90 City Homes on Country Lanes 



One of the interesting aims of the new science is to 

 find a true per-capita basis for planting. It is the 

 common experience of those who have gardens that 

 they plant far more of certain varieties than they can 

 consume, sell to the neighbors, or even give away. 

 There is a profound economic fallacy in this. Mr. 

 Hartranf t puts it strikingly when he says : 



"We find that one tomato plant will supply the 

 needs of one person. On that one plant we make a 

 million per cent of profit; but if we raise a second 

 tomato plant without a profitable market for the sur- 

 plus, we lose a billion per cent on that one." 



The bill-of-fare, of course, includes much besides 

 vegetables. There are the fruits of the tree and vine; 

 milk and eggs ; a variety of meat. These are matters 

 which will be discussed in detail farther on, but just 

 here it is desirable to concentrate the reader's attention 

 upon the importance of ordered production to a de- 

 sired end, that end being a good living according to 

 a prearranged bill-of-fare. There is, perhaps, no bet- 

 ter way than to follow Mr. Hartranft's description 

 of the home gardener, as he sees him in one of the 

 beautiful valleys among the Sierra Madre Mountains, 

 not far from Los Angeles. While details must be 

 adjusted to the requirements of the climate in different 

 regions, the principles are similar in all localities. He 

 says: 



"He has a chart of his ground and begins the winter 

 garden. If rows can be made 100 feet long it is best, 

 but it is planted only part at a time. The manuring, 

 the watering and the plowing of the new plot being 



