114 EXPENSES. 



made the garden pay its way, selling enough 

 annually to refund the cost of cultivation. In 

 addition, I had an abundant supply for my own 

 family, and this I regarded as my profit. Each 

 year, if we had bought at village prices all that 

 we used, it would have cost us not far from five 

 hundred dollars. In brief, we could have af- 

 forded no such supply. But when you go to 

 market among the dewy vegetable beds and 

 vines of your own garden, you return with your 

 basket full. 



But in '71, after a larger expenditure than 

 will ever be required again on the same ground, 

 there was a very nice margin in cash, as well as 

 a prodigal supply of the home-market. 



The first item of expense to which I will direct 

 attention is that for fertilizers. There is not the 

 shadow of a chance for success unless the ground 

 is thoroughly enriched and kept so. Here is 

 where the majority fail. A man might almost 



