MONEY IN THE BACKYARD 11 



few cases it might be justifiable to advise not setting 

 the orchard at all. But in general I would say, as 

 I do to the owner of a somnolent backyard "Go 

 ahead anyway, start your garden as if every condi- 

 tion were favorable, and at the same time do every- 

 thing you can to better conditions and to plan your 

 work so that you gradually improve the soil, your 

 health, your financial condition and your self-respect 

 simultaneously." 



That there is some chance of your benefiting from 

 such advice is pretty definitely proven by the ex- 

 perience of a real amateur who realized some ideals 

 in spite of unattractive conditions. Her own words 

 tell an interesting and encouraging story. 



HOW TO MAKE TWENTY-FOUR TOMATO PLANTS 

 HAND YOU #5O 



"In a plot less than 25 feet square, bounded by 

 careless, scoffing neighbors, where scrawny chickens 

 scratched by day and tomcats yowled by night, 

 with an eternal prospect of unkempt and barren 

 backyards whichever way you looked, I determined 

 to create a paradise. 



"After dragging along, content with the mere 

 suggestion of a garden, for four years, during which 

 time I dug and raked in the most intractable heavy 

 clay which even now is so hard in the dry time that 

 it scarcely notices the onslaught of pick and shovel, 

 I determined to make the season of 1909 bring forth 

 my paradise. In the spring as soon as the frost 

 was out of the ground I dug to the depth of one and 



