THE EARTH'S BOUNTY 



which is not very enlightening; but, never hav- 

 ing thought about chronicling our home affairs 

 for public perusal, accounts were kept in a 

 primitively collective way. 



When the house was finished, having no 

 properly prepared mold, three loads were 

 bought, at a dollar a load, from a man who 

 had more than he needed. The plants cost 

 fifteen dollars, and coal, for the entire season, 

 eighteen which brought the outlay up to $114. 



The first season we marketed one hundred 

 and eighty-five bunches of flowers, at sixty 

 cents each, which left the house three dollars 

 in debt. However, the following year, the 

 principal yield of flowers came in December 

 and January, when they brought a dollar a 

 bunch; and there was an increase of fifty 

 bunches, making the return for the season 

 $175, against three dollars debt and twenty 

 dollars for coal, which left $152 for labor and 

 profit. 



Labor can't be counted, as the floral busi- 

 ness was not attempted until the farm pros- 



29 



