The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1942-07-23
By PETER EDISON
NEA Service staff Correspondent

NEA Service staff Correspondent
WASHINGTON, July % -
"This soils so darn virgin" said
the Hon. Henry A. Wallace
swinging mean hoe, Iii almost
won't bear anything"
You have to get up before
breakfast if you want to catch
tie Vice President of the United
States and the ex-Secretary OF
Agriculture at work in his pri-
vate Victory garden.
GARDEN is HANDY
TO HIS HOTEL
But he has one, plot of
about so by 100 feet down the
hill back of the residence of his
sister Nine. Charles Brugg-
mann, whose husband is Envoy
Extraordinary and M mister
p nipotentiary of Switzerland.
It's just a short jog, too, from
the Wardman Park hotel where
the Vice President and Mrs.
Wallace live, and that makes it
doubly convenient for work
out before putting in full day
as Vice President.
Mr.. Wallace had a Victory
garden come out last April,
when he first started spading.
The tennis courts at his hotel
hadn't been put in shape then,
and the V.P. felt the need Of
outdoor exercise.
The sap was rising in his
veins, so he picked out this site
at the bottom of the hill, along
one of the branches that feeds
into fashionable Rock Creek and
set to work. The soil should
have been fairly good there, but
it turned out to be terrible.
Spading it was an awful job. He
got a little volunteer help. but
even so, it took several weeks.
Seems this particular spot had
been filled in at one time to
make a terrace and right under
tn, crab grass roots it was pref
ty much clay and gravel. But
with the help of a little fertiliz-
er. it's coming along-not fam
ously, but better than the aver
age amateur garden at that.
WALLACE ARRIVES
AHEAD OF TIME
The Vice President didn't
want any publicity on this pro-
ject till there was something to
show. But after a three months
wait, the date was made for IN
inspection.
I'D like to make 1t early in
the morning." said photographer
Howard Jones. How about 8
o'clock"
The Vice President smiled
that shy quiet smile of his. BE
there at 100" he said. 1t seems
Mr. Wallace gets up regularly
at half past six.
He was there ahead of time,
too. The dew was still heavy on
the grass and the sun was just
above the tree tops and the high
priced apartment house roofs
over on sWank Connecticut ave-
nue. to the east. The photograph
er cursed this early morning
light and went back for an ex-
posture meter and flash bulbs.
But there was Mr.. Wallace t
the bottom of the hill in the
middle, of his garden.
Two patches of sweet corn at
either end of the plot-the early
corn shoulder high in silk and
tassel, the late just up-and in
between rows of tomatoes,
beans, even watermelon vines
all spread out, a few herbs like
marjoram and thyme and basil
and few bare spots that looked
suspiciously as though some
thing hadn't come up.
The Vice President had on a
disreputable looking pair of
d,W-soaked tennis sneake S
which looked as though the dog
had retrieved EN- from some
scrap rubber salvage pile, and
an old gray denim slack suit
about the tint of the Vice-Presi-
Dental uncombed and bristling
gray hair.
There's romance in this Vice
Presidential Victory garden, I'd
have you know. The Vice.Presi-
dent points his green-handled
hoe at row of plants about six
inches high "Paprikast" he