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What a pretty poem.
Agricultural Gazette of Canada
Vol. 5 No. 1 1918 Page 68
https://archive.org/stream/agriculturalgaze05canauoft#page/86/mode/2up
PART IV
Special Contributions, Reports of Agricultural
Organizations, Publications and Notes
VACANT LOT GARDENING
A PRIZE- WINNING POEM
IN furtherance of the vacant lot gardening
campaign of the Ottawa Horticul-
tural Society, Mr. W. T. Macoun, the
Dominion Horticulturist, inaugurated a
competition for the best poem on a vege-
table garden. Out of the several praise-
worthy efforts sent in first prize was
awarded for the following to Miss Henrietta
Wood of Ottawa: —
MY GARDEN— 1917
Rain-softened and sun-warmed, it stretches fair,
Prepared to yield a wealth of all good things.
In neat, well-ordered rows the seedlings pierce
The rich brown mould, and seek the sunlight.
Swift fly the days, and soon with eager hands
I cull the radish, ruddy tinted globe
Of pungent crispness; and green-gold lettuce;
And that scented darling of the garden,
The spring onion.
The happy days glide on.
Behold my Vacant Lot, vacant no more.
Here grow my cabbages, dew-pearled at dawn.
There stands my corn, beplumed like knight of old.
Look on my cauliflowers, white as snow;
Potatoes, soon to yield a khaki host
To rout the hordes of hunger; and carrots,
Beets and parsnips, and many more fair growths
Depicted in the catalogues. All these
Adorn my garden.
Hark, the alarm sounds! The vision fades.
'Tis morn; 'tis March. Deep lies the snow upon
The unbroken sod, hiding the couch-grass,
Snake-like roots and many a weedy foe.
A thousand million tiny enemies, —
Worm, weevil, beetle, bug, — in ambush lie.
To win my harvest I must surely bear
A thousand aches in my poor stooping back,
And cramps in bending limbs, and sun-skinned nose,
And countless freckles on my now fair arms.
O say, thou preacher of domestic thrift,
Dost think that I can conquer?
==================================
Agricultural Gazette of Canada
Vol. 5 No. 1 1918 Page 68
https://archive.org/stream/agriculturalgaze05canauoft#page/86/mode/2up
PART IV
Special Contributions, Reports of Agricultural
Organizations, Publications and Notes
VACANT LOT GARDENING
A PRIZE- WINNING POEM
IN furtherance of the vacant lot gardening
campaign of the Ottawa Horticul-
tural Society, Mr. W. T. Macoun, the
Dominion Horticulturist, inaugurated a
competition for the best poem on a vege-
table garden. Out of the several praise-
worthy efforts sent in first prize was
awarded for the following to Miss Henrietta
Wood of Ottawa: —
MY GARDEN— 1917
Rain-softened and sun-warmed, it stretches fair,
Prepared to yield a wealth of all good things.
In neat, well-ordered rows the seedlings pierce
The rich brown mould, and seek the sunlight.
Swift fly the days, and soon with eager hands
I cull the radish, ruddy tinted globe
Of pungent crispness; and green-gold lettuce;
And that scented darling of the garden,
The spring onion.
The happy days glide on.
Behold my Vacant Lot, vacant no more.
Here grow my cabbages, dew-pearled at dawn.
There stands my corn, beplumed like knight of old.
Look on my cauliflowers, white as snow;
Potatoes, soon to yield a khaki host
To rout the hordes of hunger; and carrots,
Beets and parsnips, and many more fair growths
Depicted in the catalogues. All these
Adorn my garden.
Hark, the alarm sounds! The vision fades.
'Tis morn; 'tis March. Deep lies the snow upon
The unbroken sod, hiding the couch-grass,
Snake-like roots and many a weedy foe.
A thousand million tiny enemies, —
Worm, weevil, beetle, bug, — in ambush lie.
To win my harvest I must surely bear
A thousand aches in my poor stooping back,
And cramps in bending limbs, and sun-skinned nose,
And countless freckles on my now fair arms.
O say, thou preacher of domestic thrift,
Dost think that I can conquer?
==================================
