SUCCESSFUL IN RAISING VEGETABLES 



181 



dred and fifty acres under cultivation." 



"Give me an idea of the extent of 

 some of your crops." 



"As an example," he said, "I have 

 a held with thirty thousand cabbage 

 heads." 



"Enough," I replied, "to supply 

 nearly every one in Stamford with a 

 cabbage head. But what is in that large 

 held where the small plants are just 

 coming up?" 



'That," he replied, "is spinach. We 

 expect to turn out about a thousand 

 barrels in the spring and probably as 

 much more in the fall. The market in 

 Stamford is pretty good for spinach, 

 nearly up to Christmas, and we can 

 have it then with a fall open until cold 

 weather. But this year we have not 

 much to boast of in the way of lettuce. 

 It has been a rather hard season, es- 

 pecially at the latter part. However. 

 1 think we have as good as you will 

 find anywhere. Here is a half acre that 

 is fairly well headed, and the quality 

 of the leaves is as gooci as one could 

 expect. 



"But speaking about the spring 



crops, reminds me that the one thing 



of which we do not seem able to get 



enough is asparagus, although we cut 



that by the ton and the ton. Stamford 



people like to buy it by the pound 

 rather than by the bunch, as is the 

 custom in some places. There could 

 not be a better city market than Stam- 

 ford for asparagus. These acres show 

 what we are doing." 



In another held 1 exclaimed at the 

 expanse of summer squashes, when 

 he said with enthusiasm, "Yes, there 

 are times when you can raise them 

 easily and there are times when you 

 cannot. The queer thing about it is 

 that the market seems to want them 

 the least when you can raise them the 

 best. The explanation, I suppose, is 

 that almost every one has a liberal 

 supply in his home garden, and the 

 oversupply more than meets the de- 

 mand. 



"This year is an off one," he said, 

 pointing to strange looking clusters 

 of plants, "for the eggplant. That 

 seems to require rather warm weather 

 and plenty of water. But isn't the egg- 

 plant the most beautiful vegetable you 

 have ever seen ?" 



"Yes," L replied, "they are so beau- 

 tiful that they appear unnatural. They 

 seem to have been painted by an artist 

 and with a dainty brush varnished in 

 their beautiful tints. They are as good 

 to eat, too, as they are beautiful to 



MR. THURTON (SECOND FROM THE RIGHT) GIVES PERSONAL ATTENTION TO THE 



BUSHELS OF STRING BEANS. 



