MEN FITTED FOE THE BUSINESS. 15 



by rigid economy during a series of years, I have 

 scraped together $2,000. My health is only ordinary. 

 With that capital can I succeed as a market gardener 

 by hiring an experienced gardener ? " This inquiry 

 is a type of hundreds 1 now receive annually, and 

 to which may be given this general reply : From the 

 naturo of the question, no very definite answer can 

 be given, though I would say that' the chances are 

 two to one against success. It is a well-known fact 

 that the chances of success in mercantile business are 

 even far less than this. "D. H." may be a capi- 

 tal book-keeper, yet it is doubtful if he has the neces- 

 sary endurance to stand the wear on the constitution 

 that market gardening involves. If he concludes to 

 start at gardening, he is more likely than not to se- 

 lect a soil entirely unsuited to the purpose. In most 

 sections of the country there are fewer soils suitable for 

 the cultivation of vegetables than there are those that 

 are unsuitable. Again, he is an educated man, and 

 this very fact would be rather against him than oth- 

 erwise, as it would naturally incline him to refined 

 society and associations, in which, I am sorry to say, 

 the beginner in market gardening cannot afford to 

 indulge. The hiring of an '" experienced gardener'' 

 would take all the cream off of the profits. Experi- 

 enced market gardeners are exceedingly scarce. Our 

 laborers in the market gardens are generally an ig- 

 norant class with very little ambition, and not one in 

 a hundred of them is fit to manage. Though em- 

 ploying seventy hands myself, I have often been sadly 

 at a loss to select from them a suitable man as fore- 

 man, though many of them had been with me for 

 years. When one shows the necessary ability, his ser- 

 vices are much sought after, and he readily com- 

 mands $500 or $600 a year and board. Clerks, book- 

 keepers, and city-bred men generally are not the ones 



