74 PRIZE GARDENING 



ten dollars and forty-five cents ; expenses, five dollars 

 and four cents. Miss Brown considered the work 

 very enjoyable. 



A Good Garden was kept b^ Mrs. G. F. McCluer, 

 Mississippi, and the account received one of the smaller 

 awards. Vegetables enough were sold from the three- 

 fourths acre to just about balance the cost of labor and 

 supplies, leaving as net profit what vegetables were 

 used by the family. Total income was sixty-three 

 dollars and thirty-four cents, and cost twenty-one dol- 

 lars and seventy-eight cents. The land was valued at 

 fifteen dollars. Labor was also cheap ; five cents per 

 hour for man_, four cents for woman, two and one- 

 half cents for boys and ten cents for teams. Among 

 the most satisfactory crops were potatoes, sweet corn, 

 melons and cucumbers. Planting began March i, but 

 the date proved too early for a backward season. The 

 first freeze came November i, making what would 

 seem to a northern gardener a very long growing 

 season. 



Fruit and Vegetables were abundant in the prize 

 garden of John Tye, Minnesota, and yielded him prod- 

 uce worth ninety-seven dollars and fifty-one cents at a 

 cost of thirty-three dollars and two cents, the area 

 being about one-fifth of an acre. The ordinary gar- 

 den tools were used and a wheel hoe. The land seems 

 well suited to fruit. One of the illustrations in Chap- 

 ter XVI shows a child holding a prolific branch of 

 currants which had been accidentally broken off. An- 

 other view herewith shows the thrifty bushes growing 

 beside the fence, the new growth having been cut back 

 about a foot to increase fruitfulness. To drive off 

 currant worms, hellebore was dusted on through a 

 homemade shaker made from a can with holes punched 

 in the bottom, using one-half pound hellebore to one 

 quart flour. A mixture of insect powder and helle- 



