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Show I university of Missouri I Boy Irrigates Land On i ; Top of Arizona Moun-! it tains Where a Dozen i Nationalities Work Side l By Side. WM By RUSSELL T. EDWARDS. S '; "TCp ERE WAR GARDENERS is a i'-'f record for you to shoot at next. , $ lj year for list to tho claim of ln- " spiration that she has the biggest big-gest war garden in tho country. She f-lso comes forward with tho claim that she has the hlghost, for it is away I up there whero the cost of living Is 3,300 feet high. Whero is Insplra- Invu : uo uui looit on a. uiup lor you v.ill not find 1U Do not look in the ; postal guldo for you v'lll not find it, ; i for it is in Arizona, and tho nearest t post office Is Miami, In Gila county. The whole country is one vast garden grfccordlng to tho best aero-eye views. ' 7 When Arizona was laid out Uttlo or i no attention was paid to tho yoarnlng i of the average man for a little golf or . a little garden and when Inspiration decided to do its bit there wus no place I to go but up to find a place big I enough for a war garden that was j long enough to put a half dozen I cabbage plants In the ground. Arl-' Arl-' zona has a native predilection for ' corners on Its surface henco tho ln-! ln-! cplratlon'sts Just kept right on going ' until they got to tho top of tho. moun- tains that make the ad boys for the - i railroads happy. Instead of going West , as Horace Grcoly urged they went Btralght North. Outside of the fact '''''' '' ' . ' f'''' ' ' ' ' ' y ' that tho soil was best suited to growing grow-ing tame copper mines and that there was no water tho place solected for Ideal. But when man sots out to gar-don gar-don he generally gardens, so five wells wero sunk. Wator was struck when they got down to where the rest of tho earth Is in othor parts of the country. Then hugo water mains wero laid to provldo tho Irrigation. J. R. Sandlgc, from tho Arizona Agricultural Station, handled tho practical work of tho garden. gar-den. Sandlgc Is a graduato of the University of Mlasouri, and has specialized spe-cialized In garden work. A rush telegram for canning and drying manuals came to tho National Emergency Food Garden Commission for "tho blggost war gardon In tho West." Tho work of tho Commission halted fdr a fow minutes. Inspiration, Arizona, was tho dato HuO' and the telegram was signed by J. R. Sandlgc. Nobody in tho Commission's offices, including in-cluding Charles Lathrop Pack, tho president, and P. S. Rldsdalo, the soc- rctary could find Inspiration on any map or in tho postal guldo. Inquiry at tho post offlco showed tho mall station sta-tion for Insnlratlon is Miami. Arizona. two miles away. Not On The Mnp. Assertion that a town, not on tho map and that did not havo a post olllco, had tho biggest war garden made everybody sit up and tako notlco, so President Pack asked for some substantiation sub-stantiation of tho claim when ho ordered or-dered the manuals expressed. The Commission requested data on othor vr gardens and submits herewith tho lottor from J. R. Sandlgo, the gardon export, wh'ch claims ho much for Inspiration. In-spiration. ".Location: Tho gardens aro two miles oast of Miami, Gila county, Arizona, Ari-zona, at an elevation of 3,300 foot. Tho climate Is semi-tropical, making it possible to grow some vegetables throughout the year. "Gardeners: , Majority of tho gardeners gar-deners aro copper workers, but qulto yyyvyYpyps&Sf, ypyyz?. yyyj?&y?,d7y2, y&x:yVf??. yAfy5y?2&y?, tyzshz? , y7?. ys?2eyyctz2. sosjs a number of roaldonts of Miami, and a largo number of children havo been given spue. -Tho gardeners aro mado up of many nationalities, such as Italians, Mexicans, Indians, Chileans, Germans, Flnlandcrs and Swedes. Ovor 70 per cent, havo nover had exporlenco In this work or at least whoro It Is necessary to lrrlgato and thoy had to bo taught. "Mothods: An expert makes three j trips a day ovor tho gardens to Instruct tho gardeners. Bulletins and posters aro placed at convenient spots In tho gardens which aro 217 acres In area. "System: Tho double crop systom was used. For example, squash wero planted among corn so that when corn ramo off squash covered tho ground. We grow most anything but nood was consldorod first, and 85 per cont of tho ground was plantod to Mexican Pink Boans and Swoot Corn. Nothing goos to waste and drying and canning is encouraged, especially drying for our cllmato normlts sun drying. "War ftJardon Markot: Wo havo oponod a var gardon markot, whoro tho oxco98 vegetables aro sold for tho gardeners without cost to them. Nothing Noth-ing Is sold at this markot except 'that which Is grown in tho war garden. This markot, I believe, Is tho llret of It; kind in tho United States. This Is tho largest single tract of land devotod to war gardens In tho West With 217 acres undor cultivation, I bllovo. It Is tho largest In tho country." Sell Horses To Buy Auto Tnicks, Mni fnlrrt Ihn faso fif "LaUTOl. MlSS.. with a much different problem, but food conservation Just tho same. This town sold tho horses and bought auto trucks for tho flro department so tho farmors could havo tho animals. Tho town which 1b under commission form of government then balked at an attempted at-tempted holdup on coal prices, and tho town turnod out and sawed onough wood to heat tho city buildings and school through tho wlntor. This demonstrates dem-onstrates what tho people can do when thoy sot their mind to It, Horo la a letter-from T. G. McCallum, ono of tho commissioners, to Prosldoht Pack, of tho National Emergoncy Food Gardon Gar-don Commission, which was written thanking tho Commission for 250 food conservation manuals that wero sent to Laurol: "Immodlatcly upon tho entrance of tho United States into tho war and tho Government's appeal to Uio pcoplo to conserve and produce all products we proceeded at onco to motorlzo all departmentswhoro motor trucks could bo substituted for horses and disposed nr ihn horsos to farmers to Droduco moro food as well as to save food by tho Introduction of tho automobile. "Tho next stop taken by us was to socuro and plant sufficient lands to corn and peas In order to produce enough corn and hay to tako caro of all tho remaining city toams, and whllo wo scarcely had time to do this, war having boon declarod lato In tho spring, wo aro glad to say tfcit tho city will mako all tho corn and pec-vino hay necessary to caro for tho teams owned and used by tho city In tho publlo work. "As soon as this matter was out of tho way wo took up tho question of fuel for tho olty schools, city hall, Jail and other public buildings, and upon inquiry of tho mines or coal dcalors, many of them, refused to quoto us prices on account of tho scarcity of cars and those that did, the prices wero from 50 per cent, to 75 por cont, hlghor than wo had formerly paid for similar coal. So wo procoodod to out UUi IM 11 UUI. .Will II 1114U ITU U1U "Wl- quite through with tho wood cutting proposition wo aro far onough along with It to know that wo will, without grqat lnconvonlonco, bo ablo to securo all tho wood needed for city schools an& tho city gonorally and at tho same tlmo effect a groat saving In tho rov-onuo rov-onuo of tho city." Undo Sam's Food Bill $800,000. With 40 conts por day por man as tho estimated cost of feeding a soldlor and with 2,000,000 men under arms ltmeans Uncle Sam's dally board bill for soldiers alono Is $800,000. Thl6 does not tako Into account tho food for ofTlccrs. Truo theso men wero all healthy caters bo-foro bo-foro Joining tho army they doubtless ato more than forty conts worth, but thoy havo suddonly becomo non producers pro-ducers and thoy must bo fed. Food Crisis. "Tho world faces tho biggest food crisis slnco man has been writing, his- jH tory." Mr. Pack told me. "It Is not a JM question of today, but one of tomor-row tomor-row that wo must answer," continued the man who has conducted this na- tlon wldo food saving campaign In e&fcjunctlon with tho American Fores- try Association of which ho Is presl- IH dent. IH "With closo to two million men un-dcr un-dcr arms and a good prospoct of hav- JM lng to help feed a big part of Europe. what aro wo going to do? Tho Scion- JM title American calls It 4a war tragedy. In an artlclo by H. C. Harty, I find I this paragraph, whloh tells tho whole story: "WJ53 the United States Governmont jm permit a usstess criminal saorlfico of food, of labor, oi resaey, and courago and patriotism from Its poejS bscauso H of lack of appreciation of tho nc4 Of speed when perlshablo food must b4 harvested and stored or allowed to rot and freeze ?" "Tho women of tho country aro crootlng, with patient toll, tho greatest H monumont to freedom tho world ever saw, and 4G0 million Jars of hoaifl i ii a iviiita will ha canned vogoiuuiua nuu. placod on pantry sholvcs this fall. "Stand tho Jars lri a pyramid and jH you would need a guldo to find the Washington Monument, wore that tho center of tho structuro built of Jars. As bricks, thosa Jars would double the fall of Niagara and loavo a good sized Elf el Tower to top off tho work. For noxt year tho Commission urges tho closest sort of organization and co-operation botwoon clvlo, religious and othor bodies In order that thoro may bo no lost motion as has beon tho caso this year bocauso of tho hur-rled hur-rled offort necessitated by tho sudden declaration of war. This cooperation will result In wondorful saving and tho pooplo of tho country now havo ono big gardon losson as tho corner stono of exporlonco. Much has been dono this yoar under adverse condl-tlons. condl-tlons. Much moro can bo done next. |