78 
Selling the Surplus Products 
A MOST perplexing problem to many 
who are raising poultry, fruits, and 
vegetables in only a small way is how to 
advantageously dispose of the surplus. 
The average man has little knowledge of 
market requirements, styles of packages, 
or methods of grading and packing, and has 
little time to learn these things. 
We have had for several years a consider- 
able surplus of sweet corn, and many of the 
residents in the village would have been glad 
to purchase it at full retail prices. But 
this method of disposal was not practicable 
as we had no horse with which to make 
deliveries. The grocer was willing to take 
it, however, at wholesale prices. Before 
we bought a cow, our milk bill was reduced 
by disposing of the corn stalks to the 
milkman. 
We had one or two trees of early apples 
which gave more fruit than we could use. 
Several baskets of these apples were sold to 
the grocer, who did the carting, and assorted» 
and graded them to suit himself. 
Our large asparagus bed yielded far more 
than we and our neighbors could use. A 
new grocer in town was appreciative of the 
fine quality of our produce and offered 
a price something above that paid for the 
“imported grass.” 
If the season is favorable, we often have 
a surplus supply of tomatoes even after 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
canning enough for winter use. The grocer 
sometimes takes these, and one year a 
huckster was glad to get all we had to spare. 
When our large blackberry patch yields 
abundantly, there are far more berries than 
we can use and many quarts are sold to the 
grocer at fair prices. 
Poultry products are usually more readily 
disposed of. If one has pure-bred birds, 
there is often the chance to sell a few settings 
of eggs or a surplus cockerel. The poultry 
supply houses which sell chick feed and 
other supplies can often use these. Then 
there is always a sale for fresh eggs. In 
most localities, one’s neighbors are glad to 
get reliably fresh eggs. Grocers will also 
take the eggs, but most of them want to fix 
the price as low as crate eggs are bringing 
in the general market. Strictly fresh eggs 
are worth much more. Put them in boxes 
holding a dozen, and establish a reputation 
by having a seal showing what the eggs are 
and their origin. Be sure the eggs are fresh 
and clean. 
If one is limited as to space, it is generally 
better to sell the surplus cockerels as small 
broilers. The marketmen will probably 
take them alive. 
New Jersey. 
Wild Plants for Shaded Places 
iE IS always more or less of a problem 
to know: just what plants will succeed 
in a shaded corner, but we have had con- 
siderable success for several years with 
plants which we brought from the woods 
and fields, a few at a time. ‘They were 
carefully dug up with good balls of earth, 
and watered thoroughly when set out. 
Without any further care the plants flour- 
ished and bloomed profusely in spite of 
the fact that the soil was very poor and 
had never been fertilized. The bed is on 
the northwest side of the house and all the 
sun it gets is a very little in the late afternoon. 
The background for the low-growing 
plants is of common tall meadow rue 
F. H. VALENTINE. 
The problem of what to plant in this shaded corner was solved by using wild flowers 
SEPTEMBER, 1908 
and the flowering raspberry. Dwarf mead- 
ow rue, crane’s bill, herb Robert, Indian 
turnip, Solomon’s seal, false Solomon’s 
seal, several ferns, black-eyed Susan, and 
wild New England asters (which make 
a splendid show in autumn), form the 
bed. We planted the common wild clematis 
so that it would clamber up the porch 
pillar. This bed gives a most pleasing 
effect and is considered by many the 
prettiest spot in the garden, notwithstanding 
the fact that the plants cost absolutely 
nothing. 
Massachusetts. ELLA M. BEALS. 
Disposing of Surplus Plants 
p\8 THE end of September and in October 
every amateur gardener finds it 
necessary to divide the plants in at least a 
part of the garden and to fertilize the soil. 
It occurred to me last fall to save the little 
plants that seemed hardly worth while 
replanting, also those that had grown too 
large and the sturdy varieties which threat- 
ened to crowd out their neighbors, and 
to sell them all, devoting the proceeds to a 
charity in which I was interested. 
The potted plants brought twenty-five 
cents apiece and a flat containing two 
dozen hardy forget-me-nots sold for fifty 
cents. The larger plants were divided 
into good-sized clumps and wrapped in 
paper. Hardy bulbs were also bought at 
wholesale, and when prettily done up in 
fancy packages of a dozen bulbs, sold for 
twenty-five cents. 
The tall light blue larkspur (Delphinium 
elatum) which many find so hard to raise 
from seed was in great demand. As soon 
as the seeds ripened in July I had immedi- 
ately sown them in a rich, shaded soil, 
and in two months I had strong little 
plants. These were potted in very small 
pots. Before being sold all the plants were 
labeled carefully with height, color, and 
time of bloom. 
Plants that may be advantageously thinned 
out, the seedlings or divisions to be sold in 
small pots or flats, are: Larkspur, forget- 
me-not, columbine, evening primrose, fox- 
glove, and hollyhock. 
The following plants may be divided into 
clumps and sold: Pyrethrum, German and 
Japanese iris, Hemerocallis flava, Funkia 
subcordata, pink spirea, monarda, English 
daisy, hardy pink, gypsophila, Phlox subu- 
Jata and tall perennial phlox. 
New Jersey. ANNA GILMAN HILL. 
