Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 218, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1918 — ADDED TO NATION’S WEALTH [ARTICLE]

ADDED TO NATION’S WEALTH

Home Gardens Have Been of Great Benefit Both to the Country and to Communities. The campaign so persistently conducted last spring'and summer to enlist families in the home garden movement can be said to have been an extraordinary success. The estimate that $850,000,000 worth of produce has been raised in war gardens in the United States this year and that housewives have canned at least 460,000,000 jars of-vegetables and frvlfaf is Impressive. The figures, of course, cannot be anywhere near exact, but there can be no question that the total amount of foodstuffs produced has been enormous, and they are probably not excessive. All of-it was a clear addition to the wealth and resources of the nation. Thus, labor and land that had formerly gone unused brought practical benefit to the laborer and the nation. The Investment has paid so well that it ought to be repeated on a more extensive scale next year. Hundreds of families who never had a garden before have enjoyed fresh vegetables from their home yards this sumner. Many of them have learned something of the art of gardening and have lecome keenly interested in It. All lave benefited physically from Interesting work in the open air. These need not be advised to plan tor a bigger garden next year. But ‘hose who, through procrastination arid ndolence, failed to realize th© profits >f gardening this year should start naklng plans for next spring now.