.328 How THE FARM PAYS. 



second crops. One great disadvantage with the older kinds is that 

 the work of banking up of two or three feet required to be done, may 

 in the event of severe rain storms be made completely useless, as these 

 banks become saturated with the rain and washed down and the 

 whole work has to be gone over again, but with this new kind, no 

 banks being necessary, all such danger is avoided. About 30,000 

 of this new kind of celery (planted three feet in the rows and six 

 inches between the plants) can be grown on an acre. At the very 

 lowest price of $2 per 100 roots, $600 would be the gross receipts. 

 Estimating $200 for manure and labor, we have a net profit of $400 

 per acre, but in many parts of the country celery is sold at twice and 

 sometimes three times this price. 



CRESS (WATER). 



I allude to this vegetable here, not to recommend its culture to the 

 farmer unless under special favorable conditions. The special con- 

 ditions required for it may, however, occasionally be found, and in 

 such cases, by a little attention, it may be made an exceedingly 

 profitable crop. Many a farmer in the vicinity of large cities may 

 realize more profit from this plant on his farm, with but little labor, 

 than he could from months of hard work in his corn or potato field. 

 The following brief instructions will be found to be all that is re- 

 quired for the culture of this vegetable, where the proper conditions 

 are present. Suppose there is a stream running through the farm 

 one to three feet deep and three to twelve feet wide, with level banks. 

 A simple plan of cultivation is to make excavations at right angles 

 with the stream, forming sunken beds six or eight feet wide and about 

 eight inches deep, with alleys raised between of the same width, so 

 that the beds can be flooded by the stream, the plants of the Water 

 Cress being planted in the sunken beds at eight or ten inches apart 

 each way. Where the beds cannot be drained dry, the slips or cut- 

 tings are made into small balls with clay, and these are dropped into 

 the water; they settle to the bottom, and the slips quickly take root. 

 The advantage of having the beds made at right angles to the stream 

 is that, in the event of freshets, the crop is less liable to be washed 

 out. It is not easy to determine the value of an acre of Water Cress, 

 as so much depends on the thickness of its growth; yet I think it safe 

 to say that, whenever sold in any of our large markets, such as New 

 York, Boston, Philadelphia or Chicago, it would rarely fail, at 

 present prices, to bring less than $1,000 per acre, and one great 

 advantage of it is that it is so light in proportion to its value that from 

 $100 to $150 worth can be easily placed in a single wagon load. For 



