176 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



September, 1905 



How a Valueless Suburban Place was Converted 



into a Productive Estate 



By S. L. de Fabry 



ANY owners of small country or suburban 

 estates find themselves with a few acres of 

 surplus land for which they have no use, 

 except that they are a source of expense to 

 maintain in harmony with the surroundings 

 and well-laid-out grounds near the house. 

 To own a country place as a summer residence is expensive, 

 and only the wealthy can afford this luxury. A few acres 

 nicely situated in communicating distance to the city is within 

 the reach of the man with a moderate income, and I think 

 the ideal of the simple life, as it is not only healthful and 

 invigorating, but diverts the mind from the monotony and 

 strenuous efforts of business to the varied pleasures of out- 

 door life and creates an interest in the average man for 



almost suburban location and convenience. As an invest- 

 ment for returns it was valueless. The owner was not pre- 

 pared to keep a summer home and a city residence, and 

 therefore decided to make the place his permanent home and 

 try to get some returns out of the thirteen acres available to 

 cultivation. Being ignorant of the ways of agriculture, the 

 services of an expert in this line were engaged. 



Slowly but surely the transformation began. One nice 

 day I was led through a bewildering array of plants, planted 

 in rows and hills. There were cabbage, turnips, beets and 

 sweet corn, flanked by beans, peas and parsley. Tomato 

 patches were bordered with something crawling, which 

 proved to be squash. 



Soon hoeing time came. Additional labor had to be en- 



A Modest Cottage on Top of a Hill Surrounded by Two Acres of Old Shade Trees, Lawn, and Shrubbery, 



Laid Out Like a Miniature Park 



nature and its workings. In the following the evolution of 

 a small country seat into a self-supporting estate is described, 

 the feature of interest being that the owner had not the slight- 

 est knowledge of agriculture at the time the place came into 

 his possession. 



The success obtained seemed the result of close study of 

 the situation, facing all disappointments by renewed and 

 better effort, until the results were satisfactory. The place 

 consisted of fifteen acres, beautifully located on rolling land 

 near the seashore, close to the city. The modest cottage, on 

 top of a hill, is surrounded by two acres of old shade, lawn 

 and shrubbery, laid out like a miniature park. 



In outbuildings there were at that time a nice barn, car- 

 riage house, horse and cow stalls and a thirty-foot hothouse. 

 The price paid for the place was reasonable, considering its 



gaged to keep the weeds down. Everything looked lovely, 

 and the writer commenced to figure on "the lowest esti- 

 mate " which the crops would bring. 



That summer we had unusually dry weather. One morn- 

 ing I noticed a field of green peas in full bloom getting 

 yellow on the stems near the ground. My suspicions were 

 aroused. I examined the blossoms, and found them full of 

 little green bugs sucking the sap out of the plants. There 

 were no green peas to market that summer. The beans, 

 wax and green podded, " stood well," I was told. The 

 trouble must have been that their standing must have been 

 good with everybody else. After shipping a week or so to a 

 commission merchant, I found out that after deducting 

 gathering, baskets, freights and commissions, I had lost five 

 cents on every basket shipped. 



