2 Home Vegetable Gardening 



You know that you would not be likely to; the 

 chances are very much against you. This garden 

 business is a matter of common sense ; and the man, 

 or the woman, who has learned by experience how 

 to do a thing, whether it is cornering the market or 

 growing cabbages, naturally does it better than the 

 one who has not. Do not expect the impossible. If 

 you do, read a poultry advertisement and go into the 

 hen business instead of tr}ang to garden. I have 

 grown pumpkins that necessitated the tearing down 

 of the fence in order to get them out of the lot, and 

 sometimes, though not frequently, have had to use 

 the axe to cut through a stalk of asparagus, but I 

 never "made $17,000 in ten months from an egg- 

 plant in a city back-yard." No, if you are going to 

 take up gardening, you will have to work, and you 

 will have a great many disappointments. All that 

 I, or anyone else, could put between the two covers 

 of a book will not make a gardener of you. It must 

 be learned through the fingers, and back, too, as well 

 as from the printed page. But, after all, the greatest 

 reward for your efforts will be the work itself; 

 and unless you love the work, or have a feeling 

 that you will love it, probably the best way for you, 

 is to stick to the grocer for your garden. 



Most things, in the course of development, 

 change from the simple to the complex. The art 

 of gardening has in many ways been an exception 



