OHAPTEB III. 



PROFITS OF MARKET GARDENING. 



This is rather a difficult if not a delicate matter to touch, 

 as the profits are so large, in some instances, as almost to 

 exceed belief, and so trifling, under other conditions, as 

 hardly to be worth naming. These latter conditions, how- 

 ever, are generally where men have started on unsuitable 

 soils, too far from market, or without money enough to 

 have ever got thoroughly under way. But as the object 

 of this work is to endeavor to show how the business can 

 be made a profitable one, I will endeavor to approximate 

 to our average profits per acre. As a rule, it may be 

 premised that for every additional acre over ten, the prof- 

 its per acre will to some extent diminish, from the fact 

 that a larger area cannot be so thoroughly worked as a 

 smaller one ; besides there will often be a loss in price by 

 having to crowd larger quantities of produce into mai-ket, 

 and to leave it in the hands of inexperienced salesmen ; 

 the majority of our products are quickly perishable, and 

 must be sold when ready. 



The average profits for the past fifteen years on all well 



cultivated market gardens in this vicinity, has certainly 



not been less than $300 per acre. For the past five years, 



(from 1861 to 1866), they have been perhaps one-thi:d 



16 



