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Show Truck Patch Reserves Called to Active Duty The U.S. department of agriculture agricul-ture is encouraging Americans to plant "liberty" gardens as a part of the national and civil defense program. Officially called the "Garden and Food Preservation Program," the campaign puts it up to citizens in 1951 to carry on horticulturally in the best traditions of World War II's victory gardens and the war gardens of 1917-18. In 1917 it was estimated that the nation's back yard and vacant-lot vacant-lot gardeners harvested crops val- ued at some $350,000,000. It was a record for the time, but easily broken by th" victory sowers of the last war. In 1943 some 20 million mil-lion vegetable gardeners an estimated esti-mated six million more than in the prewar year of 1941 produced about eight million tons of food, enough to fill 160,000 freight cars. The agriculture department pointed point-ed out that fresh home-grown vegetables vege-tables improve the nation's diet, benefiting both health and morale, and - no mean consideration in these times cut down the cost of living. |