No. 4.] MARKET GARDENING. 43 



out hurting either ; and in this way large gross returns can 

 be made for each acre. On one large market garden where 

 this system of close planting has been in use for years they 

 raised and sold, in 1904, 14,000 boxes of radishes which were 

 grown between rows of other larger crops. On one day they 

 had 612 boxes, which brought |165. 



The amount of business done per acre on market gardens 

 varies from $400 to 1 1,000 or over. While there are many 

 market gardeners who can give you the returns from each 

 crop raised, there are very few who have gone into cost 

 accounting, and can tell how much any crop has cost. 



It is no uncommon thing to see some of our largest market 

 o-ardeners brino- in 1,000 to 1,500 bushels of stuff in a dav. 

 Some man will bring in 1,000 bushels of spinach, or 500 to 

 1,000 dozen of lettuce, or 400 to 600 boxes of radishes, or 

 possibly 200 boxes of tomatoes, beans or sweet corn. 



The sales from some of these gardens will run over $1,000 

 for a single day ; but there are many days without sales, or 

 prices may run very low. Some of the low prices the past 

 year have been : for spinach, 4 cents ; lettuce, 5 cents ; pars- 

 ley, 5 cents ; radish, 15 cents ; corn, 25 cents ; beans, 25 cents 

 a box ; cabbage, 40 cents a barrel ; and squash, 65 cents. 



The market gardeners within 4 to 6 miles of Boston will 

 continue to grow large quantities of cheap stuff so long as 

 the market will use it. A farmer much farther out would 

 find it nearly impossible, with ordinary means of transpor- 

 tation, to deliver 1,000 boxes of stuff in a day, even if he 

 could get the help needed to raise and harvest it. 



It takes a first-class man to sell so much material in a day. 

 He must be well posted on the supply and demand for his 

 kind of stuff, and make his prices right in order to dispose 

 of his perishable product while it is fit to sell. Sometimes 

 the market price will go up fast and stuff go out short, and it 

 takes a smart man to see the change and profit by it. When 

 prices are low and the market glutted, a good salesman is 

 especially needed. Unless the market gardener is a good 

 salesman himself or employs one, he will not get the profits 

 which ought to be his for running the business. 



