for the
ballot.
The vOtes-for-women enthusiasts
are tilling the ground and planting
vegetables in most efficient way.
They are doing all the work them
selves, real mems work.
Mrs. Lift has turned over a huge
field to the suffragists, besides tools,
horses seeds and other things needed.
The women will put it entirely under
cultivation, and they are making it q
point of honor not to let a male hand
assist them.
Associated with Mrs. Lift in the ag-
ricultural venture are Mrs. George
Baxter Jr., the suffrage leader of Long
lSldllu MISS vi dNC 1Ioihull' VIC iSHN-
er; Mrs. ". Granville Smith and Mrs.
Charles Gould.
A three-day-old Jersey calf has be-
come the mascot of the woman farm
ers.
"The women of England" said
Mrs. Lift, carefully steering the plow
in a straight furrow as she talked,
were not prepared to do any work of
this sort. 1t came to them in the ma
ture of a great hardship, albeit they
were willing to do their bit The
American woman has taken leaf out
of the experience of her British sister
and is learning to do efficiently some
thing that she may sooner or later be
called upon to do by the government.
"The work is good for women. 1t
will turn a lot of women from house
plants into 'huskies' and will be of |
two-fold benefit, making efficient work |
ers and garnering health and physical |
strength for the women of the nation"
Mrs. Lift turned the plow over to |
one of the other workers and proceed |
ed to the dollhouse, where she dis |