MARKET GARDENING- AND FARMERS' GARDENS. 641 



the plant kept entirely free from weeds until they are trans- 

 planted in June or July. Set twelve inches between the rows 

 and eight inches between the plants. Keep down all weeds by 

 the frequent use of a rake. In September, cut every other 

 plant. 



Having now given directions for the home garden, we wish 

 to speak of those crops which it will pay the farmer to culti- 

 vate as " field crops" for town or city market. And we would 

 say here, that a wide field is open to Southern cultivators in 

 supplying the Northern markets with early vegetables and 

 fruits, melons, etc. Any crop that will ship and that can be 

 brought to New York City a few days before it can be grown 

 on Long Island or in New Jersey, must pay enormous profits. 

 New York will pay extravagant prices for having an early 

 supply. Nothing will so well pay the Southern people on the 

 coast, or rivers, or railroads, as to devote their energies to the 

 early production of garden crops. 



Market Gardening may be so conducted as to be very 

 profitable, but the cultivator cannot calculate upon extraordi- 

 nary profits with ordinary cultivation. Constant attention and 

 large outlays are required to secure large crops and large 

 profits. Two hundred and fifty dollars per acre is the lowest 

 estimate at which we put the cost of producing the most profita 

 ble crops, and, as a rule, the man who can spare but five 

 hundred dollars on his crops should cultivate but two acres, 

 and in that proportion for a larger working capital. Some few 

 farmers may, perhaps, get good profits from a few acres with 

 less outlay. 



An average profit of four hundred dollars per acre has been 

 realized, for ten years, by the market gardeuers about New 

 York, where competition is greater than anywhere else in the 

 country. If the soil has not been drained the expense will be 



