Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-03-27
SCORES SEEK PLOTS
FOR WAR GARDENS
[Continued from FIRST Page.I

| LContinued from First Page.1
same hour the entire United States
school garden army modified. The
vast plan has been so carefully
worked out that there was not a sin.
gle hitch in the program.
The Secretary of the Interior
through the Bureau of Education
called upon state and county super
kintendents of. schools and also upon
| the Governors of the different states
the mayors of the di..erent cities
and school superintendents in cities
| towns, villages and suburban COM
| mittees. and asking everyone of these
people to fall in line and get to work
in the greatest practical volunteer
campaign that has been started since
the war began.
Huns Work Gardens, Too
The Germans organized their gar
den army years ago and just because
they did do that very thing they
have been able to laugh at the rest of
the world for so long.
For back of every bullet and be-
hind every shell and under and over
every cloud of poisonous gas and
running every submarine and direct
ing every aeroplane is n man who
We might as we'll send our men to
the trenches to face cannons and air
ships and poison gas and explosives,
dressed in a suit of pajamas with
nothing but their bare hands for
weapons, declares the federal gov
ernment, as to send our army over
seas without enough provisions to
keep them not only alive but in fight
ing trim when they get there.
Where are we going to get the
food to send them?
We have just one storehouse from
which to draw, and that storehouse
is in the fertile fields and the rich
harvests of our own country.
Our troops abroad need flour and
sugar and coffee and tea and corn
and meat-we must send them these
things or be ready to bow our heads
under the German heel.
Plots Arc
Blind, deaf and Indifferent, the
people of the United States are now
beginning to realize what this food
question means and to-day, when
Superintendent Watts, disposed of
the first plot, over five million school
children were mobilizing into an
army with officers and privates and
sergeants, with drill and hard work,
preparing for splendid service. Har-
risburg was right on the job.
Two weeks ago Shirley Watts be-
gan plowing with a Cleveland trac-
tor and this morning he announced
that 653 plots will be ready for gar
dening within fifteen days. All plots
will be ready by April 10 and the
regulations order that the renter
must start working within six days
after securing his garden. The
charge is $1.50 for each lot, very
considerate charge for the total eN-
penses falling to the Chamber of
Commerce runs into the thousands
and it is only fair that the renter
should contribute something. 1t is
proposed both to plow the lots and
fertilize them. Furthermore the rem
ter will have the services of u gar
den expert from start to finish. Less
than $1,000 will come in from the
renters, and the fertilizer expenses
alone will amount to $1,800. Hence
it is that the Chamber of Commerce
will be heavily burdened.
Superintendent Watts is doing
the plowing himself, with co-opera-
ton of the Harrisburg Auto Company
which furnishes the savage little cat
erpillar plowing tank. He estimates
lIldI ILLS U1dClllIlS 40 saving sVNsON SIA
acre, as compared with the old style
of plowing. The plots now being
cultivated and fertiliZed are 500 at
Bellevue; rs at Nineteenth and Pax
ton and 70 at Reel and Division.
With these three sites Harrisburg
will have 80 acres under cultivation
as war gardens. Twenty-Five acres
will be assigned by the Chamber of
Commerce agricultural committee
and five acres will be given to school
children. ..
Leases Are Given ....
It is imperative that this project
be carried on with system and or
der, so the renter signs an agreement
requiring, among other things, that
he must keep the plot free from
weeds and keep it cultivated. Failure
in these, forfeits the plot. Neither
can a plot be transferred without
consent of the Commerce committee.
Upon the assignment of a war gar
den the applicant is given an iden-
tification card, duplicate of which
is kept by the Chamber of CONF
merce. The gardener is required to
carry this card, the purpose being
to prevent persons appropriating
other plots after being assigned a
plOt of their own.