38 THREE ACRES AND LIBERTY 



The experience of the Vacant Lot Gardeners (Chapter 

 IV) shows that if the land be near a large market where the 

 product can be peddled or sold by the producers or by those 

 (as in Mr. Rowe's case), with whom he directly deals, more 

 than twenty-five dollars capital is not necessary, but Peter 

 Henderson ("Gardening for Profit") estimates that to get 

 the best results, $300 capital per acre is required for anything 

 less than ten acres. 



Where the land is favorably situated a fortune may be 

 made in cultivation of a few acres with brains. 



Quinn says ("Money in the Garden") that he knows a 

 large number of market gardeners worth from ten to forty 

 thousand dollars each, none of whom had five hundred dol- 

 lars to begin with. 



If one has not enough money to get all that can be gotten 

 out of his plot, it is best to put part of the land into clover 

 to fit it for later use or to use it for raising grass. 



Results undoubtedly come from hard work ; but it is not 

 necessary, in order to cultivate a little land successfully, 

 that you should work all day on your hands and knees ; if 

 you can raise fruit or nuts, this is not needed at all. 



But for vegetables a certain amount of it is necessary 

 when there is a large job of that kind of weeding to be done, 

 you can hire Italians or other foreigners to do it better and 

 cheaper than you can do it yourself. Those who will read 

 this book can earn more with their heads than their hands ; 

 but when weeding is needed after a sudden shower and there 



wide may be reserved for vines, as melons, cucumbers, and squashes. 

 There remains a strip seventy feet wide, or space for twenty rows 

 three and one half feet apart. This area is large enough to allow 

 of appreciable results in rotation of crops ; and if it is judiciously 

 managed, it should maintain high productiveness for a lifetime." 

 (Bailey, "Principles of Vegetable Gardening.") 



