THE SELF-SUPPORTING HOME 7 



THE DANGER OF UNDERCAPITALIZATION 



One of the commonest reasons for failure in 

 farming is undercapitalization. With insufficient 

 capital the farmer is compelled to buy on credit — 

 paying, thereby, perhaps 50 per cent, more than the 

 market price; he has too few tools, too little stock, 

 and is forced to merely half-work his land — 

 which is practically as expensive and only about 

 one-fourth as profitable as thoroughness. The avail- 

 able capital may be used up on one crop of potatoes, 

 corn or fruit, while many other acres of good land 

 must be left idle — probably without even the 

 beneficial effects of fallowing provided for by pre- 

 vious plowing. 



Of course the amount of money representing 

 undercapitalization is entirely relative, depending 

 on the size and nature of the farm or garden. But 

 here is the very backbone of the matter — the 

 smaller the {farm or) garden, the smaller the prob- 

 ability of undercapitalization, and, as a result, the 

 greater the relative returns. A half-acre garden, 

 given intensive, continuous care will prove more 

 profitable than several acres only partially cropped. 



It will be possible to keep every foot at work, 

 for there will not be the necessity of waiting for 

 a whole crop, occupying one or more acres, to be 

 removed, before another can be sown. In the 

 small garden, where vegetables are grown in rows, 

 one planting — representing at most three or four 

 rows ^— can be harvested, the ground manured 

 and cultivated, and another crop planted, all in one 

 day, with not an hour's delay. Or, more in- 



