THE WHYS AND WHEREFORES XXV 



Otherwise. Yet adverse circumstances have not been 

 able to discourage me, and there is no need of anybody- 

 giving up in despair merely because the conditions at 

 his disposal are not the most favorable. By discreet 

 management, one can do pretty well even if things do 

 not happen to be just as one would like to have them. 



It is perfectly feasible, perfectly practicable, to 

 grow onions by this new plan even on rented land. Yet 

 I believe I would rather live in a hut, surrounded by a 

 few acres of land, all my own, and be able to say, 

 "J'y suis, j'y resfe" (here I am and here I stay) than 

 live in a rented palace. No matter how poor or defect- 

 ive the land, by a little effort here and there, and by 

 little additions now and then, the land can be brought 

 up to the highest state of fertility and cultivation in a 

 few years, and the humble house can gradually be 

 transformed into an earthly paradise, and all this with- 

 out much actual expense, or conscious effort. This 

 course surely will prove more gratifying than to oper- 

 ate on rented land, to make improvements from year 

 to year, and after a short period of occupancy turn the 

 whole over to somebody else, and let others enjoy the 

 benefits from the former occupants' labors and pains- 

 taking. But in whatever situation in this respect you 

 may find yourself, do as I always have tried to do, 

 namely, make the most of your opportunities. 



Have I any doubt that Prizetaker and Gibraltar 

 onions may be grown in this way by one, two, three or 

 four acres with a profit ? No, not the least. But this 

 book is not written for the purpose of getting the 

 reader wild on the subject, and into trouble. It is 

 written primarily for the purpose of inducing you to 

 make some careful trials of the new onion culture, 

 operating at first on a small fraction of an acre of care- 

 fully selected land, to enable you to learn not only how 

 to grow the onions, but also how to exchange them for 



