GARDENING FOR MARKET. 429 



manure to an acre, every year, will pay more profit than 

 will fifty loads ; and I am inclined to believe that even two 

 hundred loads would pay better still. 



The cultivation of vegetables entails, in any case, a heavy 

 outlay for labor, seed, expenses of marketing, &c., and these 

 are about the same (except in the matter of marketing) for 

 a light as for a heavy crop it takes a certain amount of 

 produce to pay the cost, and up to this point there is no 

 profit. Beyond this point, except the cost of the manure, 

 it is nearly all profit, and the more we can stimulate exces- 

 sive production the more rapidly will the ratio of profits 

 increase over the expenses. 



No farmer can hope to become really successful in raising 

 vegetables for market until he is prepared to expend in- 

 cluding the value of the manure used at least $300 annu- 

 ally on every acre of his ^garden land. With this outlay, 

 if his soil is good and well placed, and his market is a 

 good one, and if he is the right man for the business, he 

 ought to make a clear profit of $500 per acre. 



The character of the market should be well understood. 

 If there is a manufacturing town near by, or any town hav- 

 ing a population which includes a large proportion of labor- 

 ing people, the case is a simple one. 



It should be well understood that it does not pay (at least 

 so far as gardening is concerned) to feed the rich. They 

 are like the black sheep of the flock, that don't eat so much 

 as the white ones there are not so many of them, and, as 



