Adding $1000 to Your Assets— By Roger w. Babson, w ^ 



(Editors' Xote: This is the second article in a series of six that will discuss the present day problem of the "Cost 

 of Living," with special reference to the part that tlie back yard garden can be made to play in its reduction.] 



BEFORE entering into the details of 

 this series on Reducing the Cost of 

 Living, I wish to say a word about 

 real estate values, how they come 

 about and of what they consist. We all 

 know of lots of land in a part of some city, 

 in which, or near which, we live, where 

 the land sells at about S5 per square foot 

 which is at the rate of about $20,000 per 

 acre. Of course, in New York, Chicago, 

 and other large cities land sells at very- 

 much higher prices than this. In fact, 

 I have in mind a lot of land which is valued 

 at Sioo a square foot or over S4,ooo,ooo 

 per acre. In the residential sections of 

 our smaller cities land sells from 10 cents 

 to 25 cents a square foot or at the rate 

 of about S4,ooo to Sio,ooo per acre. Good 

 average farm land near the cities in Iowa, 

 Illinois, and adjoining territory sells for 

 about Si 50 per acre, while beautiful wood 

 lands in northern Maine can be purchased 

 at only S5 per acre. This you see gives 

 us five prices for an acre of land, viz: 

 820,000 for an acre in the city, $7,500 for 

 an acre in the suburb, $150 for an acre of 

 farm land and $5 for an acre of woodland 

 in northern Maine. 



Moreover, when these lands are analyzed, 

 it will be found that one actually gets more 

 real property by purchasing anacreinnorth- 

 ern Maine, covered with fine timber, or an 

 acre in Iowa with its twenty inches of loam 

 than an acre in any large city or suburb 

 thereof. Why is it that the acre which 

 has the least intrinsic value so often sells 

 for the greatest sum? I will answer this 

 by saying that the value of land is deter- 

 mined to-day by the income which one can 

 obtain from it, and for every $50 of increased 

 net income the price or value becomes Si, 000 

 greater. In other words, the value of land 

 or the assets of a land-owner depends not 

 on the intrinsic value of the property, 

 but on its earning capacity. As its earning 

 capacity increases, its value increases; 

 while as the earning capacity decreases its 

 value decreases. In fact, a real estate 

 owner's yield is determined not by the 

 acres but by the income. If a man has 

 property from which he obtains a net 

 income of S50 per acre, this property is 

 said to be worth Si, 000 per acre and he is 

 rated by "Dun" accordingly. If his net 

 income is S500 per year, his estate is ap- 

 praised for Sio,ooo; while if his net income 

 from this land is $5,000, his real estate 

 holdings are probably appraised at about 

 Sico,ooo. This is the basis upon which 

 all of the real estate experts work, and it 

 is a fundamental principle which should 

 be grasped and thoroughly understood. 



THE INCOME OP A GARDEN 



With this in mind, the purpose of every 

 man who owns a lot of land twenty-five 



or more feet square should be to increase 

 the income derived therefrom. Increasing 

 the income from your property $50, is 

 equivalent to increasing your assets Si, 000. 

 Moreover, if one can do this and simultan- 

 eously become a producer, he, in addition, 

 is reducing his cost of living and perform- 

 ing a distinct service to his nation. Xow, 

 there are various ways by which one can 

 increase the income of his property and 

 consequently increase his assets; but I 

 know of no more practical and truly bene- 

 ficial way than by having a backyard 

 vegetable garden. To my mind, a lawn is 

 no handsomer than a bed of Xew Zealand 

 spinach, nor are shrubs so useful as a hedge 

 of bright red tomatoes. 



But even if one wishes to retain the lawn 

 and shrubbery, there still is an opportunity 

 for developing a vegetable garden in the 

 backyard. To have a garden such as our 

 grandparents enjoyed and to have the 

 plowing, cultivating and other work done 

 by horses and machinery, space is nec- 

 essary; but a large area is not necessary 

 for success. If one will use sufficient 

 manure and care, he can obtain to-day 

 the same crop in value from one eighth of 

 an acre that his grandparents obtained 

 from an acre. Of course, this may elimi- 

 nate raising potatoes and certain other 

 vegetables requiring a large space; but a 

 large quantity of peas and beans can be 



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Planting Chart for a small Garden 

 251 



raised on a piece of land no larger than 

 the living room; while after the peas and 

 beans are gone, one or two later crops can 

 still be obtained from this same small area. 

 For instance, this small area may first 

 be planted with peas with a little space 

 left for cucumbers and corn, with here and 

 there a hill of winter squashes. The peas 

 are picked by the middle of July, and when 

 the vines are pulled up this will allow the 

 cucumbers to run; while the beans are 

 gone about the first of August, and when 

 these vines are pulled up, the corn will 

 have plenty of time to mature. Both the 

 corn and cucumbers will have been gathered 

 by September, allowing the winter squashes 

 air and sunshine, so that they may mature 

 good and hardy, with a yield sufficient 

 to carry one through the winter. All of. 

 this can be done on an area no larger than 

 an average living room. Therefore, the 

 first thing to remember is that a large area, 

 is not necessary. This can best be illus- 

 trated by the fact that a squash vine with 

 two or three good squashes, selling in the 

 aggregate of Si. 50 to $2, can be raised in 

 a bucket, all that is necessary being dress- 

 ing, water, and care. Thus, I care not hew 

 small your backyard may be, it is possible 

 to have a worth while vegetable garden; 

 and, in fact, there are many small back- 

 yards, sunny but protected, which after 

 being properly dressed can be made more 

 profitable than many much larger and more 

 pretentious gardens. 



SOME FIGURES FROM MY OWN GARDEN 



Perhaps this can best be illustrated by 

 some statistics relating to a small garden 

 which I personally have planted and cared 

 for at Annisquam, a part of Gloucester, 

 Mass., where my summer home is located. 

 Being much interested in increasing pro- 

 duction through backyard gardens from 

 an economic point of view, I determined 

 to plant a piece of ground about the size 

 of an average suburban backyard, and 

 take entire charge of it myself, doing all 

 the work with my own hands. After 

 visiting a number of my employees who 

 five in the suburbs of Boston and Xew 

 York, I found that an average backyard con- 

 sists of from 1,000 to 2,000 square feet, and, 

 consequently, I decided to mark off a plot 

 of land containing about 1,500 square feet. 



Being West on an important business 

 trip at the time of plowing, I had this 

 plowing done by a local farmer who charged 

 me Si. 25 for the job. Moreover, as I was 

 then living at my winter home in Wellesley, 

 a suburb of Boston, some fifty miles from 

 this "backyard"' garden, it was necessary 

 for me to do the first planting all at once, 

 it being impossible to do a little each day. 

 For the man who has a garden of his own, 

 this additional expense of plowing is un- 



