8 GARDEN PROFITS 



tensive still, as quick as one carrot, head of lettuce 

 or cabbage is removed, another can be trans- 

 planted from the hotbed or frame, so that the soil 

 will actually never be idle. In a small garden, 

 the work will be personal, individual; every detail 

 will be within reach, and the facility for observation 

 and experiment, essentials to success, will be con- 

 centrated, localized, increased to the maximum. 

 The labor item is extremely important, for with 

 intensive cultivation or market gardening in mind, 

 the necessary number of men and teams per acre 

 increases entirely out of proportion to the acreage 

 involved. 



Finally, the matter of yields and profits is closely 

 associated with the amount of land tilled. Theoret- 

 ically the statement is true, that if half an acre 

 will yield 250 bushels of potatoes, ten acres will 

 yield 5,000 bushels. But this result requires that 

 the soil and moisture conditions, the fertilizing, 

 spraying and care, increase proportionately. In 

 most cases this is impossible. It is compara- 

 tively simple to spade five or more tons of manure 

 into half an acre, and be able to feel that the soil 

 is in perfect tilth; it is another thing to apply 100 

 tons to 10 acres and bring the land to exactly as 

 good condition. Five hundred and forty square 

 feet of garden were cared for by a business man in 

 his free moments, and with a cash outlay of $1.15, 

 yielded $14.50 worth of vegetables. This is over 

 1200%, and a fact! It is difficult, if not absurd 

 to think of a 1200% profit from even a two-acre 

 farm. 



