GARDENING FOR PROFIT };j 



A Tzcciity-acrc Garden. — One of the largest gar- 

 dens, or L^arden farms, was that of W. H. McMillen, 

 Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The whole place of twenty acres 

 was entered and the method with each important crop 

 is told in detail, receiving a ten-dollar prize. Income 

 was ahout one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars 

 and cost about five hundred and fifty. The expense 

 account is somewhat unusual, as it includes all house- 

 hold expenses as well as payments for business supplies 

 and hired help. But no allowance is made for the w^ork 

 and time of the owner. Thus the seven hundred sur- 

 plus represents the cash sum which the owner receives 

 for his time and investment, having received also his 

 living expenses for the period, March to November. 

 The manure was mostly obtained for the hauling. 

 Among the expense items are noticed one hundred and 

 forty dollars for hired man eight months, ninety-seven 

 dollars and forty cents fur picking berries, thirty-seven 

 dollars for hired girl, twenty dollars for wood and 

 twenty-two dollars for coal, twenty-eight dollars for 

 dry goods, other items being mostly for provisions and 

 farm supplies, h^ollowing is the cream of Mr. ]\Ic- 

 Millen's very instructive account : 



The first seed that are sown in the open ground 

 are peas. I sow on well enriched land and prefer 

 rather a heavy soil for peas. I plow the land in the 

 fall, then disk, lapping the disk one-half. This leaves 

 no ridges. Then drag the land, plank and drag, and 

 plank again. Then I have land as mellow as an ash 

 bed. I use a seed drill, hill dropper and fertilizer 

 combined. I have a two-foot marker instead of an 

 eighteen-inch, one that comes with the drill. I set my 

 marker two feet and sow peas very thick in rows. I sow 

 two rows about four inches apart and then two feet; 

 this gives the vines a better chance to stand up. One 

 row supports the other. I find this a very profitable way 



