The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-05-19
IF. 0. B. KITCHEN DOOR"
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
By Frederic j. Haskin, Director
WASHINGTON, ID. @.

and helps greatly" said President
Wilson in his service proclamation,
thus putting the home vegetable gar
dener in the same class with the SOL
dier, the munition maker and the ship
carpenter, as one of those whose eff
forts will set the day of victory. And
the home gardener has responded
right nobly. While the revenue bill
was being riddled by blasts of pro-
test, while the army bill was blowing
thru committees, while the ship-build-
ing program was being criticised and
recast, the army of home gardeners
was shouldering its spades, turning
up the moist and winter-rested soil
to heaven, and porting over govern
ment manuals on the art Of vegeta-
BILE gardening.
1t is not too soon to estimate some
of the probable results. There is
still time to plant a few thousands or
tens of thousands more gardens; the
lateness of the spring gives the more
backward citizens a chance to re-
trieve their patriotic standing; but
enough gardens have been planted to
enable it to be said that the small
vegetable garden production of the
United States will be about 700 per
cent this year what it was last, and
that the value of the products will
be increased by some $3OO,000,OOO.
This is a good showing, and ought
to encourage the gardener to stay by
his plat with the consciousness that
his effort is part of an important fac
tor in world conditions, but the good
showing is no excuse for any one hold
| ing back. The country will need the
whole crop, and could use good
deal more.
The enthusiasm with which gardens
are being titled is a good barometer
OF the state of public feeling. 1t shows
that everybody is anxious to help. The
garden gives everybody with a bit of
! q akanr ~
great value, and patriotism rather
than profit is the chief motive back
of the work. People far too rich to
worry about the price of food are
having their lawns and their flower
| beds plowed for potatoes and onions
On the other hand, people so poor that
they haven't enough land and sun to
add much to the total crop are work.
ing patiently and hard just to give vent
to their spirit of service. Some of the
most arlstocratic residence streets in
America will be fronted by rows Of
cabbages instead of blue grass md
roses this summer. And down in the
tenement district of New York there
is at least one little girl who is raising
a garden in the only flower pots she
hasa pair of battered wooden shoes
| brought over from Holland. Thou
sands and thousands of apartment
house jewellers are planting beans and
lettuce in their window-boxes instead
uCnySdnInen1uInS-
tween these extremes are the hun
dreds of thousands of gardeners who
are planting anywhere from fifty to
| five thousand square feet of soil to
! feed or help feed the family with
vegetables.
The movement has been taken up
and is being pushed by all sorts of
/ organizations, and any movement in
! this country which can get the sup
/ port of our numerous and energetic
.aNar -
| Boards of trade are behind the garden
campaign in almost every principal
city with concrete encouragement
which runs in one case as high as
| $25, 900 cash. Mayors garden COM
mittees have been appointed in several
| hundred of the largest cities in the
nation. Practically every woman's
club has taken the matter up, and IN
many cases these clubs were the first
! bodies to start the work in their local
fields. The Boy Scouts and the Girl
Scouts are pushing the campaign in
wholesale fashion. The Y. NJ c. A
I and the Y. W. C. A. have done much
good work in many sections. Before
the first of June the vacant lot with
nothing growing on it is likely to be
| fenced and exhibited as a curiosity.
Probably the leading non-official or
| ganization engaged exclusively in
pushing the campaign is the National
with headquarters at Washington. This
commission, of which Charles Lathrop
Pack is president, consists of about a
score of prominent men from all over
the country, including the Assistant
| Secretary of Agriculture Carl VroO-
man, the Hon. James Wilson, formerly
/ secretary of agriculture, Luther Bur-
bank. and many others equally emf
nent- This commission has no other
aim, object or purpose than to stimu-
~ of no
gardens. 1t was one of the first, if not
the first organization in the field, with
"A million food gardens for it's orig
inal goal, which it bids fair to see
passed by a wide margin. "F. o. B.
The Kitchen Door," is one of the slo-
gans evolved by it's president.
This slogan brings out one of the
most important features of the home
garden movement, and one that the
gardener should not forget in reckon
ing the advantages he will derive from
his labor. The home garden solves a
good part of the problem of transpor-
tation- American railroads will be
worked to the limit carrying troops
and munitions, bread-stuffs and sta
pies and livestock and other essential
freight. The $1,000, 100000 war-bond
+ issue is to be spent entirely in the
United States, not only that part which
we use for our own purposes, but also
the billions that the allies borrow
The greater part of the products pur-
chased are destined for use in Europe
This means that the railroads will
have to haul them to Atlantic ports
They will have to haul the coal and
the ore for munition making. Every
factory in the country will be working
under forced draught, and the rail-
roads are the vital arteries of manu-
facture. Experts have long been bal
ancing transportation facilities against
transportation needs with grave con-
Germ The home food garden will take
a great burden off the roads. If every
city and every section produces every
possible pound of food at home, thou
sands of precious cars will be released
for other essential service.
The federal department of agricul.
ture is of course the official agency
at the head of the movement The
department has furnished the public
with advice and Instructions thru