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United States School Garden Army

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

United States School Garden Army
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The United States School Garden Army (USSGA), was founded by the Bureau of Education[1][2] in 1917 during the administration of President Woodrow Wilson's.[3] Wilson described gardening as "just as real and patriotic an effort as the building of ships or the firing of cannon"[4] and opined that "food will win the war".[5] The USSGA was set up to encourage gardening among school children, in the hopes of preventing a potential food scarcity after World War I.[6] Funding for the entity comes from the War Department.[5]

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School Garden Army recruitment poster by Edward Penfield (1918)

The Bureau of Education distributed manuals and guides (featuring data on soil health)[7] across the nation to children ages 9–15[8] and their teachers. By Armistice Day, a large number of American children had answered the call to become "Soldiers of the Soil".[9] War Gardens are now known as Victory Gardens.[10]

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