PREPARATION OF THE LAND 



15 



dener. Many times, too, a surplus is grown, which 

 can be sold for good hard cash. 



Does it pay? I say, Yes! So does Harriet. 

 Tim echoes the sentiment, and Martha echoes Tim. 

 Here's what Chas. C. Woodruff, of Illinois, said in 

 Farm Journal : 'T have a small town garden, 

 28x30 feet — just 840 square feet — and I take care 

 of it without help, except that I hire it spaded in 

 the spring. I am a printer, and it is necessary for 

 me to be at the shop from 7 A. M. to 6 P. and 

 the time I have for gardening is before and after 

 these hours. I have kept an account of seeds bought, 

 and the amount the produce would have sold for on 

 the market at the time of gathering. Seeds, labor, 

 etc., figure up exactly $3.95, and cash value of prod- 

 uce exactly $55.29. Think of it ! — fifty-five dollars' 

 worth of produce from an outlay of $3.95. Then the 

 recreation ! I got about $200 worth of that, with 

 about $500 worth of satisfaction thrown in. Fifty- 

 five dollars' worth of produce raised on 840 square 

 feet of ground is at the rate of $2,488 worth of prod- 

 uce per acre. On most of my ground I raised three 

 crops. No room for weeds. The w^ork was health- 

 ful recreation; far better than loafing dow^n town, 

 and better pay." 



I have seen the statement that an area 100x150 

 feet should furnish 

 an ample supply of 

 vegetables (exclusive 

 of winter potatoes) 

 for an ordinary fam- 

 ily. So it should. 

 But let me say right 

 here that smaller spring harrowing should fol- 



, , , LOW PLOWING AS SOON AS 



patches than that possible 



