AMOUNT OF CAPITAL. WORKING FOECE. 17 



drenching rains, and woe be to the "boss" or fore- 

 man who would superintend the operation under the 

 protection of an umbrella. He must take his chances 

 with the rank and file, or his prestige as a com- 

 mander is gone. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE AMOUNT OF CAPITAL REQUIRED AND WORKING 

 FORCE PER ACRE. 



The small amount of capital required to begin farming 

 operations, creates great misconception of what is neces- 

 sary for commercial gardening ; for, judging from the 

 small number of acres wanted for commencing a garden, 

 many suppose that a few hundred dollars is all sufficient 

 for a market gardener. For want of information on this 

 subject, hundreds have failed, after years of toil and pri- 

 vation. At present prices (1886), no one would be safe 

 to start the business of vegetable market gardening, in 

 the manner it is carried on in the neighborhood of New 

 York, with a capital of less than $300 per acre, for any- 

 thing less than ten acres ; if on a larger scale, it might 

 not require quite so much. The first season rarely pays 

 more than current expenses, and the capital of $300 per 

 acre is all absorbed in horses, wagons, glass, manures, 

 etc. If the capital be insufficient to procure these prop- 

 erly, the chance of success is correspondingly diminished. 



I can call to mind at least a dozen cases that have oc- 

 curred in my immediate neighborhood within the last ten 

 years, where steady, industrious men have utterly failed, 

 and lost every dollar they possessed, merely by attempt- 

 ing the business with insufficient capital. A few years 

 ago a man called upon me and stated that he was about 



