THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 301 



This brings the estimate to the point where 

 each household must answer for itself the ques- 

 tion of a "portion." It varies of course with 

 different households and individuals; yet it is 

 no great problem in mathematics to arrive at 

 it, for any. If three bunches of beets, for ex- 

 ample, or twelve ears of corn, are provided for 

 a menage of six persons, it means that two 

 beets or two ears of corn are a single portion; 

 wherefore the twenty portions of the year will 

 be forty beets and forty ears of corn. Going 

 thus through the entire list of vegetables that 

 are to be planted, it is easy to arrive at ap- 

 proximately the proper total of every one; and 

 from this the necessary amount for any house- 

 hold is discoverable by a very simple sum in 

 multiplication. 



A tabulated list of the vegetables suggested 

 is given, to aid in arriving at an estimate of the 

 amounts to be planted — which of course in its 

 turn determines the space to be devoted to the 

 entire project. It is not based on a single serv- 

 ing of each vegetable on twenty days of the 

 year, but upon the doubling of this — that is, 

 upon serving each one forty times. And of 

 course it is to be understood that the perishable 

 vegetables which cannot be canned are to be 

 used during their season, while those which 



