40 The Profitable Culture of Vegetables. 



will not be far away unless there is some reserve fund to fall 

 back upon. Even if success is attained in the end lack of 

 sufficient capital must entail much unnecessary privation and 

 toil in the early years. 



Few men have any conception of the labour required to 

 make a small-holding successful. Given a strong constitution 

 the work is healthful and adds to length of years, besides 

 being pleasant enough when one's mind and body have become 

 accustomed to it; but it is never other than laborious. No 

 one should undertake to cultivate the soil for a living for the 

 first time after middle age, and at no time is the work suitable 

 for men of poor physique. The long hours of labour and the 

 exposure necessary to success for many of the operations, 

 such as summer planting, are best done during rain must 

 tell heavily against a feeble constitution. 



Still, when all has been said there still remains the undeni- 

 able truth that the most potent factor in the whole situation is 

 the man himself. Many a one has started in a very modest 

 way and by concentrating his energies upon only so much of 

 his holding as the means at his command would enable him to 

 do well, and adding to his income by working for others in his 

 spare time, has extended his operations as his experience and 

 profits have grown, until at last he has attained an assured 

 position. It must therefore suffice to utter a grave warning 

 to those who contemplate such an undertaking that it should 

 not be entered upon without the fullest and most careful 

 consideration. 



Under any circumstances the best must be constantly striven 

 for if lasting success is to be achieved. Spasmodic effort will 

 not do ; industry and attention to the work in hand must be 

 unremitting, and every operation carefully studied. The man 

 who means to prosper must learn and put in practice the 

 principles underlying the production of profitable crops soil 

 management, manuring, the rotation of crops, the manipula- 

 tion of tools and appliances, the methods of combatting plant 

 pests, besides the general routine of work in the garden ; last, 

 but by no means least, he must learn the best methods of 

 marketing his crops after he has produced them. 



Intensive culture should also receive serious attention. It 



