Norwich bulletin., 1918-04-06
War Gardens As City Assets Nome Vsse.bss Pqo.. Add to Community
 BY CHARLES LATHRoP PACK

garden would probably be put into a happy frame of mind by the sight of this growing foed and ba willing to
 pay more than otherwise.
 As to the vacant lots wxIich struggle and scramble all along many city streets, with unsightiy briars jmd
 weeds forming the background for ashes, tin cans and dirty papers, 1t requires nothing more than the mere statement of fact to convince anyone that the sooner these ~sore spots" are supplanted by something better and more useful. the more advantageous in many ways win 1t be for the entire neighborhood and community. It Is hard to realize sometimes, until an actual enumeration is made of such vacant spaces, how many acres oz land they contain. There is scarcely city of any size in the country which is not thus burdened with a total of
 hundreds of acres of idle, useless land. With little effort these piles of rubbish
 and breeders of disease can be turned into rich gardens which will bring forth abundant harvests of food to help feed the city and the nation. The
 Commission on, Beautifying the City of Norfolk, Va, where ther were be- tween 1900 and 1500 vacant lot gar-
 dens last year, announces that it is preparing to quadruple the work this year, thus helping to add to the at
 tractiveness of the city. as well as in creasing the food supply. Last year the vacant lot gardens of Norfolk pro- duced about $70,G00 worth of vege- tables and other foodstuffs.
 Certain sections of the country and
 certain cities have delighted in the title which has been applied to them
 of Garden State," Garden County" or Garden City, It should be the
 aim of every city and town in the
 United States to deserve this honor
 able title. The more it can be be-
 slowed upon, the better pleased should
 be each place which receives it. For its value will grow, not in proportion to the rarity, but according to the
 number of times it is granted. "This city has fed itself" is a slogan which
 paign in every city and town in the
 United States.
 Local Material Benefits
 In many other ways will the city which is filled from end to end with war gardens be benefited. Aside from
 the national and spiritual blessings which come. from patriotic duty we'll
 performed, and in addition to the en- 1 joyment and content which the citi-
 zens will feel in a beautided com munity, there will be numerous ma Fterial advantages. Denver figured that it raised more than $2,00O,000 worth
 of vegetables and other food products
 in it's war gardens last year. This is
 sum of money which is worth keep ing at home. The state of West Vir-
 ginia it was estimated, has sent ST. 900, 900 out of it's borders annually for fodo. Altho it is not naturally an agricultural region, J. w. Stewart. State Commissioner of Agriculture, de- cided that a considerable portion of this large sum could be kept in the
 state; and so, long before last winter S snow was off the ground, he set about organizing the Patriotic Garden
 League. Through systematic canvass
 and educotion of the people in every
 community of West Virginia it was be- lieved that many thousands of city,
 town and village dwellers could be
 shown the value and the importance of
 home gardening, as benefit both to l themselves and to the state.
 l Business men everywhere can throw 1 trade their own way by encouraging their fel1ow-townslnen to plant gar dens. The money which is saved will go into houses and lots, into automo- piles, into books, into furniture, into pianos, into clothing, into everything in fact, that modern man needs for his
 comfort and happinesA. Banks will
 have larger individual balances if more of their customers money stays in the city, instead of being scattered
 far and wide for food which can be
 grown just as readily and far cheaper at home
 Large industrial concerns will gain from encouraging their employees to start war gardens; in fact, such com panies should furnish part if the in- itiative and part of the funds, if
 necessary, to get the enterprise
 started A number of large manu-
 featuring plants did this successfully last year and have prepared to do so