"The Most Valuable of All Arts" 89 



mapped out long in advance. In fact, they call it 

 "Housekeeping by the Year." 



It is obvious that if one is to have certain vegetables 

 for dinner — on June 22, for example — the planting 

 must be done some time in advance, or it will be neces- 

 sary to run to the corner grocery and buy the vege- 

 tables. That will do for the millionaire, but not for 

 the home gardener. And, by the way, this is a good 

 place to remark that the home gardener has the ad- 

 vantage of the millionaire in this respect, since his 

 vegetables will be fresh from the garden, and stamped 

 with that ineffable something that attaches to his 

 own creation. There is an element of love in it that 

 ones does not get in the more or less wilted vegetables 

 bought at the store after passing through many alien 

 hands ; nor even in vegetables raised in one's own garden 

 by hired men. 



The menu goes up on the kitchen wall, accompanied 

 by tables of maturity, so that the housekeeper can 

 look ahead and see just what material she will have 

 at her disposal on a certain date. The planting is 

 done, of course, in accordance with the bill-of'-fare. 

 This brings us to another step in the new and valuable 

 art. This step is successional planting — planting a 

 little of everything in the way of perishable vegetables 

 one day in each week. In the case I have in mind, 

 Tuesday is planting day, and the rest of the week is 

 given to cultural days. Usually the work is done in 

 the early morning hours, "when the wild life of the 

 country tunes up and ushers in the shafts of sunshine 

 that break over the canyon walls." This method is 

 guaranteed to produce a good appetite for breakfast. 



