146 GARDENING FOE PEOFIT. 



pense than simply sowing the seed in the hills ; but all 

 such expenditures are well returned, for it is safe to say, 

 that the j^rofits would always be at least three times more 

 by this plan than by the other. The average receipts are 

 $750 per acre ; working expenses probably $250, and the 

 crop is off in time for Turnips or Spinach as a second crop. 



The Cucumber is a vegetable perhaps better fitted than 

 any other for southern market gardeners. There is no 

 doubt, that by the forwarding process above described, it 

 could be got in marketable condition in the neighborhood 

 of Charleston or Savannah, at least a month before it 

 could in New York, and as it is one of the easiest things 

 we have to ship, a profitable business could be made of 

 growing it to send North. The profits on an acre of Cu- 

 cumbers, grown by this method in Charleston, and sold in 

 New York in June, would, I think, exceed the average 

 profits of fifty acres of Cotton. 



Cucumbers are also extensively grown for pickling; 

 hundreds of acres being used for this purpose in the vi- 

 cinity of New York, especially in Westchester County. 

 Sod or stubble land, plowed in early fall, and again turned 

 over twice or thrice in spring, is the condition of soil usu- 

 ally chosen. The ground is marked out as for Corn, 4 

 feet each way, and a good shovelful of well-rotted manure, 

 dug in at the angle which forms the hill ; the seed is soAvn — 

 about a dozen in each hill — usually about the 20th of June, 

 but equally good crops can be obtained by sowings made 

 as late as the middle of July. The average price of late 

 years has been $1.50 per 1000, and the number grown per 

 acre on properly cultivated lands, is 150,000, which is $225 

 gross receipts per acre. The expense of raising are said 



