Imperial Valley press., 1943-08-26


England, showing how the Ameri-
can soldiers have been cultivat:ng
Victory gardens between their bar
racks bring to mind the story OF the
first fresh vegetables raised in
France by the A. E. F.. during the
last war-a chapter which you
won't find in any of the books, but
which made nutritional and mill
tary history none the less.
The man responsible for this
innovation was John G. Coulter
of Indianapolis. He's a nephew
or something Of the late Stanley
Coulter, the man who wrote the
botany books and who was dean
of Purdue University for so many
years. Old grads of the Ho0sier
BOilermaker institution still get
weepy whenever his name is
mentioned.
Anyway, John Coulter was a
young officer in the last war, and
he got overseas. He was known to
Gen. Charles G. Dawes, who was
commander of the Service of Sup
plies for Pershing's armies. Dawes
sent for Coulter one time and ask
ed him what he could suggest to
improve things for the soldiers up
at the front.
Coulter thought a minute, and
then said, Raise some fresh vege-
tables and send them up with the
chow"
Dawes snorted, mentioned a
couple of adjectives he knew. and
waved Coulter away. You botan-
ists' scoffed Dawes. IF we let
you have your way, you'd grow
geraniums on the parapets of the
front line trenches"
ORDER FOR VEGETABLES
Coulter went back to his post and
forgot the whole business, but ap-
parently the general didn't. First
thing Coulter knew, he was called
back to Paris and into the presence
of the general "Sit down and
write out a general order to start
growing fresh vegetables TO sup
plement the ration" Dawes COM
manded. He was going to give it
try.
Coulter didn't know what n
general order even looked like.
But they showed him one, and
gave him a desk he could sit at
to write the order which was to
set up the equivalent Of a fresh
vegetable department in the S. o.
S. He finished it in due time,
and the general signed it.
For trial plot, Coulter got some
space around Versailles not the
famous gardens themselves. per-
haps, but some pretty good high
class historical acreage at that
With detail of a few American
truck farmers and some French
peasants. he plowed up quite a bit
of land
The first crop ready happened tc
be cabbageS An army truck was
borrowed from the O. NJ, loaded
full of fine large cabbage heads and
started off for some now forgotten
ration dump behind the front,
CABBAGE RAID
AS the truck passed through the
first village in which there were
American troops billeted, some
soldat spied this luscious load OF
potential slaw and made himself a
raid. Another and another and
another followed suit. That hap
pened at the next town, and the
next and the next Before the
truck was half way up to the front
it was empty. 1t had been robbed
of every head and leaf in the entire
load.
That proved, however, that bO-
tanist Coulter knew his vegetables,
and that there was D natural ap-
petite for fresh green foods
something that didn't come out
of a can. But it taught Coulter
lesson. When his next load of
vegetables was ready, h9 borrowed
tarpaulin from an Ordnance
Corps ammunition train. On it
was stenctiIled in big black box
car size letters, Danger - High
Explosives"
That would have been the sum
mer of 1918. Coulter got a bigger
Job the next spring. and he kept OF
raising vegetables for some OF th'
luckier concentrations until darl
near all the A. E. F. was bacl
home. Coulter himself went bacl
to France. He had fallen in low
with the country. He got a Jol
managing French estate farms
using American scientific farmin'
methods and machinery, spending
the summer in the north, vacation