A LITTLE LAND 138 



AND A LIVING 



To prove that any soil could be made produc- 

 tive by reasonable care and preparation, Mr. C % 

 E. Conwell, a business man of New York City," 1 

 chose two acres of poor, hard, clayey soil, almost 

 impossible to plow, for potatoes. The land was 

 plowed in June and sown with a mixture of oats, 

 rye and peas. In August this whole crop was 

 plowed under and then harrowed in. The land 

 was next plowed in May and planted with Peer- 

 less potatoes on May 9th. The yield in October 

 was 964 bushels of perfect tubers which sold for 

 50 cents a bushel. Mr. Conwell says that his ex- 

 pense for that first yield was $156.15 ; his returns 

 $482.00, leaving a balance of $325.85 on his two 

 years' work. The following year the same plot 

 yielded 985 bushels. After that, for several suc- 

 ceeding years, the yield fell off slightly, but what 

 was lost in quantity was more than offset by im- 

 provement in quality. 



But large returns are not restricted to potatoes. 

 Alfred P. Edge, of Hartford Co., Maryland, set 

 out celery plants in rows 6 inches apart and 3 

 inches apart in the rows, in a bed 54 x 6 J feet, get- 

 ting 11 rows of 230 plants each, or a total of 



