1911 
THE RURA.L >1E W-VORKER 
189 
FIVE ACRES ENOUGH ? 
D. .1. Brattleboro, Vt .—Would it bo 
profitable to raise horseradish for the mar¬ 
ket on a fairly large scale? Could one 
make a good income on five acres on the fol¬ 
lowing plan? One acre to asparagus; one 
acre to tomatoes; one acre to horseradish; 
hens and other birds to roam over an acre 
or two. How near to New York city could 
one find the suitable five acres? Are there 
any desirable places on the Hudson not too 
far from New York? High and healthy 
location dsirable; would like trolley line. 
Ans. —Can one make a living on live 
acres of land by diversified methods, or 
lines of working similar to those sub¬ 
mitted by D. A. C. ? This question has 
always agitated the minds of many peo¬ 
ple, caused many changes in the differ¬ 
ent walks of life, and not infrequently 
has it cost them considerable of their 
early savings. It is therefore a critical 
question to undertake to answer. So 
much will depend on the man, his for¬ 
mer occupation, his age, and methods 
of detail, etc., that advice or information 
given in one case may not be suitable 
in another. As a rule experience and 
close observation has more to do with 
successful farming than science or in 
fact any information that can he given, 
and those who are without some experi¬ 
ence in the line of farming who have 
passed the stone in life’s highway that 
marks the highest point, I would ad¬ 
vise not to engage in the market garden¬ 
ing business. The long hours and the 
exposure in all kinds of weather which 
the business necessarily entails is keenly 
felt by those past middle age, who have 
spent the most useful part of their life 
at the desk, behind the linen counter or 
other similar occupations. And the fact 
should not he overlooked that the pres¬ 
ent-day methods of young men have 
worked the undoing of the older ones, 
and he who does not conform to these 
methods cannot get out of his commer¬ 
cial life all that his natural aptitude 
may entitle him to. Nevertheless the 
world offers great prizes to all who can 
applv themselves to the true limitation 
of their ability, and it is here that a 
close application to business teaches 
methods that are effectual, and the high¬ 
est working qualities are best trained In¬ 
active and sympathetic contact with 
others in the same affairs of life. Pro¬ 
gressive farming and market gardening 
to-day, with their far-reaching advan¬ 
tages, aided by farm literature, State 
experiment stations and the social fea¬ 
tures of the local Granges, give a noble 
training and a splendid opportunity for 
young men of character and tact. It 
seems to be a very moderate view of 
the business when regarded as only a 
means of getting a living. A man’s 
business is his part of the world’s work; 
his share of the great activities which 
makj communities prosper, and farming 
is a social industry giving employment 
to labor in localities where manufactur¬ 
ing industries as a rule seldom thrive, 
and it is a culture which strengthens 
and invigorates if it does not refine; it 
gives force if it does not polish. It 
makes strong men and ready men, and 
will necessarily make able exponents of 
the small farm theory, which are to he 
the farms of the future. The great in¬ 
crease in pouplation will demand this, 
the same as in the European countries, 
where the land brings forth four times 
the amount per acre as that cultivated 
by the average American farmer. In the 
old countries the force of circumstances 
taught them long ago the importance of 
conservation, and that the soil fertility 
must and can be maintained, and the 
condition can best he brought about by 
cultivating fewer acres. The young men 
of tliis country should take advantage of 
the forced conditions of the older coun¬ 
tries by keeping abreast of or a little 
ahead of the farm development in the 
great agricultural centers. As the farms 
of the future will he reduced in size so 
also our market gardens will contain 
but few acres, intensively cultivated so 
as to yield at a maximum. 
Will five acres of such land so cul¬ 
tivated and managed produce sufficient 
for a living? My answer, of course 
based on experience and observation, 
will be in the affirmative, and in very 
many instances a handsome profit can 
he shown also, and I do not hesitate in 
saying that the future will develop new 
and improved methods in producing 
maximum yields, that to-day are beyond 
the dream of men. Where a few acres 
are cultivated and the soil made neces¬ 
sarily rich by continuous applications of 
manure to meet these heavy expenses, 
every available space must he .kept 
planted by double or companion crop¬ 
ping with early and quick-growing vege¬ 
tables. Crops, therefore, such as aspara¬ 
gus, horseradish, tomatoes, etc., will not 
admit of this method of culture. As¬ 
paragus is a farm crop rather than one 
of the market gardener’s choice, and 
when cultivated as such is usually un¬ 
profitable, but it will not show as profit¬ 
able returns as where two or more crops 
are grown on a given space, except it is 
grown by the mulching system, which 
requires very intensive methods, and al¬ 
most twice the amount of grass can he 
grown on an acre. Horseradish is not 
always a profitable crop, depending 
somewhat on location and market, oc¬ 
cupying the land too long for the gar¬ 
dener who aims to get the most from 
his soil. It is sometimes planted in 
early cabbage, making most of its 
growth during the cool moist weather 
of Autumn and sold as a Winter crop, 
and by this method of handling is profit¬ 
able. The tomato is one of the leading 
crops among the farm gardeners, and 
is very extensively grown where soil 
conditions are favorable. It delights in 
a sandy loam, and in locations that are 
well sheltered from the north winds 
with a southern exposure they can he 
brought in market very early and will 
command the highest price. After a few 
pickings the price soon drops, often 
selling as low as 23 cents per basket. 
The tomato should not be planted on 
such rich soil as that usually found in 
the smaller market gardens, the great 
quantities of nitrogen and other rich 
plant food producing a dense foliage 
growth, usually retarding the ripening 
of the fruit and rendering them unprof¬ 
itable. 
As to fowls in a market garden, here 
we must draw the line. The busy hen 
in a well-arranged market garden where 
ground is figured on the square yard 
basis, can do more damage in one hour 
than one dozen of her kind can make 
good in egg producing in one day. It 
has always seemed to me from my early 
experience in chicken farming, and by 
closely observing the work of others, 
that it is a hobby rather than a business, 
and should be followed as such. Among 
the many vocations of life there is 
none that so enthusiastically engages 
the attention of all classes as poultry 
farming, none that fills so many pages 
of farm history with glowing descrip¬ 
tions, and none that has so few- suc¬ 
cesses to its credit as this particular 
fanev. Within a radius of one mile 
from where I am writing these lines we 
can count more than a dozen poultry 
farms, mushroom houses, ginseng fields, 
and water-cress streams, most of them 
very desirable locations and expensive 
properties, hut they are now strewn 
with the wreckage of wasted time, the 
few buildings that remain standing" as 
mournful monuments of misguided am¬ 
bition. However, if fowls are to he 
kept on a market garden containing not 
more than five acres of ground the fol¬ 
lowing crops will he suitable to grow, 
and should produce at the selling price 
an average of $200 to $400 per acre: 
One acre of rhubarb, one of asparagus, 
one of strawberries and one of horse¬ 
radish. These crops will allow the 
keeping of fowls without materially in¬ 
terfering with them. The rhubarb comes 
in very early in April, followed by as¬ 
paragus i n May and strawberries in 
June. The fowls could then have the 
run of the place to the end of the sea¬ 
son. The horseradish is harvested late 
in the Fall and sold during the Winter 
months, thus making it a very desirable 
crop to work in with the foregoing. 
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Founded 1850—Oldeit American 
Manufacturers of Men’s Clothes 
635 St. Clair Avenue, N. W. Cleveland 
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