From the Richmond Examiner, 4/23/1864

HOSPITAL VEGETABLE GARDENS. – Camp Jackson Hospital, one of the chief depots for the reception and care of the sick and wounded soldiers of the Confederacy, under a humane and enterprising management, has set a laudable example in the provision made for the health and comfort of its inmates. Attached and contiguous to the hospital lies nearly forty acres of ground, most of which has been cut up and divided into gardens for the cultivation and raising of vegetables for the consumption of the patients of the wards. The gardens are cultivated by the convalescent patients, and the yield this season will be ample for all the wants of the inmates. Jackson Hospital is in charge of Surgeon Hancock, with an able corps of assistants. The number of patients now in the wards is about four hundred and eighty.

A project is now on foot to establish at the hospital a permanent library for the instruction of the patients and the diversion of the mind from the ennui of hospital confinement. To this end and appeal is made to those who have spare books, of a judicious character, to contribute the same to this most worthy object. Volumes of the proper character left at the Episcopal Repository, next door to Woodhouse's bookstore, Main street, or at the bookstore of Mr. Morris, will reach the hospital.

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