CHAPTER IV 



GOOD FARM GARDENS 



The claim has been made that the tillers of the soil 

 in the more thickly settled parts of the continent are no 

 longer strictly farmers, but gardeners, rather ; deriving 

 their incomes less from staple farm crops than from 

 vegetables, fruit and specialties. This is an extreme 

 statement of a growing tendency of farmers near good 

 markets to emphasize the production of crops, the value 

 of which depends largely upon being used while fresh, 

 thus assuring the cream of the market to nearby 

 growers. In growing staple crops, cheap and distant 

 lands may compete, but in producing the perishable 

 specialties a convenient location gives decided advan- 

 tage. The tendency to larger and better farm gardens 

 is, however, noticed also in sections comparatively new ; 

 a fact which shows the increasing prosperity of the 

 people and their ability to appreciate and pay for more 

 of the solid, wholesome luxuries. The gardens here 

 described are those of farmers who make more or less 

 of a specialty of fruit and vegetables. 



A Luxuriant Iowa Garden of four acres is clearly 

 described by A. A. Atwood, Shenandoah, Iowa, winner 

 of sixth regular prize. He grew produce worth two 

 hundred and twenty-eight dollars and twenty-five cents 

 at a cost of ninety-four dollars and thirty-eight cents, 

 of which fourteen dollars was for rent, sixteen dollars 

 and forty cents for seeds, etc., and sixty-three dollars 

 and twenty-five cents for labor, reckoning teams at 

 two dollars per day and men one dollar. The total 



