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- Date:
- 1945
- Main contributors:
- United States. Department of Agriculture
- Summary:
- Provides basic instructions for planting a home vegetable garden. "Sets forth, in light vein, the essentials of good gardening; selection of the site, preparation of the soil, how to lay out a garden, planting, transplanting, cultivating, weed and pest control, and proper watering. A 'dream' sequence shows, by stop motion photography, how plants grow. The picture closes with a series of humorous 'DON'TS' designed to bring home, through exaggeration, the many pitfalls that might mar the success of an amateur gardener" (Motion Pictures of the United States Department of Agriculture, 1945, 30-31).
- Date:
- 1944
- Main contributors:
- United States. Department of Agriculture, Office of Information, Motion Picture Service
- Summary:
- An episode of the popular "Quiz Kids" radio program introduces the U.S. Department of Agriculture's school lunch program. The four precocious children, ages 7 to 12, demonstrate knowledge of Shakespeare, chemistry, math and geography as they answer a series of quiz questions given by host Joe Kelly. Concludes with a message from the host about importance of adequate and healthy food for schoolchildren. Showing women in wartime factory jobs, the narrator states "in busy America many mothers perform many necessary jobs outside the home, but we must never become too busy to feed our children." Community groups are called upon to sponsor school lunch programs with the support of the Department of Agriculture.
- Date:
- 1943
- Main contributors:
- United States. Department of Agriculture, United States. Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Adjustment Agency
- Summary:
- Date:
- 1940
- Main contributors:
- United States. Department of Agriculture, United States. Department of Agriculture. Forest Service
- Summary:
- Introduced as "the story of cattle grazing in the national forest," the film depicts cooperation between the Forest Service and local ranchers to manage the grazing of herds on public land. Original USDA catalog entry states: "Range management in the western national forests. Shows how to perpetuate grazing lands by protecting them from overuse by livestock and thus insure the income of ranchers and communities dependent on the livestock and grazing industry for a living" (Motion Pictures of the United States Department of Agriculture, 1945, 41). Depicts rounding up, branding and inoculating cattle in preparation for driving from private range land to National Forest. Shows duties of Forest Rangers, including monitoring fences and health of grasses. Cutting, raking and stacking of hay using mostly horse-drawn implements is shown. Concludes by showing that U.S. Forest Service range management has helped western "cow towns" to prosper and grow.
- Date:
- 1945
- Main contributors:
- United States. Department of Agriculture, United States. Office of Information. Motion Picture Service
- Summary:
- Reports on the coordination of community volunteers for wartime farm harvesting labor through the efforts of the Victory Farm Volunteers of the U.S. Crop Corps and local agricultural agents. "The story of the farm labor shortage caused by the war, and how it was met during the crop season of 1944 through the vigorous and patriotic efforts of several million volunteers from our towns and cities. It shows the county agent in a typical agricultural county, marshalling its forces to recruit help needed to harvest the local potato crop. Similarly, workers were recruited all over the country to help with fruit, grain, cotton, sugar beets, hay, truck, and other crops. With the patriotic help of these volunteers, farmers, in spite of war handicaps were able to produce the largest crops in history" (Motion Pictures of the United States Department of Agriculture, 1945, 19). In an epilogue, Judge Marvin Jones, War Food Administrator, emphasizes that manpower shortage on farms is still a problem.
- Date:
- 1944
- Main contributors:
- United States. Department of Agriculture, United States. Office of Information. Motion Picture Service, Wilding Picture Productions : produced by
- Summary:
- Shows methods of winter storage for produce grown in wartime Victory gardens. Provides demonstrations of how to achieve necessary temperature and moisture conditions for storing various vegetables by using attic space, construction of a storage room in the cellar, sunken barrels and insulated earthen mounds. "In the opening scene we find Mother and Father, Judy and Jimmy deep in the study of seed catalogs, preparatory to planting their victory garden. The picture passes quickly to the happy harvest time when Mother wonders what they will do with all the surplus vegetables. Father decides to store them. The film then demonstrates the best method of storing onions, beans, peas, apples, beets, carrots, salsify, squash, pumpkins, potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, parsnips, and cabbage" (Motion Pictures of the United States Department of Agriculture, 1945, 47). As this family exemplifies the industrious spirit of Victory gardening, narration states "in pantry and store room, in pit and mound, they have tangible proof of their husbandry."
- Date:
- 1942
- Main contributors:
- United States. Department of Agriculture, Wilding Picture Productions, Inc.
- Summary:
- Date:
- 1942
- Main contributors:
- United States. Department of Agriculture, Wilding Picture Productions, Inc. : produced by
- Summary:
- "A documentary tribute to the farm women of America and an explanation of their part in winning the war. Exemplified by 'Mom,' the farm woman is shown to be a potent force in lining up the farm family behind the agricultural war production program. It is "Mom" who helps the child out of difficulty. She looks after the chickens, the pigs, the young calf. If she's not in the garden or in the orchard, she is in the kitchen canning vegetables, picking a chicken, cooking, so that all will have enough and the right kind of food to eat. Everything and everybody on the farm depends on 'Mom.' She lends cheer and encouragement when morale is low. She is the moving spirit in community affairs. The things she does every day on the farm are war work. The attitude of farm women in general is summed up in 'Mom's' closing speech, 'If our farm can help—I guess it's little enough. It's kind of up to you and me to see it through' " (Motion Pictures of the United States Department of Agriculture, 1945, 22).
- Date:
- 1941
- Main contributors:
- United States. Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Adjustment Administration
- Summary:
- Documents farming practices in the New England states, showing the prosperity that fertile soils brought to hardworking farmers who cleared the hilly land. That fertile soil, rich in minerals, accumulated over the course of centuries covered in forests. Shows that generations of farmers have enriched themselves from these fertile soils without adequately caring for them. Failing farms, dilapidation and abandonment are shown to follow farming these depleted soils. "But it doesn't have to be this way," states a narrator in the character of an old Yankee. Application of lime and phosphorous fertilizers recommended by soil scientists are shown to restore and maintain soil fertility. Abundant harvests of hay are shown resulting from well-fertilized fields. Depicts pre-mechanized farming and logging practices, hand harvesting, and use of working animals.