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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Three Acres and Liberty + +Author: Bolton Hall + +Posting Date: August 11, 2009 [EBook #4509] +Release Date: October, 2003 +First Posted: January 27, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE ACRES AND LIBERTY *** + + + + +Produced by Steve Solomon and Charles Aldarondo. HTML +version by Al Haines. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THREE ACRES +<BR> +AND +<BR> +LIBERTY +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +BOLTON HALL +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AUTHOR OF +<BR> +"THINGS AS THEY ARE," "THRIFT," ETC. +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +REVISED EDITION +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<I>"A sower went out to sow and he sowed that which was in his +heart—for what can a man sow else!"</I> From "THE GAME OF LIFE." +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Or, as the Vulgate has it,— +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<I>"Exitt qui seminat seminare semen suum."</I> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +NEW YORK +<BR> +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY +<BR> +1918 +<BR> +<I>All rights reserved.</I> +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Copyright 1907 and 1918 +<BR> +By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY +<BR> +Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1907. +<BR> +Reprinted April, July, 1907; March, 1908; June, +<BR> +September, 1910; April, 1912; April 1914. +<BR> +New edition, revised February, 1918. +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FOREWORD +</H3> + +<P> +We are not tied to a desk or to a bench; we stay there only because +we think we are tied. +</P> + +<P> +In Montana I had a horse, which was hobbled every night to keep him +from wandering; that is, straps joined by a short chain were put +around his forefeet, so that he could only hop. The hobbles were +taken off in the morning, but he would still hop until he saw his +mate trotting off. +</P> + +<P> +This book is intended to show how any one can trot off if he will. +</P> + +<P> +It is not a textbook; there are plenty of good textbooks, which are +referred to herein. Intensive cultivation cannot be comprised in any +one book. +</P> + +<P> +It shows what is needed for a city man or woman to support a family +on the proceeds of a little bit of land; it shows how in truth, as +the old Book prophesied, the earth brings forth abundantly after its +kind to satisfy the desire of every living thing. It is not +necessary to bury oneself in the country, nor, with the new +facilities of transportation, need we, unless we wish to, pay the +extravagant rents and enormous cost of living in the city. A little +bit of land near the town or the city can be rented or bought on +easy terms; and merchandising will bring one to the city often +enough. Neither is hard labor needed; but it is to work alone that +the earth yields her increase, and if, although unskilled, we would +succeed in gardening, we must attend constantly and intelligently to +the home acres. +</P> + +<P> +Every chapter of this book has been revised by a specialist, and the +authors wish to express their appreciation of the aid given them, +particularly by Mr. E. H. Moore, Arboriculturist in the Brooklyn +Department of Parks; Mr. Collingwood of the Rural New Yorker and Mr. +George T. Powell; and to thank Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright, and also +Mr. Joseph Morwitz, for many valuable suggestions; also all those +from whom we have quoted directly or in substance. +</P> + +<P> +We have endeavored in the text to give full acknowledgment to all, +but in some cases it has been impossible to credit to the originator +every paragraph or thought, since these have been selected and +placed as needed, believing that all true teachers and gardeners are +more anxious to have their message sent than to be seen delivering +it. +</P> + +<P> +In truth, teaching is but another department of gardening. +</P> + +<P> +Practical points and criticisms from practical men and women, +especially from those experiences in trying to get to the land, will +be welcomed by the authors. Address in care of the publishers. +</P> + +<P> +The Report of the Country Life Commission, with Special Message from +the President of the United States, is especially important as +showing the connection of Intensive Cultivation with Thrift for war +time. +</P> + +<P> +It tells us that: +</P> + +<P> +"The handicaps (on getting out of town) that we now have specially +in mind may be stated under four heads: Speculative holding of +lands; monopolistic control of streams; wastage and monopolistic +control of forests; restraint of trade. +</P> + +<P> +"Certain landowners procure large areas of agricultural land in the +most available location, sometimes by questionable methods, and hold +it for speculative purposes. This not only withdraws the land itself +from settlement, but in many cases prevents the development of an +agricultural community. The smaller landowners are isolated and +unable to establish their necessary institutions or to reach the +market. The holding of large areas by one party tends to develop a +system of tenantry and absentee farming. The whole development may +be in the direction of social and economic ineffectiveness. +</P> + +<P> +"A similar problem arises in the utilization of swamp lands. +According to the reports of the Geological Survey, there are more +than 75,000,000 acres of swamp land in this country, the greater +part of which are capable of reclamation at probably a nominal cost +as compared to their value. It is important to the development of +the best type of country life that the reclamation proceed under +conditions insuring subdivision into small farms and settlement by +men who would both own them and till them. +</P> + +<P> +"Some of these lands are near the centers of population. They become +a menace to health, and they often prevent the development of good +social conditions in very large areas. As a rule they are extremely +fertile. They are capable of sustaining an agricultural population +numbering many millions, and the conditions under which these +millions must live are a matter of national concern. The Federal +Government should act to the fullest extent of its constitutional +powers in the reclamation of these lands under proper safeguards +against speculative holding and landlordism. +</P> + +<P> +"The rivers are valuable to the farmers as drainage lines, as +irrigation supply, as carriers and equalizers of transportation +rates, as a readily available power resource, and for raising food +fish. The wise development of these and other uses is important to +both agricultural and other interests; their protection from +monopoly is one of the first responsibilities of government. The +streams belong to the people; under a proper system of development +their resources would remain an estate of all the people, and become +available as needed. +</P> + +<P> +"River transportation is not usually antagonistic to railway +interests. Population and production are increasing rapidly, with +corresponding increase in the demands made on transportation +facilities. It may be reasonably expected that the river will +eventually carry a large part of the freight that does not require +prompt delivery, while the railway will carry that requiring +expedition. This is already foreseen by leading railway men; and its +importance to the farmer is such that he should encourage and aid, +by every means in his power, the large use of the rivers. The +country will produce enough business to tax both streams and +railroads to their utmost. +</P> + +<P> +"In many regions the streams afford facilities for power, which, +since the inauguration of electrical transmission, is available for +local rail lines and offers the best solution of local +transportation problems. In many parts of the country local and +interurban lines are providing transportation to farm areas, thereby +increasing facilities for moving crops and adding to the profit and +convenience of farm life. However, there seems to be a very general +lack of appreciation of the possibilities of this water-power +resource as governing transportation costs. +</P> + +<P> +"The streams may be also used as small water power on thousands of +farms. This is particularly true of small streams. Much of the labor +about the house and barn can be performed by transmission of power +from small water wheels running on the farms themselves or in the +neighborhood. This power could be used for electric lighting and for +small manufacture. It is more important that small power be +developed on the farms of the United States than that we harness +Niagara. +</P> + +<P> +"Unfortunately, the tendency of the present laws is to encourage the +acquisition of these resources on easy terms, or on their own terms, +by the first applicants, and the power of the streams is rapidly +being acquired under conditions that lead to the concentration of +ownership in the hands of the monopolies. This constitutes a real +and immediate danger, not to the country-life interests alone, but +to the entire nation, and it is time that the whole people become +aroused to it. +</P> + +<P> +"The forests have been exploited for private gain not only until the +timber has been seriously reduced, but until streams have been +ruined for navigation, power, irrigation, and common water supplies, +and whole regions have been exposed to floods and disastrous soil +erosion. Probably there has never occurred a more reckless +destruction of property that of right should belong to all the +people. +</P> + +<P> +"The wood-lot property of the country needs to be saved and +increased. Wood-lot yield is one of the most important crops of the +farms, and is of great value to the public in con trolling streams, +saving the run-off, checking winds, and adding to the attractiveness +of the region. [Taken up in a special chapter of this book.] +</P> + +<P> +"In many regions where poor and hilly lands prevail, the town or +county could well afford to purchase forest land, expecting thereby +to add to the value of the property and to make the forests a source +of revenue. Such communal forests in Europe yield revenue to the +cities and towns by which they are owned and managed." +</P> + +<P> +These revenues would furnish good roads even in the poorest and most +sparsely settled districts. +</P> + +<P> +There are a number of other reasons why people do not like to live +outside of cities—or do not succeed in farm work. There is the +difficulty of finding help. This, however, rejoices the heart of +the modern sociologist. Consider—we first teach our children +independence and train them for everything but farm help or +household services. Then we degrade the "help" below a mill "hand" +so that people will not even sit at table with them at an hotel. +Next we fix a theory of conduct for them that keeps them constantly +under orders and pay them wages that make it hardly possible for +them to rise above the station to which we have appointed them. +</P> + +<P> +Finally, when we move away from the haunts of men out to +Sandtown-by-the-Puddle we blame them that they do not rush to join +us. Most of them would be happier in penal servitude than in the +country. The work is as hard and requires as much skill as a +mechanic's work, besides personal qualities that are demanded of no +mechanic, and commands half its wages. +</P> + +<P> +Those who, like Henry Ford, can afford to pay mechanics' wages for +help can get all they want. +</P> + +<P> +Many people go to the country without plan, preparation, or +vocation, to make a living. They usually start to build a bungalow +but seldom get further than the bungle. Don't build anything without +plan. Get a comfortable house proof against cold and heat as soon as +possible and, above all, well ventilated. At present the air in the +country is good, because the farmers shut all the bad air up in +their bedrooms. +</P> + +<P> +They say +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "The farmer works from sun to sun<BR> + For the summer's work is never done."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +We might add, it's never even half done—naturally. A donkey engine +can work like that, but then it hasn't any brains. No man can work +from sun to sun all summer and think at all or be good for anything +at the end of it. +</P> + +<P> +Above all things don't work long hours, even in learning, with the +idea of saving that way. All up-to-date employers are agreed that an +eight-hour day produces more and better results than a ten-hour day +and that a twelve-hour day brings sheriffs and suicides instead of +profits. +</P> + +<P> +That's just as true of the individual worker as it is of the factory +"hand." Yet most men and a few women proudly say that they "work +like a horse" (it's usually not true). They don't; a horse won't +work and can't work over eight hours a day steadily. Neither can +you: you may keep buzzing around much longer—but the best work +requires the best conditions and the best hours. You think, or you +flatter yourself that you think, that it is necessary; but nothing +is necessary that is stupid and wrong. It is hardly too much to say +that when we are tired out or ill either we have been doing the +wrong thing or doing it wrong. +</P> + +<P> +There is besides, as an anti-rusticant, railroad discrimination in +favor of long hauls, but the main reason that the small farms of the +Eastern Coast are less settled than those farther west is the great +difficulty in getting farm loans or loans on farm buildings. New +York companies and others in the great cities will loan on farms +west of the Alleghenies, but even the otherwise excellent eastern +Building Loan Associations usually restrict themselves to places +within twenty-five miles of a city. The Jewish Agricultural and +Industrial Aid Society will help approved Jewish farmers to buy and +build: and there is a Federal Land Bank in Springfield, Mass., which +lends to some Farmers' Associations, of which some four thousand are +already formed. It is hoped that the State Land Bank of New York +City may improve the situation in New York for Farmers' +Organizations, but "generally nearly all available funds of the +local banks seem to be drawn off for investments in Wall Street." +</P> + +<P> +However, it is not to be forgotten that this difficulty is reflected +in the lower prices of eastern Land. +</P> + +<P> +One more thing that keeps many people from the country and drives +some people back to the city is the mosquito (of course there are +mosquitoes in town, but we are not out as much, so we notice them +less). Mosquitoes breed or rather we breed them, in still water in +which there are no fish, in pools, hollows in trees, wells, etc., +and above all in old tin cans. They can no more breed without water +than sharks could. +</P> + +<P> +Mosquitoes do not breed in grass, but rank growths of weeds or grass +may conceal small breeding puddles, and form a favorite nursery for +Mamma Skeet. A teacupful of water standing ten days is enough for +250 wrigglers; their needs are modest. +</P> + +<P> +Different species of mosquitoes have as well-defined habits as other +birds and are classified as follows: Domestic, Migratory, and +Woodland. +</P> + +<P> +The common domestic or pet species breed in fresh water, usually in +the house yard, fly comparatively short distances, and habitually +enter houses. They winter in cellars, barns, and outhouses. Some of +them are conveyors of malaria. +</P> + +<P> +The Migratory Species breed on the salt marshes, fly long distances, +do not habitually enter houses, and are not carriers of diseases so +far as known. +</P> + +<P> +Certain varieties of Woodland Mosquitoes breed only in woodland +pools, appearing in the early spring, and travel a greater distance +than the domestic species. They are not usually troublesome indoors. +</P> + +<P> +It has been proved that malaria is transmitted only by certain +species of Anopheles, one of which is the domestic mosquito. +Eliminate this one species of mosquito and the disease will +disappear as a direct consequence. So if you hear that pretty little +song in the house, don't swear, thank the Lord that effects always +follow causes. You need never be without a bite in the house if you +have a nice cesspool handy for Sis Mosquito, for each one will have +a first-class feed with you every second or third day. +</P> + +<P> +They are needless and dangerous pests or pets. Their propagation can +be prevented by draining or filling wet areas, by emptying or +screening water receptacles, and by spraying with oil where better +measures are not available. Oil should be sprinkled in any +cesspools, sewers, and catch basins, rain barrels, water troughs, +roof gutters, marshes, swamps, and puddles that cannot be done away +with. All ponds and large bodies of water should have clean sharp +edges, because in shallow, grassy edges larvae of the malarial +species are commonly found. Large ponds with clean edges, inhabited +by fish or predatory insects, are safe; smaller ponds, if wind +swept, and all ponds in the "ripple area" are safe. All rain pools, +stagnant gutters, overgrown edges of large ponds, and all +receptacles holding water not constantly renewed, are dangerous. You +raise most of your own mosquitoes. +</P> + +<P> +Now a word specially concerning this revised edition. +</P> + +<P> +The farm papers are supported mainly by men with large acreage, it +is the rise in value of these acres more than the rise in farm +products that has pulled the land-owning farmers out of the hole +that they were in up to about the year 1900. Farmers' knowledge, +liking, and equipment was for big fields, half cultivated, and at +first they did not like to hear that they had been wasting so much +of the labor that had bent their backs. Nor did they want to hear +that it would have been far more profitable to them to have +cultivated a few acres and left the goats and hogs or sheep to +attend to the rest as wild land until the long-expected settlers +came along to buy the land at dreamland prices. +</P> + +<P> +Consequently, all the faults in the book there were, and some more +besides, have been picked out by these critics. It is surprising as +well as a notable compliment to the agricultural experts who revised +the first edition that, with one exception, no material error or +omission has been pointed out. +</P> + +<P> +The more so because there is absolutely no limit to the advances in +methods and results in doing things, and in growing things, all born +of intelligent toil. Your suggestions may help the world to better +and bigger things. If you will listen at the 'phone you may sometime +hear a conversation like this: +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, this is Mrs. Wise, send me two strawberries, please." "You'd +better take three, Madam, I've none larger than peaches to-day." +"All right; good-bye." +</P> + +<P> +You may sometime see that kind of strawberry in New Jersey at +Kevitt's Athenia, or Henry Joralamon's, or in the berry known by +various names, such as Giant and different Joe's. But lots of people +have failed in their war garden work even on common things; lots +more ought to have failed but haven't—yet. Years ago, we, the book +and its helpers, started the forward-to-the-land movement which has +resulted in probably two million extra garden patches this war year. +I have had carloads of letters, at least hand carloads, about the +book, but not one worker who even tried to follow its counsels has +reported failure. +</P> + +<P> +So don't let us have a wail from you because your "garden stuff +never comes up." Of course it doesn't; you have to bring it up, just +like a baby. That's what I've been crying for long years in the +wilderness ever since the first edition of this book. The Three +Acres may be bought on credit but eternal vigilance is the price of +Liberty and crops. To raise good crops costs time and attention and +sweat of body and of brains. +</P> + +<P> +Here is a chunk of wisdom out of the excellent Garden Primer (which +you can get free by asking me for it): +</P> + +<P> +"One hour a day spent in a garden ten yards long by seven wide will +supply vegetables enough for a family of six"; but the value of this +remark lies in the application of it. If you figure a bit on that +you will find that ten minutes a day will provide enough for one +person, but six hours once a week won't do. Six hours a day will +bring up a baby; but two days a week is criminal neglect for the +other five days. If you once let the weeds get a good start, say +after a rain, they will make even the angels swear. It's regular +attention that the baby and the garden and your education and your +best girl will require. +</P> + +<P> +If you want more minute instructions about how to grow each +vegetable, put in words that anybody can understand without getting +a headache or a dictionary, look up "The Garden Yard" by the Author. +It is in nearly all libraries now, and it is the only book that +makes perfectly plain everything that a plain man needs to know +about growing plain things. +</P> + +<P> +So there is little to add in this new edition except to reinforce +what was not strong enough. In the present jumping market to revise +the prices quoted would be absurd, but it may be noted that, as in +the prices of 'cowers, the minimum prices are still about correct, +but the maximum prices have jumped almost out of sight. Every year +there are more and more very wealthy people who will pay nearly any +price for the very best. The world seems to be dividing into those +who have to count their pennies and those who couldn't count their +thousands. Of course, where war has prohibited the importation of +the strong bulbs and roots needed for forcing flowers, the prices +are about what any one who has any chooses to ask. Monopoly can +always get its own price. +</P> + +<P> +This New Edition does not attempt to bring prices quoted up to date. +In these times not even a stock exchange telegraph ticker can do +that. Prices of goods in general have advanced at least 80 per cent. +By the day that this book is off the press they may have decreased, +or more likely advanced some more. The next day they may slump. +Prices of labor advance more slowly and do not slump so fast. Wages +of men gardeners have risen perhaps 50 per cent in the last ten +years, but women and children have learned to do much of the work. +They do the work cheaper because most of them have some one on whom +they can partly depend for support. +</P> + +<P> +Similarly, when an example of total product given in the earlier +edition is still typical and has stood investigation, it is not +discarded in favor of a more modern instance. +</P> + +<P> +It would have been easy to have revised all the figures, but of +little advantage to our readers. For example, it is encouraging to +the citizen to know that the average wheat yield per acre has +increased more than two bushels since the first edition of this +book, but it would not help the garden maker. The increase of +possible products tends to counterbalance the increased cost of +labor. So only the musty parts have been cut out of the book, which +is more needed now than ever. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +TABLE OF CONTENTS +</H2> + +<H4> +Chapter I: <A HREF="#chap01">Making a Living—Where and How</A> +<BR> +Chapter II: <A HREF="#chap02">Present Conditions</A> +<BR> +Chapter III: <A HREF="#chap03">How To Buy The Farm</A> +<BR> +Chapter IV: <A HREF="#chap04">Vacant City Lot Cultivation</A> +<BR> +Chapter V: <A HREF="#chap05">Results To Be Expected</A> +<BR> +Chapter VI: <A HREF="#chap06">What An Acre May Produce</A> +<BR> +Chapter VII: <A HREF="#chap07">Some Methods</A> +<BR> +Chapter VIII: <A HREF="#chap08">The Kitchen Garden</A> +<BR> +Chapter IX: <A HREF="#chap09">Tools And Equipment</A> +<BR> +Chapter X: <A HREF="#chap10">Advantages From Capital</A> +<BR> +Chapter XI: <A HREF="#chap11">Hotbeds And Greenhouses</A> +<BR> +Chapter XII: <A HREF="#chap12">Other Uses Of Land</A> +<BR> +Chapter XIII: <A HREF="#chap13">Fruits</A> +<BR> +Chapter XIV: <A HREF="#chap14">Flowers</A> +<BR> +Chapter XV: <A HREF="#chap15">Drug Plants</A> +<BR> +Chapter XVI: <A HREF="#chap16">Novel Live Stock</A> +<BR> +Chapter XVII: <A HREF="#chap17">Where To Go</A> +<BR> +Chapter XVIII: <A HREF="#chap18">Clearing The Land</A> +<BR> +Chapter XIX: <A HREF="#chap19">How To Build</A> +<BR> +Chapter XX: <A HREF="#chap20">Back To The Land</A> +<BR> +Chapter XXI: <A HREF="#chap21">Coming Profession For Boys</A> +<BR> +Chapter XXII: <A HREF="#chap22">The Wood Lot</A> +<BR> +Chapter XXIII: <A HREF="#chap23">Some Practical Experiments</A> +<BR> +Chapter XXIV: <A HREF="#chap24">Some Experimental Foods</A> +<BR> +Chapter XXV: <A HREF="#chap25">Dried Truck</A> +<BR> +Chapter XXVI: <A HREF="#chap26">Home Cold Pack Canning</A> +<BR> +Chapter XXVII: <A HREF="#chap27">Retail Cooperation</A> +<BR> +Chapter XXVIII: <A HREF="#chap28">Summer Colonies For City People</A> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MAKING A LIVING—WHERE AND HOW +</H3> + +<P> +By thought and courage, we can help ourselves to own a home, +surrounded by acres of fruit and vegetables, flowers and poultry, +and learn the best methods so as to insure success. +</P> + +<P> +In olden times any one could "farm," but it is necessary to-day to +teach people to obtain a livelihood directly from the earth. +Scientific methods of agriculture have revealed possibilities in the +soil that make farming the most fascinating occupation known to man. +People in every city are longing for the freedom of country life, +yet hesitate to enter into its liberty because no one points the +way. +</P> + +<P> +Most sociologists are agreed that the great problem of our day is to +stop the drift of population toward the cities. Seeing the +overcrowding, the want and misery of our great towns, the +philanthropist chimes in with "Get the people to the country, that +is the need." +</P> + +<P> +But there is no such need. Man is a social animal, he naturally goes +in flocks, he earns more and learns more in crowds. To transport him +to the country, even if he would stay, which happily he won't, would +be to doctor a symptom. As in typhoid, what is needed is not to +suppress the fever, that is easy, but to remove the cause of it. +</P> + +<P> +It is not the growth of the cities that we want to check, but the +needless want and misery in the cities, and this can be done by +restoring the natural condition of living, and among other things, +by showing that it is easier and making it more attractive to live +in comfort on the outskirts of the city as producers, than in the +slums as paupers. +</P> + +<P> +We know already that the natural and healthy life is, that in the +sweat of our faces we should eat bread. We observe that everything +we eat or use or make comes from the earth by labor; but no one +knows how abundantly the Mother can supply her children. It is well +said that no man yet knows the capacity of a square yard of earth. +</P> + +<P> +The farmer thinks that he has done well if he gets a hundred and +fifty or two hundred bushels of potatoes from an acre; he does not +know that others have gotten 1284 bushels. +</P> + +<P> +("Mr. Knight, whose name is well known to every horticulturist in +England, Once dug out of his fields no less than 1284 bushels of +potatoes, or thirty-four tons and nine hundreds weight (about 34 +bushels to the ton), on a single acre; and at a recent competition +in Minnesota, 1120 bushels, or thirty tons, could be ascertained as +having been grown on one acre." P. Kropotkin's "Fields, Factories +and Workshops," page 114.) +</P> + +<P> +Let us realize what an acre means. An acre is a square about 209 +feet each way, 4840 square yards of land. A New York City avenue +block is about 200 feet long from house corner to house corner. It +has eight city lots 25 X 100 in its front; about double that space +(17-2/5 lots) makes an acre. +</P> + +<P> +An ordinary one-horse cart holds twenty bushels, so then a full crop +of potatoes from that space would fill 56 carts. +</P> + +<P> +To raise potatoes as an ordinary farmer raises them, requires him to +go over the ground not less than a dozen times, plowing, harrowing, +marking, planting, cultivating, three times weeding, three times for +bugs, and digging; it would pay him to go over it much oftener. +</P> + +<P> +If he plants his rows of potatoes three feet apart, to allow for +horse cultivation, he has 69 rows of 200 feet each; which makes him +walk at least thirty-three miles over each acre. If he has a +twenty-acre lot in potatoes, he walks each year more than 650 miles +over the field and gets, let us say, 150 bushels of poor potatoes +per acre, or 3000 bushels off his twenty-acre field. +</P> + +<P> +Now suppose he cultivates the soil, instead of just "raising a +crop," and gets 600 bushels of fine potatoes to the acre, he need +plant only five acres, walk only 200 miles, and, because his +potatoes are choice and early, get many times the price that his +pedestrian neighbor gets. It is much easier to grow 200,000 lb. of +feed on one acre than to grow them on ten acres. +</P> + +<P> +To cultivate is to watch the soil as you would watch your cooking +and to tend the crop as you would tend your animals. The crop is as +alive as the stock and as easily gets sick. +</P> + +<P> +If an ordinary farmer rents 60 acres at $5.00 per acre, a moderate +rent for good land, he pays out in cash $300, besides farm wages. If +he buys it, his interest and taxes will amount to nearly as much; +but if he tills but five acres intelligently, he can get as much out +of it as out of an ordinary farm, and even if his rent be as high as +$30 per acre for well situated land, he is $150 to the good; +besides, doing the work himself, he has no drain of capital for +wages. +</P> + +<P> +Large barns and shelter for help being unnecessary, he can live in a +cheap shack till he accumulates enough for proper buildings. Many of +the successful vacant lot farmers live in a tent or in shanties made +of old boxes and such like. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, if we have the knowledge and ability and the capital and +can give it the attention, it is more profitable to cultivate on a +large scale than on a small one, because in that case each worker +necessarily produces more than he gets as wages—and we pocket the +difference. +</P> + +<P> +Most American farmers are holding land that somebody ought to pay +them a bonus for working, else they must come out of the little end +of the horn. They get poor or poorly situated land, because it costs +less, and then put three or four hundred dollars' worth of labor and +money a year into the land and take out four or five hundred +dollars' worth of crops. +</P> + +<P> +The farmer thinks he must have big fields to feed his cattle, and +that he must have cattle to keep the big fields fertilized, so he +raises hay. +</P> + +<P> +In that he makes two mistakes; hay, like most other low-priced +crops, is risky—the cost of harvesting is high and the margin of +profit small. A week of wet weather at cutting time or the +impossibility of getting enough men and machines in the week when it +should be cut, may make a loss. +</P> + +<P> +But the scientific dairy man does not take that risk, nor let his +cattle use up this fodder by wandering over the fields in search of +tid-bits of grass or clover, or, goaded by the flies, trampling more +grass than they eat and wasting their manure. +</P> + +<P> +He keeps the cows in cool sheds, feeds them on cut fodder, and saves +every ounce of the manure. +</P> + +<P> +The modern cow is a ruminating machine for producing milk and cares +little for exercise and needs little. To exploit the cattle as +employers exploit the factory hands, he gives the cows a cool, shady +place and food, and they stand there all day long to their profit +and his. +</P> + +<P> +(United States Agricultural Bulletin No. 22 says: "The New Jersey +Experiment Station has been conducting a practical trial in soiling +dairy cows for a number of years past, and finds that complete +soiling is entirely practicable, i.e. that green foliage crops may +serve as the sole food of the dewy herd, aside from the grain +ration, without injury to the animals and with a considerable saving +in the cost of milk. +</P> + +<P> +"Under the soiling system a large number of animals can be kept upon +a given acreage and by allowing open-air exercises in a large yard +or pasture the practice has been demonstrated as entirely feasible +for dairy animals. +</P> + +<P> +"One acre of soiling crops produced sufficient fodder for an +equivalent of 3 cows for six months. Rye, corn, crimson clover, +alfalfa, oats and peas, and millets have been found to furnish food +more economically than any other green crops in that locality. A +grain rotation was always fed in addition to the soiling crops.") +</P> + +<P> +Although we can feed a cow on less than an acre by raising forage +crops, she needs to be milked every day at regular hours, and the +milk, as well as the cans and the cow, need to be cared for—and she +cannot wait. +</P> + +<P> +The stock-raiser has a different proposition; he needs fields and +grass; but if time and available labor is limited, we had better +specialize on the garden—unlike the farmers. +</P> + +<P> +The farmers are not to blame that they do not usually cultivate the +land intelligently. They are mostly cut off from the educational +advantages of the cities by distance and by bad roads. +</P> + +<P> +Usually, that is because, desirable land being held at speculative +prices, they are forced to places where the farm itself is worth +less than the good improvements on it cost. Sometimes it is because, +also, the land is poor or worn out; more often because it is +thoughtlessly managed, nearly always because the land-hungry farmer +has taken ten times as much land as he needs for farming. In the +hope of a rise that often does not come, nearly all have bought more +land than they can take good care of with limited capital and +scarcity of help. +</P> + +<P> +In addition, the farms have held out such poor prospects of fortune +that the smarter and more enterprising boys and girls have left them +for the towns, leaving behind the duller and more conservative to +the mercy of the railroads and other monopolies. What wonder, then, +that the overworked and struggling farmer finds little chance to +study, or to investigate and invest in fertilizers or even in modern +methods of agriculture. +</P> + +<P> +No wonder farming does not pay if a "farmer" means a stupid man with +neither training for, nor knowledge of, his business. Those who have +the knowledge seldom have the experience and those who have the +experience seldom have the knowledge. +</P> + +<P> +The bonanza farms of the West are other samples of great areas of +the most productive land in the United States being used most +unscientifically. By the methods used, the land produces less per +acre than land in the East which is not so good. Accordingly, we +find that the bonanza farm plan, where great areas of wheat are +worked by machines with labor employed only in the seed time and +harvest, is rapidly breaking up. As the land becomes valuable and is +taxed, such wasteful, wholesale methods do not pay as well as it +pays to rent or sell the land to farmers, who each for themselves +attend to details of the business. Consequently, most of those farms +are being sold off. The whole amount of wheat ever raised on them, +however, is small compared to the rice, millet, and wheat raised in +China, India, and Russia, and is insignificant compared to the +amount of produce grown on the myriad little farm plots. +</P> + +<P> +A comparison of productions as taken from the 12th and 13th United +States Censuses in the bonanza farm states shows that the yield of +wheat was: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +while New England shows 23.5 bu. per acre. +</P> + +<PRE> + In 1899 In 1909 + + Minnesota 14.5 bu. per acre 17.4 + North Dakota 13.5 bu. per acre 14.3 + South Dakota 10.5 bu. per acre 14.6 +</PRE> + +<P> +By 1917 these largely increased, but the differences remain. +</P> + +<P> +"The average extent of land tilled by one family in Japan does not +exceed one hectare" (2.471 acres), less than two and a half acres. +("Japan in the Beginning of the Twentieth Century," page 89. +Published by the Department of Agriculture and Commerce of Japan.) +</P> + +<P> +"Farm households contain on an average 5.8 persons, of whom two and +a half persons per family may be regarded of an age capable of doing +effective work." +</P> + +<P> +"So that here we have more than one person working on each acre and +each acre supporting more than two persons, notwithstanding that +their 22,000,000 tenant farmers pay sometimes four fifths of their +product as rent." (Same, page 103.) +</P> + +<P> +Denmark, one of the best agricultural countries and probably one of +the happiest communities on earth, reported +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1,900 farms of 250-300 acres,<BR> + 74,000 farms averaging 100 acres,<BR> + 150,000 farms averaging 7 to 10 acres,<BR> + 1,050 cooperative dairies, and so on.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +And so impressed has the ruling class there become with the +advantage of this that the Government will supply the poor worker +nine tenths of the means necessary to buy a small farm. +</P> + +<P> +Says Kropotkin, "the small island of Jersey, eight miles long and +less than six miles wide, still remains a land of open field +culture; but, although it comprises only 28,707 acres (nearly 45 +square miles), rocks included, it nourishes a population of about +two inhabitants to each acre, or 1300 inhabitants to the square +mile, and there is not one writer on agriculture who, after having +paid a visit to this island, does not praise the well-being of the +Jersey peasants and the admirable results which they obtain in their +small farms of from five to twenty acres—very often less than five +acres—by means of a rational and intensive culture. +</P> + +<P> +"Most of my readers will probably be astonished to learn that the +soil of Jersey, which consists of decomposed granite, with no +organic matter in it, is not at all of surprising fertility, and +that its climate, though more sunny than the climate of the British +Isles, offers many drawbacks on account of the small amount of sun +heat during the summer and of the cold winds in spring." +</P> + +<P> +("The successes accomplished lately in Jersey are entirely due to +the amount of labor which a dense population is putting on the land; +to a system of land-tenure, land-transference, and inheritance very +different from those which prevail elsewhere; to freedom from State +taxation; and to the fact that communal institutions have been +maintained down to quite a recent period, while a number of communal +habits and customs of mutual support, derived there-from, are alive +to the present time." ("Fields, Factories and Workshops.") +</P> + +<P> +"It will suffice to say that on the whole the inhabitants of Jersey +obtain agricultural products to the value of $250 to each acre of +the aggregate surface of land." (Same, page 113.)) +</P> + +<P> +In a small plot the character of the soil is of little consequence. +We hear of one garden in New York City on the roof of a big building +where the janitor smuggled up the needed soil in baskets. +</P> + +<P> +The school gardens in New York City, some in a space as small as a +hearth rug, one yard by two, show how to use a very small patch of +land to the best advantage. Nor need it take more time than you can +afford. +</P> + +<P> +"Some of the cultivators of city lots on Long Island who kept count +of the number of days they worked, show the surprising conclusion +that they earned, not farm wages (seventy-five cents a day with +board and lodging for the worker), but mechanics' wages (four +dollars per day) for every working day; as, for instance, a +stone-cutter, assisted by his two boys, worked fifty hours and made +$120.23." ("Cultivation of Vacant Lots, New York," page 12); and +four city lots is a very little farm. +</P> + +<P> +But though one may not own even a little farm, almost any one who +wants to can have a home garden—it needs but a small plot of land. +Nor need we be discouraged because acquaintances who play at +gardening tell us that their vegetables cost them more than if they +bought them. +</P> + +<P> +They naturally would, with thoughtless methods of cultivation, with +the selection of crops and the purchase of seeds left to an +uneducated man who does all his work the way he saw his grandfather +do it. +</P> + +<P> +Nor are we to be discouraged even by the "gentleman farmer" who +runs a model farm, a model of how not to do it, for, notwithstanding +its large capital, it seldom pays. +</P> + +<P> +I am passing such a farm now as I write in the train—it is +surrounded by a cut stone wall. Do you suppose the owner business +would pay if it were run in the same way that his farm is run? We +know the story of the white sparrow to find which would bring luck +to the farm—but it was out only at daybreak; the farmer got up each +morning to find the sparrow and found a lot of other things to +attend to, which did bring luck to the farm. I don't think the owner +of that wall worked at it, at daybreak. +</P> + +<P> +The time is not far distant when the builders of homes in our +American cities will be compelled to leave room for a garden, in +order to meet the requirements of the people In the mad rush for +wealth we have overlooked the natural state, but we see a healthy +reaction setting in. With the improvements in steam and electricity, +the revolutionizing of transportation, the cutting of the arbitrary +telephone charges, it is becoming possible to live at a distance +from our business. May we not expect in the near future to see one +portion of our cities devoted entirely to business, with the homes +of the people so separated as to give light, sunshine, and air to +all, besides a piece of ground for a garden sufficient to supply the +table with vegetables? +</P> + +<P> +You raise more than vegetables in your garden: you raise your +expectation of life. +</P> + +<P> +Life belongs in the garden. Do you remember—the first chapters of +Genesis show us our babyhood in a garden—the garden that all +babyhood remembers, and the last chapter of the Apocalypse leaves us +with the vision of the garden in the Holy City, on either side of +the river, where the trees yield their fruits every month and bear +leaves of universal healing. Just so will it be in our holy cities +of the future—the garden will be right there "in the midst." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PRESENT CONDITIONS +</H3> + +<P> +Up to the Civil War and for some years after, our people were almost +wholly agricultural. National activity contented itself with +settling and developing the vast areas of the public lands, whose +virgin richness cried aloud in the wilderness for men. +</P> + +<P> +The policy of the government, framed to stimulate rapid occupation +of the public lands, had attracted hordes of settlers over the +mountains from the older states, and immigration flowed in a steady +stream into the valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi. +</P> + +<P> +A system had grown up in the South almost patriarchal, based upon +cultivation by slave labor of enormous areas devoted exclusively to +cotton. In the North, New England had developed some few centers of +industry, drawing their support from the manufacture of the great +Southern staple. New York, Boston, and Philadelphia were growing as +outlets for foreign commerce, but as yet manufacturing flourished +but feebly and in few localities. +</P> + +<P> +Such manufacturing and commercial enterprises as existed had been +laboriously built up by long years of honest working. The free lands +of the government, by giving laborers an alternative, kept up wages, +forcing employers to bid against each other for labor; and monopoly +thus being checked, individual equality was possible. +</P> + +<P> +The mineral resources of Pennsylvania and Ohio were all but +unsuspected, and the calm of a people devoted to the peaceful +pursuits of agriculture rested over the country. +</P> + +<P> +Railroads were few and inefficient: telegraph lines but in their +infancy. Intercourse among the people, outside of a narrow fringe on +the Atlantic coast, was cumbersome, and impeded by many obstacles. +Primitive conditions everywhere prevailed, and communities brooded +in silence, growing stragglingly in sluggish indifference, content +with coarse food and coarser living. +</P> + +<P> +Such, in general, were the conditions up to 1861. Then came the +storm of shot and shell, the rain of blood, the elemental rage of +passion called the Civil War. There was a total upset of business. +Such periods of hard times as had occurred prior to that time had +been caused by the tinkering of untrained minds with the money +system or by land speculation, and not by lack of access to the +riches of nature. After four years our people awoke, as from a +nightmare, to find the old life swept away forever. In the South, +the Confederates, bitter and sullen, groping amid the ruins of their +institutions, sought to find some substitute for the agricultural +despotism exercised for generations by their slaveholding families. +In the East, the first families of the Revolution, secure in their +preeminence, assumed again the manufacturing-banking-social +prestige. The far West was still almost unknown, and remained in +possession of the buffalo and the Indian. Settlers poured, in +increasing numbers on to the unappropriated lands still left in the +states of the central West, and the center of political power +shifted rapidly to this fertile region. +</P> + +<P> +Already men of keen insight foresaw a time when oil, timber, coal, +and iron must become the stay of a vastly expanding industrial +system, and bent their energies to secure the chief sources of +supply. From the nature of their work the men who built railways +first became aware of the riches of nature, and aided by an enormous +public sympathy with their efforts, monopolized all the natural +opportunities of value. Coupled with industrial development was the +gradual appropriation of the land. The time soon arrived when the +late comers either stayed in the manufacturing centers at the +railways terminals or were pushed farther and farther away from the +centers. As the landowning families multiplied, the young men were +confined to the same choice. Forced off the land, the tendency has +been to crowd the brainiest blood of America into the cities. In +addition, the competition of the new Western lands, brought into use +by railway development, has exiled the youth of New England, who +found in their rocky acres no incentive to toil. They, too, joined +the ever-increasing flow to the cities, and entered into the savage +competition of our great towns. +</P> + +<P> +In our time the pendulum has swung to its extreme. At every +depression of business, armies of the unemployed perish in sight of +the land they abandoned in the hope of a brighter future. Their +children have forgotten the traditions of the soil, and the energies +of our people must now be concentrated to reverse the aimless tide +of human sufferers, which under stress continues to flow city-ward, +and to send it to repeople the silent places whence it came. The +fight will not be easily won. Changes in the national land policy +are imperative. To give one generation privileges which enslave all +who succeed it, is intolerable and will not be permanently endured. +</P> + +<P> +It is easy to determine upon a policy in the quiet of the study; +different is the problem of applying a comprehensive scheme to +repeople the idle land. In the first place, where is the idle land? +In all parts of our country it exists in abundance. Almost every +state in the Union has lands which either have never been alienated, +or which have reverted to the state through nonpayment of taxes. In +the East, particularly, the competition of Western lands, aided by +discriminating freight rates, now so notorious, has resulted in the +abandonment to the mortgagee of vast areas in New York, Connecticut, +New Hampshire, Maine, and to some extent in New Jersey. These are +now largely resold. +</P> + +<P> +Declining fertility and exorbitant and oppressive transportation +charges have helped to keep these lands out of use, and some still +lie idle and neglected, to excite the wonder of the social and +economic student. To use the abandoned lands of the East, equal +rates on agricultural products is a basic necessity. +</P> + +<P> +The first step, now well under way, is railroad control by the +Government. Equal access to transportation is as essential as equal +access to land, for transportation is indeed an attribute of land. +</P> + +<P> +Extending the inquiry westward, the coal and oil areas of +Pennsylvania and Ohio are all controlled by a few hands. The +original fertility of the farming areas of these states, together +with the fact that they have been producing for only about a +century, has enabled them to hold their own until recently, but now +only the best located tracts are in maximum production, and this can +be maintained only by the most advanced agricultural science. In +spite of greater advantages, the crowded cities and deserted country +districts are beginning to repeat in the fertile alluvial valleys of +the interior, the tragic story of the East. +</P> + +<P> +In the Mississippi valley, conditions seem better. Values of farming +lands are increasing rapidly; the farms are rich and growing richer; +food products are cheap and abundant; certain staples are produced +in enormous quantities and sent to feed the cities of the East and +the industrial population of Europe. The railroads transport these +products nearly one thousand miles for the same prices as they +charge in the East for transporting them one hundred miles. Wealth, +activity, and political power concentrate at the inlet and outlet of +the railway funnel, leaving vast areas of unused and unusable land +between the terminals. Access to markets determines value. That is +why the favored lands of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, and +Wisconsin, one to two thousand miles from market, have risen in +value to as high as three hundred dollars per acre, and the lands of +New England, New York, and New Jersey go begging at twenty to sixty +dollars per acre, unless they lie within the artificial prosperity +of the cities. +</P> + +<P> +Farther west in the irrigated regions of Colorado and Utah, +restricted areas are held for special fruit crops, at prices ranging +from three hundred to two thousand dollars and up, per acre. But +here, again, monopoly, now a monopoly of natural opportunity, is a +factor in creating prices; on this, however, the vast irrigation +projects of the government, bringing into use larger and larger +areas of these favored lands, were expected to exercise a check. Up +to 1918 little has been sold. Their reclamation cost too much. +</P> + +<P> +The willingness of the Southern planters to sell their lands, and so +to release them for intensive cultivation, has partly turned the +tide of immigration from the Eastern ports to the South, and the +market garden system is reaching increasing areas. The development +of factories to make cotton fabrics and to utilize the formerly +wasted cotton seed by turning it into meal for cattle and other +animals, as well as into the various food products, such as +cotton-seed oil, cottolene, etc., has stimulated the use of the +waste land around these budding factory centers, thus tending to +encourage intensive use of small, well-located tracts. +</P> + +<P> +With a climate much milder and more equable than that of the +Northern states, with a potential fertility of soil, equally great +under proper management, the South is making greater strides than +any other part of the country. +</P> + +<P> +The foregoing shows that in every section opportunities of getting +the people to the land exist. Where a man should go is determined by +a variety of things. If he be a newly arrived immigrant used to land +work in Southern Europe, he would find his best chance in the South; +if a German or Russian, or from any of the Northern European +countries, he would find the beet-sugar sections of Michigan +Colorado, or California more to his liking; if American born, +without much knowledge of out-door work, and feeling the need of +social life, the cheap farms of New York, New Jersey, and New +England would probably be most attractive. +</P> + +<P> +Many persons write me that I say it is necessary to get good land +near population or with cheap and assured transportation +facilities—and that it must not cost more than it is worth for +gardening. "I find," they say, "that such acres are held as 'lots' +at wildly speculative prices" and they ask "Where can I find such +land?" But this is a book on agricultural use of land. Why land +costs too much and where the remedy lies are other questions, dealt +with in my "Things as They Are." +</P> + +<P> +However, probably the best chances now for intensive cultivation are +in New Jersey, in the backwoods of the Middle states now made +accessible by cheap autos—and in the South. +</P> + +<P> +What can be undertaken with good prospects of success will be +outlined in the following chapters. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +HOW TO BUY THE FARM +</H3> + +<P> +Before the purchase of the land for a home in the country, some +consideration ought to be given to probable increase in land values. +Even if you are primarily interested in your early sales of produce, +you will not object to reaping an additional profit from the +presence of other people. +</P> + +<P> +Inasmuch as density of population determines land values, it follows +that vacant land near a large city at $100 per acre may be cheaper +than similar land at a distance would be at $10 per acre. If you buy +real estate, you become a silent partner who does nothing, but takes +most of the profits of the business of others. +</P> + +<P> +Some persons see so clearly that money is often easily gotten by +investing in land, that sometimes they make mistakes, in trying to +get in. It is as easy to be a lamb in the real estate market as it +is in the stock market. +</P> + +<P> +Foresight, judgment, and experience or luck are essential to success +in real estate dealing, but help, at least in keeping out of danger, +may be had by following a few simple rules, if one can command a +little capital, borrowed or owned. +</P> + +<P> +The following points, suggested by a professional land shark, will +certainly be of interest and possibly of profit to the intending +buyer. I believe myself that they contain the whole philosophy of +land speculation. +</P> + +<P> +For a sure profit buy low-priced land, keeping as near the "raw +material" as possible; high-priced property is risky and expensive +to carry. An acre which costs one or two hundred dollars, or ten +dollars per lot, will cost but six to twelve dollars per year to +carry and half a dollar for taxes, and if a stable does come next +you, why, you can sell your land for a blacksmith shop. +</P> + +<P> +Besides this, a ten-dollar lot, if restricted for residence or +available for business, often advances to $100 in a year; one good +house which some one else built near it may raise its value that +much. +</P> + +<P> +If the land <I>is</I> high priced, see that there is some kind of a +building on it; even a shanty will usually bring in enough or save +you enough by its use to pay the taxes; so you will have that +working for you whilst you are away. +</P> + +<P> +If possible, buy at auction and of reputable people who are not +boomers, or at least buy at forced sale; that is how real estate is +sold when it must be sold. Choose lots level with the curb and on +high ground, lest the expense of grading and sewering eat up your +profit. +</P> + +<P> +Keep in mind that in buying land for speculation one really buys the +opportunity to tax other people, by taking part of their earnings in +the shape of rent or price. Do not then be deluded by boom schemes +in inaccessible or desolate places; choose rather that land which in +the natural course of events others must have in order to work or to +live. +</P> + +<P> +Home buying in small communities is safer than in the outskirts of a +large city, because public improvements are much less costly. If you +put $500 in a $5000 home and carry the balance on mortgage, an +assessment of $1000 for streets or sewers, which helps the vacant +lots, will probably put you out of business. Whether for use or +speculation, buy in an established neighborhood or where the +circumstances and neighbors are such that restrictions or +expenditures will make its character sure. The increase in your land +value depends first upon the presence, then upon the efforts, of +others; it is by their labor you hope to profit. +</P> + +<P> +Therefore, buy property on leading thoroughfares; except in a very +small section devoted to the residence of millionaires, the price of +residence property has a limit; even there the merest accident or +the whim of fashion may destroy the value, but there is no telling +what figure business property may reach. +</P> + +<P> +Do not build unless you have to. It is rare that a building pays +five per cent net on the value of the land and the cost of the +house. "Who buys a house already wrought, gets many a brick and nail +for naught." If, however, you can get a piece of ground in a growing +neighborhood and live on it till you can sell at an advance, that is +the safest, and surest of investments. It delivers you from the +power of the landlord. +</P> + +<P> +Lastly—in real estate—don't bite off more than you can chew. +</P> + +<P> +Most of these rules apply to the purchase of suburban land. In farm +buying, keep as close to your market as you can. See that railway +facilities are all right; get land likely to be needed for other +purposes. The best way to begin is by securing all information +possible from state agricultural departments. Write to the +industrial agents of important railroads traversing the section in +which you want to locate. They have detailed information regarding +land, markets, social conditions, etc.; get from the United States +Agricultural Department a map showing the soil survey of the section +of your choice. It must be borne in mind that personal aid is not to +be expected from State Agricultural Departments, Bureaus of +Immigration, railway companies, or any public agency. +</P> + +<P> +From the big farm agencies run for profit you can get lists of +thousands of properties for sale. Some State Agricultural +Departments cooperate with real estate men in their own states, by +referring inquiries for farms to them. Some states issue from time +to time lists of "abandoned farms," but these change so constantly +that they help but little except in the way of suggestion. +</P> + +<P> +When you start farm-hunting take along a good map. Then you will +know a few things on your own account. Verify railroad maps and +"facts," as they are often biased. Don't waste your time wandering +around a strange locality by yourself. The local real estate man +knows more about his community than you can learn in five years. In +trying to find out things for yourself you will waste in aimless +journeys, undertaken in ignorance of real conditions, more time and +money than a real estate man's commission amounts to. +</P> + +<P> +The only way to form a correct idea of the production of any given +section is to examine a particular farm in detail. Within +well-recognized limits, all the farms thereabouts will be found of +similar character. Before spending money to look at land, learn all +you can by correspondence. Whether it is more profitable in the long +run to buy that good plot of land in a high state of cultivation +with good buildings on it, at a high price, than to buy this +exhausted piece of land with poor buildings or none at all, is a +question for the individual to decide. It depends on your energy, +grit, age, and how much money you have. It is much easier to take +advantage of what the other fellow has done, than it is to build +from the stump. You must bear in mind, however, that well kept land +in a high state of cultivation seldom goes begging in the market. On +the whole, if you have the capital to do it, you can make the +biggest wages by buying rough or neglected land, and hewing it into +shape. +</P> + +<P> +If you have a knowledge of soils, you may be able to find land that +will grow something that no one supposes it will grow. This will be +particularly useful in the case of land thought to be valueless. The +lands about Miles, Michigan, were considered sterile until some one +found out that they would grow mint, a valuable crop, which made the +land salable at high prices. +</P> + +<P> +Get hold of a desirable bit of the earth. All that men wear or eat +or use; everything—shelter, food, tools, and toys comes from the +land by labor. Even the capital used to make more of those things is +taken from the land. The employer and the capitalist are, at bottom, +only men who control the land or its products, who own rights of +way, mining rights, or the fee of valuable lands. Thousands have +"made" money by finding unexpected products in their land or of +their lands, oil, coal, mineral, plants; thousands more because +their land was needed by some one else, and they were paid to get +out of the way. +</P> + +<P> +To speculate on these chances is risky business; to keep land that +enables you to make good pay while you wait, is profitable. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VACANT CITY LOT CULTIVATION +</H3> + +<P> +In this book, necessarily, we have to take much upon the reports of +others, checking them by our own judgment and experience. The +startling accounts of what has been done and is being done on plots +of about a quarter acre to each family, however, can be easily +re-verified by any one who will go or write to Philadelphia, or +examine any present experiment or model gardens. These show what can +be done even by unskilled labor, with hardly any capital, on small +plots where the soil was poor, but which are well situated. +</P> + +<P> +The directors say: "The first Vacant Lot Cultivation Associations +were organized when relief agencies were vainly striving to provide +adequate assistance for the host of unemployed. The cultivation of +vacant city lots by the unemployed had already been tried +successfully in other cities. The first year we provided gardens, +seeds, tools, and instruction only, for about one hundred families +on twenty-seven acres of ground. At a total cost to contributors of +about $1800, our gardeners produced $46,000 worth of crops." +</P> + +<P> +The applicant is allowed a garden on the sole condition that he +cultivate it well through the season, and that he do not trespass +upon his neighbors. He must respect their right to what their labor +produces. A failure to observe these rules forfeits his privilege. +</P> + +<P> +During twenty years, more than eight thousand families have been +assisted, many old people who could no longer keep up the rapid pace +of our industrial life, cripples whose physical condition held them +back in the race for work, persons who on account of sickness or +other misfortunes have been thrown out of the competition in modern +business, and unfortunate beings who, though clear in mind and +strong in muscle, have been forced to the ranks of the +unemployed—these have all had an opportunity opened to them: +opportunity to enjoy all of the fruits from nature's great +storehouse which their own labor and skill might secure. +</P> + +<P> +The war has forced France, Italy, and England similarly to utilize +natural opportunities for subsistence in their enormous tracts of +unproductive lands. In Mexico all proprietors will be required to +designate what they propose to cultivate and the remainder will +either be allotted temporarily for agricultural purposes to those +desiring them or it will be cultivated under government management. +There is no remedy like that for poverty. +</P> + +<P> +The first man who applied for a vacant lot garden came to the +Philadelphia office after the announcement in the papers, so weak +and emaciated that the doctor was afraid the poor fellow would be +unable to get out of his office without assistance. He was a widower +with three girls and a boy, the oldest girl about seventeen. +</P> + +<P> +He received a garden which contained only about one fifth of an +acre. Later he observed that a part of another little farm was left +untouched on account of being very rough, full of holes, and covered +with stone and bricks. Part of this farm was below the street grade +and subject to overflow, but it was larger than the others—nine +tenths of an acre. He offered to exchange, saying he did not mind +the extra work. +</P> + +<P> +His offer was accepted. In a few days the stones and bricks had been +thrown into the holes and covered with dirt. The low places had been +filled in. It was a work in which the whole family joined. A small +house was rented in the immediate neighborhood in lieu of their one +room near the foul alleys of the city slum. +</P> + +<P> +Every inch of the soil was utilized. A rosy hue took the place of +the pale, wan cheek of a few months before. And now the harvest has +come, and the winter's store can be enumerated. Thirty bushels of +potatoes, four bushels of turnips, one bushel of carrots, thirty +gallons of sauerkraut, fifteen gallons of catsup, five gallons of +pickled beans, one hundred quarts of canned tomatoes, fifty quarts +of canned corn, twenty quarts of beans, one thousand or more fine +celery stalks, and many other things. Warm clothing has replaced the +badly worn garments of nine months ago. A few pieces of furniture +have been added. The boy has been provided with a small capital for +his little business. ("Vacant Lot Cultivation," Reprint from N. Y. +<I>Charities Review.</I>) Better labor would of course get even better +results. +</P> + +<P> +The personal benefits that have come to a few individual cases, are +largely the same that all the gardeners enjoyed in New York and +elsewhere. +</P> + +<P> +An old colored woman—a grandmother—who had just been released from +one of the hospitals where she had been treated for a long time for +pleurisy, asked for a garden. It was more than a mile to the nearest +plot, but she was quite willing to go even that distance if she +could get a garden. At first, owing to her weakened condition, she +was forced to work slowly and for short periods only, but a little +assistance enabled her to get a garden started. The work proceeded +so well that more land was added to her small holding, and most of +her waking hours were now spent either in or near the garden, +working among the tender plants or watching them grow. Before the +season was half spent she had developed one of the best gardens in +the whole plot. Her surplus produce became so large that she had to +devote most of her time to gathering and selling it. Finally she +rented a small shed on a prominent street and passers-by often +stopped, and regular customers came to buy the freshly gathered +produce, the supply being not only abundant, but of great variety. +</P> + +<P> +One of the best gardens, from the standpoint of value of produce as +well as for the varieties of products it contained and the artistic +arrangement, was worked by a man who had but one arm. Many other +successful and profitable gardens were cultivated by men and women +of an age when we generally expect them to depend entirely upon +others for support. +</P> + +<P> +Many incidents were found where such habits as drinking and loafing +around saloons and clubs and abusing the family have been checked on +account of the gardener's time and attention being occupied in the +little farm. +</P> + +<P> +One of the workers came for work in a condition of mind and body +which rendered his services almost worthless. He was scarcely able +to carry on his work for a minute beyond what he was shown. Each new +move had to be explained constantly, and even then he was often +found doing the work in the wrong way only a few minutes afterwards. +Before long, however, he began to see that his place had its +responsibilities and that the work of Mother Nature depended on his +doing his part and doing it well. By the time the crops were ready +to gather and market he came to realize that the cost of production +must come under the amount received from the sale of the produce so +as to prevent loss. By the end of the season he had learned so to +utilize his time and to organize his work and execute our plans that +we were able to recommend him to a farmer who was looking for a +handy man about the place. +</P> + +<P> +In twenty years our Associations have made demonstrations of the +following facts, each demonstration proving more clearly than the +former ones: +</P> + +<P> +First. That many people out of employment must have help of some +kind. +</P> + +<P> +Second. That a great majority of them prefer self-help, and many +will take no other. Nearly all are able and willing to improve any +opportunities open to them. +</P> + +<P> +Third. That to open opportunities to them does not pauperize or +degrade, but has the opposite effect of elevating and ennobling. It +quickly establishes self-respect and self-confidence. The best and +most effective way of helping people in need is to open a way +whereby they may help themselves. The most effective charity is +opportunity accompanied with kindly advice and a personal interest +in those less fortunate than ourselves. +</P> + +<P> +Fourth. That the offering of gardens to the unemployed with proper +supervision and some assistance by providing seeds, fertilizers, and +plowing accompanied with instruction, is the cheapest and easiest +way of opening opportunities yet devised. +</P> + +<P> +Fifth. That it possesses many advantages in addition to providing +profitable employment; among others, that the worker must come out +into the open air and sunshine; must exercise, and put forth +exertion,—all of which are conducive to health, and, most important +of all, he knows that all he raises is to be his own. This is the +greatest incentive to industry. +</P> + +<P> +The Vacant Lot Cultivation system is a school wherein gardeners are +taught a trade (to most of them a new trade), farming, which offers +employment for more people than all the other trades and professions +combined: a trade susceptible of wide diversification and offering +many fields for specializing. But little capital is required; any +other field would require large outlay. Its greatest advantage, +however, is that the idle men and the idle land are already close to +each other—the men can reach their gardens without changing their +domiciles or being separated from their families. +</P> + +<P> +It was not until after several years that the full effect of the +work was realized. A few gardeners each year from the beginning +have, after one or two years' experience, taken small farms or plots +of land to cultivate on their own account, or have sought employment +on farms near the city; but the number is quite small compared to +the whole number helped. Now more than ten per cent of those that +had gardens previously have for the last two years been working on +their own account. Out of nearly eight hundred gardeners, more than +eighty-five either rented or secured the loan of gardens that season +and cultivated them wholly at their own expense, and many others +would have done so had suitable land been available. The number of +gardens forfeited on account of poor cultivation or trespassing was +only two out of 800 plots given out. +</P> + +<P> +The first important advance was early in the spring of 1904, when it +became known that a large tract of land that had been in gardens for +several years would be withdrawn from use. A number of the gardeners +came together to talk over the situation. One proposed that they +form a club to lease a tract of land and divide it up among +themselves. The plan was readily agreed to, and a nine-acre tract on +Lansdowne Avenue was rented at $15 per acre per annum. Some sixteen +families became interested' and Mr. D. F. Rowe, who had been one of +the most successful gardeners, became manager They had the land +thoroughly fertilized and plowed, and then subdivided. Some took +separate allotments, as under the Vacant Lot Association's plan, and +others worked for the manager at an agreed rate of wages per hour. +The whole nine acres were thoroughly well cultivated, and a +magnificent crop harvested. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as there was produce for sale, a market was established on +the ground and a regular delivery system organized which later +attracted much attention. It was carried on by the children, of nine +to twelve years of age, from the various families. Each child was +provided with a pushcart. There were many and various styles, made +from little express wagons, baby coaches, and produce boxes. +</P> + +<P> +The children built up their own routes, and went regularly to their +customers for orders. They made up the orders, loaded them into +their little pushcarts, charged themselves up with the separate +amounts in a small book, and at the end of each day's sales each +child settled with the manager and was paid his commission (twenty +per cent of the receipts) in cash. These little salesmen and +salesgirls often took home four to five dollars per week and yet +never worked more than three to five hours per day. The work was +done under such circumstances that to them it was not work but play. +You can get the full report from the Philadelphia "Vacant Lot +Cultivation Associations." It's interesting. +</P> + +<P> +"The greatest value that our little garden has brought us," said a +French woman, mother of a goodly number of rather small children, +"has not been in the fine vegetables it has yielded all summer, or +the good times that I and the children have had in the open air, but +in the glasses of beer and absinthe that my husband hasn't taken." +"Quite right, mother, quite right," came from a man near by. "The +world can never know the evil we men don't do while we are busy in +our little gardens." +</P> + +<P> +Further, pillage of crops, which was always urged as an objection to +raising fruits or truck on open grounds, has proved to be a baseless +fear. Where any of the gardeners are allowed to camp or put up +shacks on the patches, theft does not occur and various +superintendents repeat that "the few and trivial cases of stealing +from vacant lot plots or school gardens were almost all at the +places that were fenced." +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps our locks and bolts tend to suggest breaking in. +</P> + +<P> +The Garden Primer issued by the New York City Food Supply Committee +gives simple but incomplete directions for planting and tending a +vegetable garden. For those who need that sort of thing, these are +just the sort of thing they need. They will be useful if you do not +follow them. The Primer tells you how to get some kind of parsnips, +chard, spinach, common onions, radishes, cabbage, lettuce, beets, +tomatoes, beans, turnips, peas, peppers, egg plants, cucumbers, +corn, and potatoes. +</P> + +<P> +Don't grow these things, unless it be for your own immediate use. +Every one grows them and ripens them all at the same time. In many +places these are given away or thrown away this year. Grow anything +that every one wants and has not got, like okra, small fruits, etc.; +you can get a much better return in cash or in trade than by +spending your time "like other folks" who do not think. +</P> + +<P> +So I refer to these directions for their instruction, and for your +warning However, they give the following admirable injunctions. +</P> + +<P> +"Help Your Country and Yourself by Raising Your Own Vegetables." +</P> + +<P> +As we will likely have to send to Europe in coming years as much or +even more food than we did last year, there is only one way to avoid +a shortage among our own people, that is by raising a great deal +more than usual. To do this we must plant every bit of available +land. (Of course, we can't; the owners won't let us. Ed.) +</P> + +<P> +If you have a back yard, you can do your part and help the world and +yourself by raising some of the food you eat. The more you raise the +less you will have to buy, and the more there will be left for some +of your fellow countrymen who have not an inch of ground on which to +raise anything. +</P> + +<P> +If there is a vacant lot in your neighborhood, see if you cannot get +the use of it for yourself and your neighbors, and raise your own +vegetables. An hour a day spent in this way will not only increase +wealth and help your family, but will help you personally by adding +to your strength and well-being and making you appreciate the Eden +joy of gardening. An hour in the open air is worth more than a dozen +expensive prescriptions by an expensive doctor. +</P> + +<P> +The only tools necessary for a small garden are a spade or spading +fork, a hoe, a rake, and a line or piece of cord. +</P> + +<P> +First of all, clear the ground of all rubbish, sticks, stones, +bottles, etc. (especially whisky bottles). +</P> + +<P> +Choose the sunniest spot in the yard for your garden. +</P> + +<P> +Dig up the soil to a depth of 6 to 10 inches, using a spade or +spading fork. (Deeper for parsnips and some other roots. Ed.) Break +up all the lumps with the spade or fork. +</P> + +<P> +If you live in a section where your neighbors have gardens, you +might club together to hire a teamster for a day to do the plowing +and harrowing for you all, thus saving a large amount of labor. +</P> + +<P> +After your garden has been well dug, it must be fertilized before +any planting is done. In order to produce large and well-grown crops +it is often necessary to fertilize before each planting. Very good +prepared fertilizers can be bought at seed stores, but horse or cow +manure is much better, as it lightens the soil in addition to +supplying plant food. Use street sweepings if you can get them. +</P> + +<P> +The manure should be well dug into the ground, at least to the full +depth of the top soil. The ground should then be thoroughly raked, +as seeds must be sown in soil which has been finely powdered. +</P> + +<P> +Lay out the garden, keeping the rows straight with a line. Straight +rows are practically a necessity, not only for easier culture but +for economy in space. +</P> + +<P> +After you have marked all of your rows, the next step is opening the +furrow. (A furrow is a shallow trench.) That is done with the hoe. +(Best and quickest with a wheel hoe. Ed.) After the furrow is +opened, it is necessary that the seed be sown and immediately +covered before the soil has dried In covering the seeds the soil +must be firmly pressed down with the foot. This is important. +</P> + +<P> +In buying seed it is best to go to some well-established seed house, +or, if that can't be done, to order by mail rather than to take +needless chances. With most kinds of seeds a package is sufficient +for a twenty-foot row. +</P> + +<P> +Begin to break up the hard surface of the soil between the plants +soon after they appear, using a hand cultivator or hoe, and keep it +loose throughout the season. This kills weeds; it lets in air to the +plant roots and keeps the moisture in the ground. +</P> + +<P> +By constantly stirring the top soil after your plants appear, the +necessity of watering can be largely avoided except in very dry +weather. An occasional soaking of the soil is better than frequent +sprinkling. Water your garden either very early in the morning or +after sundown. It is better not to water when the sun is shining +hot. +</P> + +<P> +The planting scheme can be altered to suit your individual taste. +For instance, peas and cabbage are included because almost everybody +likes to have them fresh from their garden; but they occupy more +space in proportion to their value than beets and carrots. Therefore +a small garden could be made more profitable by omitting them +altogether, or cutting them down in amount and increasing the amount +of carrots, beets, and turnips planted; or any of the vegetables +mentioned which may not be in favor with the family can be left out. +</P> + +<P> +The kind of season we have would change the date of planting. In +raising vegetables, as in everything else, one should use one's +common (or garden variety of) sense. A good rule is to wait until +the ground has warmed up a bit. Never try to work in soil wet enough +to be sticky, or muddy; wait until it dries enough to crumble +readily. +</P> + +<P> +Gardening is not a rule of thumb business. Each gardener must bring +his plants up in his own way in the light of his own experience and +in accordance with the conditions of his own garden. A garden lover +who has a bit of land will speedily learn if his eyes and his mind, +as well as his hands, are always busy, no matter how meager his +knowledge at the beginning. +</P> + +<P> +There is plenty of land—if you can only get it. +</P> + +<P> +Says Carl Vrooman, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, in regard to +the food problem: +</P> + +<P> +"Millions of acres of farm land are being held out of use and other +millions of acres are being cultivated on a wasteful and inefficient +basis. Land values have risen at an unprecedented rate. They are +based not upon what the farm will earn at the present time, but on +an expectancy of what it will be worth in the future. The farmer's +son or the tenant farmer, with little or no capital, cannot hope to +acquire possession of a farm w hen the price of land is SO high that +his earnings would not pay the interest on the investment. The +result is that land remains idle or in the hands of tenants, and +thousands of farmers' boys desert the country for the city. +</P> + +<P> +". . . . What we need, and need badly, is a program of taxation +which, without throwing additional burdens on the bona fide farmer, +will place land now idle within the reach of men of limited means +who possess the ambition and the ability to cultivate it." +</P> + +<P> +You can see that poor ignorant people, women, boys, cripples, old +men, often on less than 100 X 150 feet each, not only in +Philadelphia, but as war gardeners in New York, and most other +towns, have been able to support themselves by their work on the +land. You can do much better. +</P> + +<P> +To be sure, they had valuable land and often seeds free, but for +such little pieces of land these are small items, and many of them +had no certainty of having the land even for a second year, +consequently they could not have hotbeds or any permanent +improvement. You can make all these things. +</P> + +<P> +Then what can you do? Only remember they had intelligent instruction +and did the work themselves, and got the whole product; often the +children helped—they thought it fun. It does not pay to farm a +small piece of land where all the workers have to be hired. Nor does +it pay if one calculates merely to stick in seeds with one hand and +pull out profits with the other. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +RESULTS TO BE EXPECTED. +</H3> + +<P> +"If we get every one out on the farms, then there will be an +over-production of farm products and a fall in prices." +</P> + +<P> +True, but there are farmers who could do better in towns; what we +want to do is to make it easy for people to get on the land about +the cities, then it would be equally easy for those farmers who are +better adapted for city life to get near the cities. +</P> + +<P> +Under present conditions, where the worker is forced out fifteen or +twenty miles from the town by the high price of land and the large +amount of land required, the farmer is as much cut off from the city +as the city dweller is cut off from rural life. +</P> + +<P> +We need not be afraid to teach men better ways; there will always be +plenty too stupid or too old or too isolated to learn; these will +remain a bulwark against too sudden change. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Engel, former head of the Prussian Statistical Bureau, informs +us that "Scientific farming succeeds because a given amount of +effort, when more intelligently directed, produces greater results. +Inasmuch, then, as the amount of food which the world can consume is +limited, the smaller will be the number of farmers required to +produce the needed supply, and the larger will be the number driven +from the country to the city. It has already been observed that if +34 scientific methods were universally adopted in the United States, +doubtless one half of those now engaged in agriculture could produce +the present crops, which would compel the other half to abandon the +farm." This is "Engel's Law." +</P> + +<P> +This "argument" assumes that we are now utilizing all the land +possible and that every one is fully supplied with food. But when we +consider the great masses of people in the slums of all cities who +are always underfed and whose constant thought is about their next +meal; when we see hundreds of able-bodied men waiting in line until +midnight for half a loaf of stale bread, surely it seems that there +is a possibility of keeping all of the present farmers at work, if +not of finding new fields for others, if we make our conditions such +that there will be opportunities for every able-bodied worker to +labor at remunerative employment. +</P> + +<P> +Professor L. H. Bailey, a most industrious and accurate observer, +says: "Dr. Engel's argument rests on the assumption that +agriculture produces only or chiefly food; but probably more than +half of the agricultural products of the United States is not food. +It is cotton, flax, hemp, wool, hides, timber, tobacco, dyes, drugs, +flowers, ornamental trees and plants, horses, pets, and fancy stock, +and hundreds of other non-edible commodities. The total food produce +of the United States, according to the twelfth census, was +$1,837,000. The cost of material used in the three industries of +textile, lumber and leather manufactories alone was $1,851,000,000. +</P> + +<P> +"Dr. Engel thinks that the outlay for subsistence diminishes as +income increases; but comforts and luxuries increase in intimate +ratio with the income, and the larger part of these come from the +farm and forest. Dr. Engel, in fact, allows this, for he says that +'sundries become greater as income increases."' +</P> + +<P> +We have already abundance of information about almost every county +in the Union, published by Boards of Trade and land boomers, like +the following about "Oxnard, Ventura County, the center of the +famous lima bean district in California. For a year the returns from +farm products alone, in this vicinity, are estimated at over +$2,000,000. The sugar factory, which uses 2000 tons of beets every +twenty-four hours, requires the yield of about 1900 acres every +season. The beet crop is rotated with beans, and the factory's +supply is kept good by systematic methods. Two thousand head of +cattle are being fattened at the present time in the company's yard +on the beet pulp. Much of the pulp is also sold to local stockmen, +who value it highly for feed. The factory turns out 5000 bags of +sugar every day." And again: +</P> + +<P> +"Eastern farm lands steadily declined in price up to about 1902, so +that Eastern land sold for less than Western land of the same +quality and of like situation; but the tide seems at last to have +turned, and much money is now being made in buying up cheap farms +and especially in sub-dividing them for small cultivators." +</P> + +<P> +That sort of thing is interesting; but it is not what a man wants to +know—he is anxious to learn how much he can make and where and how +to do it. +</P> + +<P> +The man who seeks a comfortable living will do better to rent on +long lease or buy a few acres convenient to trolley or railroad +communication with a city; besides the returns which will come to +the farmer from the use of a few acres, if he is the owner he will +get a constant increase in the value of the land, due to the growth +of the city. If the city grows out so that the land becomes too +valuable to farm, he will be well paid for leaving. +</P> + +<P> +(Although progress is continually forcing laborers back upon less +desirable land, their loss, unless they are the owners, is the +landowner's gain.) +</P> + +<P> +The amount of product to be grown for one's own use depends on the +size of the family and its fondness for vegetables. +</P> + +<P> +"An area of 150X100 feet [about two fifths of an acre] is generally +sufficient to supply a family of five persons with vegetables, not +considering the winter supply of potatoes; but the acres must be +well tilled and handled." (Bailey, "Principles of Vegetable +Gardening.") +</P> + +<P> +"The produce that could thus be obtained from an acre of land well +situated would abundantly supply with nearly all the vegetables +named, nineteen families, comprising in all 114 individuals." +</P> + +<P> +In our garden we must know what we want and know how to get it. +</P> + +<P> +(It is impossible to treat exhaustively of the various crops in a +book of this kind. On onion culture alone there are four standard +books, besides seven or eight recent experimental station bulletins. +</P> + +<P> +"In a family garden 100 X 150 feet (which equals six New York City +lots), the rows running the long way of the area, eight or ten feet +may be reserved along one side for asparagus, rhubarb, sweet herbs, +flowers, and possibly a few berry bushes. A strip twenty feet wide +may be reserved for vines, as melons, cucumbers and squashes. There +remains a strip seventy feet wide, or space for twenty rows three +and one half feat apart. This area is large enough to allow of +appreciable results in rotation of crops; and i! it is judiciously +managed, it should maintain high productiveness for a lifetime." +(Bailey, "Principles of Vegetable Gardening.")) +</P> + +<P> +"The things to be considered in the home garden are: (1) a +sufficient product to supply the family; (2) continuous succession +of crops; (3) ease and cheapness of cultivation; (4) maintenance of +the productivity of the land year after year. +</P> + +<P> +"The ease and efficiency of cultivation are much enhanced if +all crops are in long rows, to allow of wheel-tool tillage either by +horse or wheel-hoe." +</P> + +<P> +The experience of the Vacant Lot Gardeners (Chapter IV) shows that +if the land be near a large market where the product can be peddled +or sold by the producers or by those (as in Mr. Rowe's case), with +whom he directly deals, more than twenty-five dollars capital is not +necessary, but Peter Henderson ("Gardening for Profit") estimates +that to get the best results, $300 capital per acre is required for +anything less than ten acres. +</P> + +<P> +Where the land is favorably situated a fortune may be made in +cultivation of a few acres—with brains. +</P> + +<P> +Quinn says ("Money in the Garden") that he knows a large number of +market gardeners worth from ten to forty thousand dollars each, none +of whom had five hundred dollars to begin with. +</P> + +<P> +If one has not enough money to get all that can be gotten out of his +plot, it is best to put part of the land into clover to fit it for +later use or to use it for raising grass. +</P> + +<P> +Results undoubtedly come from hard work; but it is not necessary, in +order to cultivate a little land successfully, that you should work +all day on your hands and knees; if you can raise fruit or nuts, +this is not needed at all. +</P> + +<P> +But for vegetables a certain amount of it is necessary—when there +is a large job of that kind of weeding to be done, you can hire +Italians or other foreigners to do it better and cheaper than you +can do it yourself. Those who will read this book can earn more with +their heads than their hands; but when weeding is needed after a +sudden shower and there is no one else, you must do some of it +yourself; the weather will not wait for you to "get a man," and if +you are not willing to do such things, your chances of success are +greatly lessened. +</P> + +<P> +Here is the experience of one who "got a man": +</P> + +<P> +"My garden, to begin with, was in the most rudimentary condition, +having been allowed to run to grass. After digging up a spot about +ten feet square in the turf, taking the early morning for the work, +I decided that it would require all summer to get the garden fairly +spaded up, so I hired a stalwart Irishman to do the work for me, +which he did in a week, charging me nine dollars for the job. As he +professed to be also an expert in planting vegetables, I bought a +supply of seeds in the city and intrusted them to him, assuring +myself that once in the ground the rest of the work would fall to +me; if I could not keep a garden patch fifty feet square clear of +weeds, I had better abandon the business at once, and all hopes of +making a living out of scientific gardening. The beginning was an +unfortunate one. The weather happened to be first very wet, and then +so dry and hot that my vegetables were unable to break their way +through the baked earth. When my peas and beans still gave no signs +after being in the ground for two weeks, I discovered that the whole +work would have to be done over again. A Presidential campaign was +beginning, which kept me in town often late at night, so that the +chief labor of the garden fell to my faithful Irishman, who got far +more satisfaction out of it than I did. The vegetables finally did +come up above the surface, and many an evening I finished a hard +day's work by pumping and carrying hundreds of gallons of water to +pour upon potato plants, tomatoes, beans, and other things which a +friend of mine, an expert in such matters, assured me were +curiosities of malformation and backwardness. My Irishman told me +that it was all for want of manure, and by his advice I bought six +dollars' worth of manure from a neighboring stable, and had it +spread over the ground. The bills for my garden were meanwhile +mounting up. I had begun the spring with a garden ledger, keeping an +accurate account of every penny spent, and hoping to put on the +other side of the page a tremendous list of fine vegetables. The +accounts are before me now, and I presume that every one who has +been through the same experience has preserved some such record." +(Naturally, if he began that way.) ("Liberty and a Living," by P. G. +Hubert.) +</P> + +<P> +If your idea of farming is to bury "some seeds" in untilled ground, +regardless of suitability, and "wait till they come up," you will +wait in vain for a decent crop. +</P> + +<P> +Says Professor Roberts in the "Farmstead" (Macmillan), "Mushrooms +sell at fifty cents per pound; maize for one half cent per pound. +Why? Because anybody, even a squaw, can raise maize, but only a +specially skilled gardener can succeed in mushroom culture." +</P> + +<P> +But enough has been said to show that you must cultivate with +brains. The Germans say, "What your head won't do, your legs have +to." +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "We'll have a little farm,<BR> + A pig, a horse and cow<BR> + And you will drive the wagon<BR> + While I drive the plow,"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +is very pretty. The horse and the pigs are practical, if you can +take care of them yourself; pigs are good farm catch-alls. If you +have to pay a man to do it, you had better hire your horses and buy +your pork. +</P> + +<P> +Two well-groomed, healthy cows, one calving in the spring and one in +the autumn, can be made a source of profit, and of valuable manure, +if you have land enough in a neighborhood where up-to-date parents +are willing to pay ten to twenty cents a quart for pure milk for +their infants or even for family use. But your land and your own +baby's care and milk will probably be enough for you to attend to +promptly and thoroughly every day—and night. +</P> + +<P> +It is an age-old experience that if we take care of a little land, +the land will take care of us. In Ferrero's "Grandezza e Decadenza +di Roma" is an interesting account of Marcus Terentius Varro's "De +Re Rustica." Varro wrote in the year 37 B.C., and as he was then +eighty years old, he had seen the transformation of Italy from an +agricultural to a manufacturing, trading community and the +accompanying wreck of the old agricultural system, which, of course, +he laments. +</P> + +<P> +The growth of vast landed estates largely held by imperial +favorites, as Pliny said, destroyed Italy. So fearful has the +destruction been that it is only in our generation that the Campagna +at Rome, which was once an intensely fruitful quilt of garden +patches, has been reclaimed from the fever-smitten swamp to which +vast landlordism had reduced it. +</P> + +<P> +In the third book of "De Re Rustica," Varro recommends as his +remedy, intensive cultivation close to the cities, and the breeding +of "fancy stock," including pigeons' snails, peacocks, deer, and +wild boars. +</P> + +<P> +He tells how an aunt of his made 60,000 sesterces ($3000) in one +year by raising thrushes for the Roman market, at a time when an +excellent farm of about 200 acres only yielded 30,000 sesterces per +annum. He quotes another case of one who made 40,000 sesterces per +annum from a flock of one hundred peacocks, by selling the eggs and +the young. Those old Roman women weren't so slow. +</P> + +<P> +Ferraro calls Varro's work one of the most important for the history +of ancient Italy and says historians have made a mistake in not +reading it. +</P> + +<P> +At the time of the migration of the barbarians (350 to 750 A.D.), +the lot of each able-bodied man was about thirty morgen (equal to +twenty acres) on average lands, on very good ground only ten to +fifteen morgen (equal to seven or ten acres), four morgen being +equal to one hectare. Of this land, at least a third, and sometimes +a half, was left uncultivated each year. The remainder of the +fifteen to twenty morgen sufficed to feed and fatten into giants the +immense families of these child-producing Germans, and this in spite +of the primitive technique, whereby at least half the productive +capacity of a day was lost. (From "The State," by Franz +Oppenheimer, p. 11.) +</P> + +<P> +In the Orange Judd prize contest, merely for the clearest account of +a garden, not for results at all, a number of the contestants raised +produce at the rate of $150 to $400 per acre and over, even in +semi-arid regions; for instance, L. E. Burnham says that he raised +on his first garden of about one third of an acre in eastern +Massachusetts, garden stuff which he sold to summer cottagers for +$61.69. +</P> + +<P> +This took about eight days' work, nearly all with a wheel hoe. +</P> + +<P> +Remember about the present increased and changing prices and costs? +At the present writing, 1917, the advances in costs and prices would +probably average about three quarters, and those of common labor +perhaps one third over those given in the text. In other respects, +the instances and authorities, still pertinent, have been retained +in this revision. +</P> + +<P> +It would have been waste, not thrift, to get a new authority to tell +us that straw makes the cleanest mulch for strawberries; that's the +reason they were called strawberries; and they grew just the same +way ten years ago. +</P> + +<P> +L. E. Dimosh of Connecticut raised on one quarter of an acre +$146.21, of which over $85 was profit. +</P> + +<P> +In other cases the profits were $142 (Gianque, Nebraska) per acre; +and over $295 (Dora Dietrich, Pennsylvania); with the rather +exceptional profit at the rate of $570 (Mrs. Hall, Connecticut). +Some showed a loss. +</P> + +<P> +Some of the town or city lots yielded very high profits; one of a +third of an acre gave a profit of $224.33 (Edge Darlington, Md.). +</P> + +<P> +The summary "based upon the reports of five hundred and fifteen +gardens in nearly every state and territory and in Canada and the +provinces, may be considered accurate and reliable. Covering such a +vast territory local conditions are avoided." It shows that "the +average size of farm gardens was 24,372 square feet, or about half +an acre, the average labor cost $26.34, the average value of product +was at the rate of $170 per acre, and the net profit over $80 per +acre." +</P> + +<P> +To get results we must first learn and then teach what we know. The +finest game in the world is to teach. No one ever knows anything +thoroughly till he tries to teach it. +</P> + +<P> +When you tell a person how to do a thing, he doesn't know how to do +it himself. When you show him how to do it, still he doesn't know +that he could do it himself. But when you get him to do it himself, +then he knows. +</P> + +<P> +Country boys will believe that early tomatoes can be raised by +starting them in the house; but like the rest of us they don't know +how to do it, and when spring comes and it is time to do such +things, they are busy on the farm. There are several schools trying +the experience of allowing the children to plant in window boxes in +early April and are showing them how to do it. But as there is not +room for all the children to plant in these window boxes, there is a +new idea which originated in the country, where the children are +engaged in the fall and the spring assisting their parents at +agricultural work. +</P> + +<P> +It was hard to get up any interest in school gardens, but it was all +the more important that they should have agricultural instruction in +the winter time. +</P> + +<P> +At Berkeley Heights, N. J., we devised this simple plan, and it +works. We made a number of wooden boxes, one foot wide, two feet +long, so they will just fit on the ledge of a school desk. They are +only three inches deep, with a bottom of tin, turned up at the +edges, or of well painted pine, white-leaded at the joints. There is +no drainage, since we discovered that if they are not watered too +much, they do better without drainage. The holes usually made in the +bottoms of flower boxes carry off a lot of plant food with the water +that runs through. +</P> + +<P> +Now, how to store these boxes when they are not in the sunny places +near the windows? Why, we set up four posts of one-inch stuff at the +four corners, so that the box looks like a kitchen table turned +upside down (see illustration). Now the boxes filled with earth and +with the young plants growing can be stored at night, one on top of +the other, by the wall of the schoolroom. +</P> + +<P> +If it is going to be cold, and over Sundays, the pile of them can be +covered with newspapers, which keep them from getting chilled and +from drying up, or the boxes can be covered and carried home by the +children. We found that for most plants nine inches is high enough +for the posts, and that well-seasoned one-inch lumber is heavy +enough not to warp if it is painted inside and out, and it is not +too heavy to lift. +</P> + +<P> +By the way, better paint the joints before the sides are nailed +together. It makes them more water-tight. Four screws at the corners +will make them still tighter. +</P> + +<P> +The scholars raise lettuce, parsley, onions, and strawberries, and +all kinds of small plants, as well as flowers, in the winter; and +when the plants get too big or two crowded for the boxes, they are +separated and transplanted into other boxes to be taken home. +</P> + +<P> +This was so successful that we devised a big window box which is +suited for home use also; it is just as wide as the window and half +as long again as it is wide. But this box does not stand outside on +the window sill; if it did, the plants would freeze. One end only +rests on the inside window sill where it gets the sun; the end is +supported by two legs of the same height that the window sill is +from the floor. +</P> + +<P> +When a nice warm day comes, the other end of the box is pushed out +of the window and the sash closed down on it to keep it from falling +out. A couple of cleats or nails in the window jamb help to hold it +in place. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, the box has to be watched and taken in if it turns cold, +but it's astonishing how much can be raised and how much more can be +learned out of season by the school desk boxes and the home window +sliding boxes. +</P> + +<P> +Try it and see for yourself. +</P> + +<P> +The children can learn as much about some things from a box 2X1 ft. +as they can from a children's garden. Here are a couple of samples +of what the kids themselves in a city school think of it. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +<I>"Office of the Principal of Public School No. 7</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"VAN ALST AVE., ASTORIA, QUEENS +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"I inclose a few compositions that were written by some of our boys +and girls of the Fourth Year. You will recognize the descriptions of +your Garden Trays for classroom use Unfortunately the free space in +the classroom is limited, so we have found it necessary to allow +each pupil only part of a box. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"The children themselves are delighted, as you can see by their +compositions. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Very sincerely yours, (Signed)" +<BR> +AGNES A. CORDING +<BR> +"Asst. Principal." +<BR> +P. S. No. 7 +<BR> +Grade 4 A—April 2l, 1915. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +Arthur Miller, Age 10 +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +OUR GARDEN +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +At first we planted radishes then onions and lettuce and beans and +sunflowers. Each one of us have 1/4 of a box. When we had finished +that we brought them up to the front of the room and then watered +them and went home. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +Anna Duerr, Age 8 +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +MY GARDEN +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +I have a garden. It is a box. I have a quarter of a box for my very +own. My garden has five rows. In the first there are radishes, in +the second lettuce, in the third onions, in the fourth beans, in the +fifth sunflowers. I hope my garden grows up. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Of course these are only preparatory for profitable work. We have +cases in which $2000 has been recorded from sales in one year from +one acre, and many cases in which at least $1000 worth of produce +has been sold from an acre. These are sales, not profits. +</P> + +<P> +Such results are not due to the boundless and fertile soil of the +new world nor to small farming alone—they are due to intelligence. +</P> + +<P> +Professor Ronna gives the following figures of crops per acre at +Romford (Breton's Farm): 28 tons of potatoes (say 952 bushels), 16 +tons of marigold, 105 tons of beets, 110 tons of carrots, 9 to 20 +tons of various cabbages, and so on. +</P> + +<P> +It was suggested to the Agricultural Department that it might fix +standards of what is a good attainable crop. +</P> + +<P> +On every golf links we have what is called a Bogie score posted up. +That is a score that a certain mythical Captain Bogie, supposed to +be an average good player, could make on those links. On one typical +club-course, for instance, the Bogie score is 42. Though it has been +done in 37, the ordinary player congratulates himself when he gets +down to the Bogie score. +</P> + +<P> +Now, if there were standards attainable to ordinary intelligent and +good cultivation set in each section, it would enormously encourage +farmers to reach them, which may be of great importance. +</P> + +<P> +One of the heads of the Department replied as follows: +</P> + +<P> +'"In regard to fixing a standard for each farmer to strive to +attain, I think that a very good idea; but the standard for each +crop in each particular locality would necessarily be somewhat +different from that in every other locality. Persons who have had +experience in experimental work keenly appreciate these points. The +work which is done upon one soil formation under different climatic +conditions in one season, does not necessarily find a duplicate in +any other locality, and the experience is that what is accomplished +in one year would not be duplicated on the same soil and under the +same management again in several years, for the conditions under +which agriculture is carried on are so many of them outside of the +control of the operator that it is very difficult to predict results +or to attain any fixed standard. This is necessarily so with an +operation which has so many uncertain factors to deal with as +agriculture. Humidity of the atmosphere and of the soil, the +available plant food in the soil, methods of tillage, fertilizers +used, recurrence of frosts, amount of sunlight, the altitude and +latitude of different localities, all have a bearing upon crop +production. It is, therefore, very difficult to fix any approximate +standard or average production for any particular locality without +basing it upon a long series of years. I think, however, that it is +a subject worthy of agitation, and it might inspire agriculturists +to better work were such an ideal fixed upon." +</P> + +<P> +This indicates that each experiment station or progressive farmer or +teacher of agriculture might advantageously establish the local +"Bogie score" of what might fairly be expected. +</P> + +<P> +We know how misleading averages are. The man who tried to wade +across a stream whose average depth was two feet, was drowned. "The +writer used to go to a fishing club of which Cornelius Vanderbilt +was a member. One of the standard jokes there was that the thirty +members are worth on an average over two million apiece, that is, +Cornelius sixty millions, and the rest of us (comparatively) +nothing. Which are you to be? A Vanderbilt among cultivators, or +the other fellow who makes the 'average'?" ("Money Making in Free +America," by the Author.) +</P> + +<P> +But even making all allowances we see that we must cultivate much +better than the "average," to make anything more than the farmer's +hard living off the land. Peter Dunne tells us what kind of a grind +that is. +</P> + +<P> +"This pa-aper says th' farmer niver sthrikes. He hasn't got th' time +to. He's too happy. A farmer is continted with his farm lot. There's +nawthin' to take his mind off his wurruk. He sleeps at night with +his nose against th' shingled roof iv his little frame home an' +dhreams iv cinch bugs. While th' stars are still alight he walks in +his sleep to wake th' cows that left th' call f'r four o'clock. Thin +it's ho! f'r feedin' th' pigs an' mendin' th' reaper. Th' sun arises +as usual in th' east, an' bein' a keen student iv nature he picks a +cabbage leaf to put in his hat. Breakfast follows, a gay meal +beginnin' at nine an' endin' at nine-three. Thin it's off f'r th' +fields where all day he sets on a bicycle seat an' reaps the bearded +grain an' th' Hessian fly, with nawthin' but his own thoughts an' a +couple iv horses to commune with. An' so he goes an' he's happy th' +livelong day if ye don't get in ear-shot iv him. In winter he is +employed keeping th' cattle fr'm sufferin' his own fate an' writin' +testymonyals iv dyspepsia cures." ("Mr. Dooley Says.") +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WHAT AN ACRE MAY PRODUCE +</H3> + +<P> +We have shown what an acre has produced. You must figure out for +yourself what you can make your acres produce and what the product +can be sold for. +</P> + +<P> +All progress in agriculture has come heretofore through experiments, +made mostly by uninformed and untrained men. What may not be done by +practical learning and applied intelligence? +</P> + +<P> +The wonderful recent advances have been made in just that way. +</P> + +<P> +"The modern improved methods in agriculture, known collectively as +intensive farming, have nearly all had their origin in the hands of +truck farmers and market gardeners. No class of the rural population +is more alert in utilizing the newest researches and discoveries in +all lines of agricultural science, and none keeps in closer touch +with the agricultural colleges and experiment stations." +("Development of the Trucking Interests," by F. S. Earle.) +</P> + +<P> +Still, it is not advisable for the ordinary city dweller, however +intelligent, without other means and without either experience or +study, to cast himself upon a small patch of ground for a living; +but if he can give it most of his time mornings and evenings, or if +he sees, as many do, that he will be forced out of a position, it +would be well for him seriously to consider intensive cultivation as +a resource. +</P> + +<P> +It would be the greatest blessing to our day laborers if they could +secure an acre of land which they could till in conjunction with +their other labor. If time and change 90 works upon society as to +put the laborer out of a job, he will be safe in his acre home and +can live from it and be happy and contented. +</P> + +<P> +The time required to cultivate an acre is much less than is +generally supposed. +</P> + +<P> +The maximum time required seems to be that given in the University +of Illinois Experiment Station at Urbana, Bulletin 61, by J. W. +Lloyd, at the rate of 140 hours (say 14 days) with one horse and 250 +hours (say 25 days) for hand labor. With a great variety of crops, +or with poor labor add one half to this time allowance. The results +vary greatly. +</P> + +<P> +An acre of northeastern Long Island will produce 250 to 400 bushels +of potatoes at a selling price of fifty to seventy five cents per +bushel, which wholesale, at those figures much below present prices, +bring an income of $125 to $300 to the grower. The actual cash +outlay in one instance was: +</P> + +<PRE> + Seed Potatoes $10.00 + Commercial Fertilizer 13.00 + Spraying for blight and pests 4.00 + + TOTAL $27.00 + + 250 bu. selling at the minimum price $125.00 + + Less the cash outlay 27.00 + + Income to the grower from an acre $98.00 +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P> +A production of 400 bushels costs no more cash outlay per acre, +while the income is big wages to the farmer. +</P> + +<P> +If but one acre be grown and hand labor is used, the labor might +cost an average of $40 per acre, with wages at $1.35 to $1.50 per +day, and if the produce is shipped any distance by rail and +consigned, it would cost $40 to $50 to pay selling charges, leaving +you a profit of about $30 per acre on this crop. Other crops in the +rotation might not be so profitable, hence it is not fair to figure +an income on one. But, of course, in the above estimate, we are +considering mainly the cases where the gardener does the work and +earns the wages himself. +</P> + +<P> +An acre will bear if devoted to each crop, of: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Blackberries, 10,000 qt., which at 7 cent a qt., would bring $700.00<BR> + Dewberries, 9,000 qt., say at 7 cent a qt. 630.00<BR> + Gooseberries, 250 bu. at $2.00 a bu. 500.00<BR> + Strawberries, 8,000 qt. at 5 cent a qt. 400.00<BR> + Currants, 3000 plants yield 6000 bu. 200.00<BR> + Raspberries, per acre 200.00 to 600.00<BR> + Peaches, per acre 200.00 to 400.00<BR> + Pears, per acre 200.00 to 500.00<BR> + Apples, per acre 100.00 to 500.00<BR> + Grapes 100.00<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Five, or even three acres will give a good living if this can be +approximated: +</P> + +<P> +An acre will produce in vegetables—either +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Asparagus, 3000 bunches at 20 cent a bunch, would be $600.00<BR> + Cauliflower, 100 to 300 bbl. at $1.50, say 450.00<BR> + Onions, 600 bu. at 75 cent per bu. 450.00<BR> + Cabbage Seed, 1000 lb., at 40 cent a lb. 400.00<BR> + Brussels sprouts, 3000 qt. at 10 cent a qt. 300.00<BR> + Celery, 600 bunches at 5 cent a bunch 300.00<BR> + Parsnips, 300 bu. at 1.00 a bu. 300.00<BR> + Lettuce, 9000 heads at 3 cent a head 270.00<BR> + Lima Beans, 50 bu. at $5.00 a bu. 250.00<BR> +</P> + +<P> +We may hope to get from an acre, respectively in +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Potatoes, 300 bu. at 75 cent a bu, would be $225.00<BR> + Cabbages, 20 tons at $10.00 a ton 200.00<BR> + Carrots and Beets, 200 to 400 bu 150.00<BR> + Tomatoes, 200 crates at 75 cent a crate 150.00<BR> + Early Peas, 50 bu. at $2000 a bu. 100.00<BR> + Turnips, 400 bu. at 25 cent a bu 100.00<BR> + Spinach, 100 bbl. at 50 cent a bbl. 50.00<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Mr. D. L. Hartman, whose experience in the North is given on a later +page, has since moved to Little River, Florida. He writes in 1917: +</P> + +<P> +"I have recently sold the last strawberries of a small plot. Owing +to a combination of circumstances it produced, I think, the largest +value per area of any crop I have ever cultivated. The main factors +were high prices realized and heavy yield. +</P> + +<P> +Area of plot, a trifle over one fifth acre. Total yield, 2295 +quarts, total receipts, $ 4703.80. +</P> + +<P> +First berries picked January 2nd; last berries picked June 26th; +Variety, Brandywine. +</P> + +<P> +"This shows a yield of 11,107 quarts per acre worth at the same +rate, $3398.00. +</P> + +<P> +"The fruit was all sold to stores in Miami (five miles distant) and +brought an average you notice of 30-2/3 cents per quart for the +crop, the highest bringing fifty cents per quart. The average price +during the ordinary seasons is about twenty cents per quart. My +ordinary average yield is less than half of this yield or about 5000 +quarts per acre, and that is much above the average of most yields +of other growers. The crop was started with northern plants, set +just as for matted rows in the North, then early in November plants +were dug up and set out in order in rows 12 inches apart and 8-1/2 +inches apart in the row, leaving every fifth row vacant for paths. +It is super close culture; one plant per square foot for the total +area or a little more. +</P> + +<P> +"I often think that if I were operating in the North again I would +like to try strawberries the same way, except that I would do the +transplanting September 1st instead of November 1st as here, since I +would expect them to grow larger and of course I would plan to mulch +them during the winter. It would take a lot of planting but I think +it would insure a tremendous yield. I find that the digging and +planting including watering of 1500 plants makes ten hours' work +with elimination of all waste motion." +</P> + +<P> +You will not get as good results as Mr. Hartman's average, unless +you learn as much as he has learned; he has succeeded by +well-directed work in different places and circumstances. +</P> + +<P> +The South and West are not the only places in the United States +where a man can live on one acre of ground, by intensive culture and +with irrigation. The Eastern and Middle States can present just as +good, if not better, opportunities, especially where land in small +tracts is available near the large cities. +</P> + +<P> +<I>The Farmers' Advocate</I> (Topeka, Kansas) says of lands which ten +years ago were among the much advertised "abandoned farms" of the +eastern states: "All over the eastern states where farming twenty +years ago was pronounced a failure under Western competition there +has sprung up this intensive cultivation. Violets are grown in one +place and tuberoses by the acre in another. Celery is making one +man's large profit near Williamsburg. Special fruits are cultivated. +Currants are grown by the ton and sold by the pound, yielding a +profit. This is in progress over the entire range of farming." +</P> + +<P> +At Hyde Park, a little village three miles north of Reading, Pa., +there is a small farm owned by Oliver R. Shearer, who may be said to +be one of the most successful farmers in the United States. This +farm contains 3-1/2 acres, only 2-1/2 of which are cultivated, but +they yield the owner annually from $1200 to $1500. From the profits +of his intensive farming, Mr. Shearer has paid $3800 for his +property, which, besides the land, consists of a modern two-story +brick house, with barn, chicken-yard, and orchard, the whole +surrounded by a neat fence. He has also raised and educated a family +of three children. +</P> + +<P> +There are no secrets, Mr. Shearer says, about his method of farming. +A study of conditions, the application of common-sense methods and +untiring energy, he asserts, will enable others to do what he has +done, but that most men would kill themselves with the work. +</P> + +<P> +In an agricultural exchange a small farmer tells that he makes a +living and saves some money from a ten-acre farm. Before he was +through paying for his land, which cost $100 an acre, building his +house, fences, and outbuildings, he went in debt $1300, having about +the same amount to start with. He is near a good market, and in five +years has paid off the debt, and has been getting ahead ever since. +He raises poultry and small fruits, and says that it is a good +combination, as most of the work with poultry comes in winter, while +he can do nothing out of doors. He maintains that a ten-acre farm +rightly managed will bring a good living, including the comforts and +some of the luxuries of life, and says: "This I have fully +demonstrated, and what I have done others may do." +</P> + +<P> +<I>Maxwell's Talisman</I> says: +</P> + +<P> +"E. J. O'Brien of Citronelle, Alabama, received $170 clear from an +acre of cucumbers shipped to the St. Louis market. He was two weeks +late in getting them on the market. He says those two weeks would +have meant nearly double the net returns. He does not consider this +an extraordinary return and hopes to do better next year." +</P> + +<P> +"Professor Thomas Shaw writes of a plot of ordinary ground in +Minnesota comprising the nineteenth part of an acre, which for years +kept a family of six matured persons abundantly supplied with +vegetables all the year, with the exception of potatoes, celery, and +cabbage. In addition, much was given away, more especially of the +early varieties, and in many instances much was thrown away." +</P> + +<P> +"In the market-gardens of Florida we see such crops as 445 to 600 +bushels of onions per acre, 400 bushels of tomatoes, 700 bushels of +sweet potatoes; which testify to a high development of culture." +</P> + +<P> +We select from Bailey's "Principles of Vegetable Gardening" the +following general estimates: +</P> + +<P> +<I>Beets—</I>Average crop is 300-400 bushels per acre. +</P> + +<P> +<I>Carrots—</I>Good crop is 200-300 bushels per acre. +</P> + +<P> +<I>Cabbage—</I>8000 heads per acre. +</P> + +<P> +<I>Potatoes—</I>The yield of potatoes averages about 75 bushels per +acre, but with forethought and good tillage and some fertilizer the +yield should run from 200 to 300 bushels, and occasionally yields +will much exceed the latter figure. +</P> + +<P> +<I>Rhubarb—</I>From 2 to 5 stalks are tied in a bunch for market, and an +acre should produce 3000 dozen bunches. +</P> + +<P> +<I>Salsify—</I>Good crop 200-300 bushels per acre. +</P> + +<P> +<I>Onions—</I>A good crop of onions is 300-400 bushels to the acre, but +600-800 are secured under the very best conditions. +</P> + +<P> +The price per ton for horseradish varies from ten to fifty dollars, +and from two to four tons should be raised on an acre, the latter +quantity when the ground is deep and rich and when the plants do not +suffer for moisture. +</P> + +<P> +Averages are very misleading and it would be better to pay little +attention to them. They are like the average wealth possessed by a +class of twenty schoolchildren. The schoolmaster who had $20 asked +what was the average wealth of each, if the total wealth of the +class was $20. The brightest boy answered, "One dollar." The +schoolmaster asked Tommy at the foot of the class if he did not +think they would be a prosperous class. He answered, "It depends on +who has the 'twenty.'" +</P> + +<P> +But, all the more, good averages imply some wonderful yields. The +following are actual averages in the United States Twelfth and +Thirteenth Census Report, respectively. +</P> + +<P> +Flowers and plants, $2014 and $1911; nursery products, $170 and +$261; sugar cane, $87 (4 tons per acre) and $5540; small fruits, $81 +and $110; hops, $72 (885 lb. per acre) and $175; sweet potatoes, $37 +(79 but per acre) and $55; hemp, $34 (794 lb. per acre) and $54; +potatoes, $33 (96 bu. per acre) and $45; sugar beets, $30 (7 tons +per acre) and $54; sorghum cane, $21 (1 ton per acre) and $23; +cotton, $15 (4-10 bale per acre) and $25.70 flaxseed, $9 (9 bu. per +acre) and $14; cereals, $8 and $11.40. +</P> + +<P> +Specialties, however, often do much better. For example, R. B. +Handy, in Farmers' Bulletin No. 60, United States Department of +Agriculture, tells us that a prominent and successful New Jersey +grower says: +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot give the cost in detail of establishing asparagus beds, as +so much would depend upon whether one had to buy the roots, and upon +other matters. Where growers usually grow roots for their own +planting the cost is principally the labor, manure, and the use of +land for two years upon which, however, a half crop can be had. +</P> + +<P> +"The cost of maintaining a bed can only be estimated per acre as +follows: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Manure (applied in the spring) $25.00<BR> + Labor, plowing, cultivating, hoeing, etc 20.00<BR> + Cutting and bunching 40.00<BR> + Fertilizer (applied after cutting) 15.00<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Total $100.00<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"An asparagus bed well established, say five years after planting, +when well cared for should, for the next ten or fifteen years, yield +from 1800 to 2000 bunches per annum, or at 10 cents per bunch +(factory price) $180 to $200." +</P> + +<P> +"If the rent, labor, etc., for a crop of asparagus is $200 per acre, +and the crop is three tons of green shoots at $100 per ton, on the +farm, the profit is $100 per acre. If we get six tons at $100 per +ton, the profit, less the extra cost of labor and manure, is $400 +per acre." ("Food for Plants," by Harris and Myers, page 19.) +</P> + +<P> +Around Bethlehem, Indiana, the farmers raise hundreds of tons of +sunflower seed every year, and the industry pays better than +anything else in the farming line. A good deal of the seed is made +into condition powder for stock, occasionally some is made into +so-called "olive oil" which is said to surpass cotton-seed oil. +Large quantities are used for feeding parrots and poultry, or +consumed by the Russian Hebrews who eat them as we would eat +peanuts. +</P> + +<P> +A careful investigation made in 1898 of the value of certain +productions taken from farms in New York State shows that the +culture of apples is very profitable. From twenty adjoining farms in +one neighborhood in western New York, the report gave an average +annual return of $85 per acre at the orchard, covering a period of +five years. Another report gave an average of $110 annual income per +acre for three years, and these results were obtained where only +ordinary care was given to the orchard. But note this.— +</P> + +<P> +One orchard, where the trees had been well sprayed to protect the +fruit from insect injuries, and the soil well cultivated and +properly fertilized, gave a return in one year of $700 per acre, and +for three years an average income of $400 per acre. +</P> + +<P> +One man bought a farm of 100 acres in Central New York with a +much-neglected orchard upon it of 30 acres, paying $5000 for the +whole. He cultivated the orchard, pruned and sprayed the trees +thoroughly, and in seven months from the time he purchased the farm, +sold the apple crop from it for $6000 cash. +</P> + +<P> +"Peanuts: Culture and Uses," by R. B. Handy in Farmers' Bulletin No. +25 of the United States Department of Agriculture says: +</P> + +<P> +"According to the Census the average yield of peanuts in the United +States was 17.6 bushels per acre, the average in Virginia being +about 20, and in Tennessee 32 bushels per acre. This appears to be a +low average, especially as official and semiofficial figures give 50 +to 60 bushels as an average crop, and 100 bushels is not an uncommon +yield. Fair peanut land properly manured and treated to intelligent +rotation of crops should produce in an ordinary season a yield of 50 +bushels to the acre and from 1 to 2 tons of excellent hay. (Of +course better land with more liberal treatment and a favorable +season will produce heavier crops, the reverse being true of lands +which have been frequently planted with peanuts without either +manuring or rotation of crops.) Besides the amount of peanuts +gathered, there are always large quantities left in the ground which +have escaped the gathering, and on these the planter turns his herd +of hogs, so that there is no waste of any part of the plant." +</P> + +<P> +Tobacco is a paying crop if the soil is just right. Two thousand +pounds per acre can be raised on favorable sites. Connecticut +tobacco brings, in ordinary times, from twenty to thirty cents a +pound; from four to over six hundred dollars being the possible +return. +</P> + +<P> +Some Connecticut soils raise Sumatra tobacco equal to the imported +crop that sells in this country at fancy prices. The Department of +Agriculture claims that the Cuban type of tobacco can be closely +approximated in Pennsylvania and Ohio. But it must be remembered +that the soil is of paramount importance in tobacco raising. The +Department has prepared soil maps of most of the important tobacco +districts of the United States. If you think your land may be suited +to tobacco, apply there for information. You may make your land +invaluable. +</P> + +<P> +D. L. Hartman, <I>Rural New Yorker,</I> gave the following facts and +figures: "During last season the sales from one acre of early +tomatoes amounted to $454, and from a trifle more than two and one +half acres, including the acre of 'earlies,' the remainder +mid-season and late plantings, the total sales amounted to over +$900. From a little less than one acre and a half $555 worth of +strawberries were sold, while the returns from early cabbages during +the last few years have been at the rate of about $300 per acre. +These statements are not made in the spirit of challenge. The +results are gratifying to me, because larger than anticipated; but +much greater values can be and are produced. In fact, the limit of +value that may be grown on an acre of land no one can tell. I have a +small plot of ground containing less than one sixth of an acre, +planted one year with radishes and lettuce, followed by eggplant and +cauliflower, and the next year to radishes alone, followed by +egg-plant, and each year the total sales amounted to over $200, at +the rate of $1200 per acre. Greatly exceeding even this was a +smaller plot, measuring 20 X 65 feet, last year, planted first to +pansies, plants sold when in bloom, followed by radishes, of which +one half proved to be a worthless variety (it lay idle long enough +to have produced another crop of radishes), then half was planted to +late lettuce, the other half being sown for winter cabbage, plants +yielding no cash return. Yet the total sales for the season from +this small plot, less than one thirty-second of an acre, was $86.78 +at the rate of the surprising sum of $2780 per acre, and could +easily have been raised to the rate of $4,000, and that without the +use of any glass whatever, Truly the possibilities of the soil are +unknown." +</P> + +<P> +The cooperative features used by Northeastern Long Island intensive +farmers are worthy of imitation. In the community of Riverhead a +club buys at wholesale rates commodities which the farm and +household require. The club does a large business, and has a high +rating in the commercial agencies. In another instance at Riverhead +an association markets the crop of cauliflower, sending cars of such +produce to Cincinnati and Chicago. These are the best forms of +cooperation. +</P> + +<P> +"In the market-gardening sections the banks show prosperity. In the +towns of Riverhead and Southold there are savings banks with +deposits of $4,000,000 each, and five business banks which are doing +a thriving business. In this stretch of thirty miles on eastern Long +Island the farms are mostly free from encumbrance of any kind. +</P> + +<P> +"It should be noted, however, that their towns have the open Sound +with its bays which furnish open ways for transportation and an +unowned field for work." (From circular of the Long Island Guild of +New York City.) +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SOME METHODS +</H3> + +<P> +We must not put all our time into one crop unless we are rich enough +to do our own insurance; for drought, or damp; or accident, +ill-adapted seed, or general unfavorable conditions may make +failures of one or more crops. But in variety and succession of +crops is safety and profit. In order to succeed, crop must be made +to follow crop, so that the ground is used to its full capacity. To +leave it fallow for even a week is to invite weeds and to lose much +of the advantage of tillage, as well as so much time. +</P> + +<P> +In the North, seeds of many kinds should be sown from the first of +March to the first of August; in the South they should be sown in +every month. +</P> + +<P> +By following the simple time tables for planting you will find work +ready and crops maturing and ready for sale in every month in the +year. +</P> + +<P> +There is an admirable table of the time to plant, given in "How to +Make a Vegetable Garden," though it does embrace some weird +vegetables, explaining, for instance, that pats-choi is used like +chards, and that "Scolymus is sowed like Scorzonera." +</P> + +<P> +One can live while waiting for the crops to come up, for many crops +mature rapidly. +</P> + +<P> +Specialties give employment only during a few months of each year +and bring returns only at periods of the year, but the returns can +be made almost immediate and the work almost continuous. +</P> + +<P> +Long Island and Jersey farmers in marketing their crops sell +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Spinach and Radishes in April<BR> + Peas, Early Onions, and Lettuce in May<BR> + Asparagus and Strawberries in June<BR> + Tomatoes, Cucumbers, and Cabbage Seeds in July<BR> + Early Potatoes, Peaches, and Beans in August<BR> + Onions and Potatoes in September<BR> + Celery in October<BR> + Cauliflower in November<BR> + Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts in December<BR> + Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts in January<BR> + Brussels Sprouts in February<BR> + Brussels Sprouts in March<BR> +</P> + +<P> +This order of crops can be varied to suit conditions. +</P> + +<P> +"The old practice of growing vegetables in beds usually entails more +labor and expense than the crop is worth; and it has had the effect +of driving more than one boy from the farm. These beds always need +weeding on Saturdays, holidays, circus days, and the Fourth of July. +Even if the available area is only twenty feet wide, the rows should +run lengthwise and be far enough apart (from one to two feet for +small stuff) to allow of the use of the hand wheelhoes, many of +which are very efficient. If land is available for horse tillage, +none of the rows should be less than thirty inches apart, and for +late growing things, as large cabbage, four feet is better. If the +rows are long, it may be necessary to grow two or three kinds of +vegetables in the same row; in this case it is important that +vegetables requiring the same general treatment and similar length +of season be grown together. For example, a row containing parsnips +and salsify, or parsnips, salsify, and late carrots would afford an +ideal combination; but a row containing parsnips, cabbages, and +lettuce would be a very faulty combination. One part of the area +should be set aside for all similar crops. For example, all root +crops might be grown on one side of the plot, all cabbage crops in +the adjoining space, all tomato and eggplant crops in the center, +all corn and tall things on the opposite side. Perennnial crops, as +asparagus and rhubarb, and gardening structures, as hotbeds and +frames, should be on the border, where they will not interfere with +the plowing and tilling." ("Principles of Vegetable Gardening," page +31.) +</P> + +<P> +Usually where large acreages are worked there is a tendency to +devote a greater portion of the land to one crop and sometimes a +failure in this crop will mean ruin to the farmer, whereas, where +small areas are used, there is generally a diversity of the +higher-priced crops and a failure in one is not so likely to be +disastrous. +</P> + +<P> +To get the greatest production from the soil two crops can be grown +in the same soil at the same time—one of which will mature much +earlier than the other, thereby giving its place up just about the +period of growth when the second crop would need more room. This is +known as companion cropping. +</P> + +<P> +"In companion cropping there is a main crop and a secondary crop. +Ordinarily the main crop occupies the middle part and later part of +the season. The secondary crop matures early in the season, leaving +the ground free for the main crop. In some cases the same species is +used for both crops, as when late celery is planted between the rows +of early celery. +</P> + +<P> +Following are examples of some companion crops: +</P> + +<PRE> + Radishes with beets or carrots. The radishes can be sold before the + beets need the room. + + Corn with squashes, citron, pumpkin, or beans in hills. + Early onions and cauliflower or cabbage. + Horseradish and early cabbage. + Lettuce with early cabbage." + + ("Principles of Vegetable Gardening," page 184.) +</PRE> + +<P> +If fruit trees be planted, vegetables may be grown in rows. As soon +as the early vegetables mature they are removed, and a midsummer +crop planted. These are followed by a fall or winter crop. +</P> + +<P> +Radishes, lettuce, and cabbage grow at the same time and on the area +formerly used for one crop. Early potatoes and early cauliflower are +followed by Brussels sprouts and celery, two crops being as easily +grown as one by intelligent handling. The best beans are grown among +fruit trees. +</P> + +<P> +The principles of "double-cropping" are summarized by Professor +Thomas Shaw, in <I>The Market Garden.</I> +</P> + +<P> +"Onion sets may be planted early in the season and onion seeds may +then be sown. Between the rows cauliflower may be planted. Later +between the cauliflower, two or three cucumber seeds may be dropped. +The onion sets up around the cauliflower may be taken out first, and +the cauliflowers in turn may be removed in time to let the cucumbers +develop. +</P> + +<P> +"Midway between the rows of onions grown from seeds, we can plant +radishes, lettuce, peppergrass, spinach, or some other early relish, +which will have ample time to grow and to be consumed before harm +can come to the onions from the shade of any one of these crops. +When the onions are well grown, turnips can be sown midway between +their rows." +</P> + +<P> +So we get two crops of onions, besides cauliflowers, cucumbers, and +turnips off the same place. Weeds won't have much chance in soil +treated like that. +</P> + +<P> +"Multum in Parvo Gardening" (Samuel Wood) claims L 620 ($3100) +from one acre by the expenditure of considerable capital in growing +fruit against brick walls—it cost over $3100 to prepare the land, +of which the walls cost $2300. In this system the fruit trees are +pruned and trained till they look like firemen's ladders. +</P> + +<P> +"In the suburbs of Paris, even without such costly things with only +thirty-six yards of frames for seedlings, vegetables are grown in +the open air to the value of L 200 per acre." ("Fields, +Factories and Workshops," page 80.) +</P> + +<P> +"At the present time, for fully 100 miles along the Rhone, and in +the lateral valleys of the Ardeche and the Drome, the country is an +admirable orchard, from which millions worth of fruit is exported, +and the land attains the selling price of from L 325 ($1625) to +L 400 ($2000) the acre. Small plots of land are continually +reclaimed for culture upon every crag." (Same, page 133.) +</P> + +<P> +In California we hear (from George P. Keeney) that while good truck +and fruit lands usually sell for $25 to $350 per acre, the land with +full-bearing fruit or nut trees often sells at $1000, and even up to +$2000 per acre. There is no reason why any intelligent persons +should not make their land increase in the same way. +</P> + +<P> +The London Daily News reports that in one year, which was not a good +season for all crops, on a half acre of land, Mr. Henry Vincent, of +Brighton, England, raised the following products: +</P> + +<P> +2660 cabbages, 70 bushels spinach, 950 cauliflowers, parsley, 1460 +lettuces, 660 broccoli, 16 bushels potatoes, 19-1/4 bushels Brussels +sprouts, 106-1/2 gallons peas, 120 gallons artichokes, flowers, 267 +vegetable marrows, 2976 carrots, 264 bundles radishes, 14 gallons +French beans, 12 gallons currants' 95-1/2 punnets mustard, 27 pounds +mushrooms, rhubarb, 948 bushels sprout tops, 38 dozen leeks, 1150 +plants, 11-1/4 gallons broad beans, 97 bundles sea-kale, 978 bundles +of asparagus-kale, 504 beet roots, 2913 gallons gooseberries, 219 +bundles mint, 20 bundles sage, 18 bundles of fennel, thyme, besides +one cartload of stones. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Vincent explains how he came to go into intensive cultivation: +"A few years ago the doctors said if I did not go out more I could +not live. Very well, just at that time there was an outcry about the +land not paying for cultivation. I could not understand this, for as +a boy at seven years of age I had to go out to farm work, therefore +I never went to school. Anyhow I thought something was very wrong if +the land would not pay; so, to compel myself to go out in the fresh +air, I took an allotment on the Sussex Downs to work in the early +morning before my daily duties began. I might say that I am a +waiter, and have been in my present situation forty years, so you +can understand I could not know much of land or garden work I could +not see my way clear in the few spare hours I get to take more than +half an acre of land to garden early, especially as I started +knowing practically nothing about such work, but I can manage to do +my half acre all alone. +</P> + +<P> +"My garden is situated on the Brighton Race Hill ridge, and twelve +years ago it was but four inches of soil on chalk, but I now have a +foot of soil on the whole of the half acre, and year by year my +profits increase. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, get the men to stop on the land in this country. We ought not +to have workhouses. Every man could live, and live well, if he could +get the land, and would work it as it should be worked. +</P> + +<P> +"Farmers and landowners grumble because the land does not pay. Now +for the fault. It is quite evident it is not the land, therefore, it +must be the fault of the man. Very well, get the land from these +landed proprietors, by sale preferred, and let it out to men, not by +1000 acres, as no man can farm well a thousand acres in England; let +the farms be greatly reduced, and then the land can be treated as it +should be. Most of us have children, and we all know how we love and +treat them. Treat the land in the same manner, feed it, and keep it +clean, and you will have no cause to complain. The land of old +England is as good as it ever was. +</P> + +<P> +"I have serious thoughts of opening a kind of school for people who +would like to make $500 a year on an acre. It is to be done, and +done easily. I do know that one man alone can manage two acres, and +at the end of this year I shall be able to tell how much more he can +manage alone, so under my system one can gain L 4 a week off two +acres and do all one's self. +</P> + +<P> +"If the land will produce over one hundred pounds per year per acre, +is it not wrong for a man to have, say, 500 or 1000 acres which in +no way can he properly manage; as, in the first place, he cannot +feed such an acreage, let alone keep it clean and gather in his +crops?" +</P> + +<P> +In truth, what an acre may produce depends on time, place, and +circumstances The product of the best acre of land so situated that +its product could be sold at retail in a near-by market, and which +has been cultivated under the best management for a term of years, +would provide a very comfortable living. The product of other acres, +measured by what they produce to the cultivator in living, declines +through various grades down to almost nothing on the acre far from +railroads or difficult of access. +</P> + +<P> +While in quantity and quality the least favored acre could be made +to produce as much as one best situated, yet, almost none of its +production would be available to sell, while the product of the +favorably located acre could be sold as rapidly as grown. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE KITCHEN GARDEN +</H3> + +<P> +The aim of the kitchen garden is to provide an abundance and variety +of food for the family. As the object of the cultivator is to get +the largest product for his labor, he ought to produce all that he +can consume on the least possible area. Though one may go into +mushrooms or frog raising as a money crop, the kitchen garden is the +first indispensable and should first be given attention. +</P> + +<P> +For a garden choose a piece of land with a southern exposure, +sheltered on the north and west by woods, buildings, hedge, or any +kind of a windbreak. This arrangement will give the earliest garden, +for it gets all the sun there is. By running the rows north and +south, the rays of the sun strike the eastern side of the row in the +morning, and the western side in the afternoon. +</P> + +<P> +The best time to take hold of a piece of land is in the fall, +because then it can be plowed ready for the spring planting. The +alternate freezing and thawing during the winter breaks up the sod +and the stiff lumps thrown up by the plow, so rendering the soil +pliable and easily worked. This is especially true of land that has +been reclaimed from the forest, or which has not been farmed for +many years. +</P> + +<P> +Before the plowing is done, the land for the garden should be +manured at the rate of twenty-five large wagon loads to the acre. If +you can get a suitable plot that has been in red clover, alfalfa, +soy beans, or cowpeas for a number of years, so much the better. +These plants have on their roots nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which +draw nitrogen from the air. Nitrogen is the great meat-maker and +forces a prolonged and rapid growth of all vegetables. +</P> + +<P> +After manuring and plowing, harrow repeatedly with a disk or cutaway +harrow until the soil is as fine as dust. Then you have a seed bed +which will give the fine roots a chance to grow as soon as the seeds +sprout. Too much stress cannot be laid upon the importance of +thoroughly working the soil at this time. Every stone, weed, or clod +that is left in the soil destroys to that extent the source from +which the plants can get their food. +</P> + +<P> +A quarter-acre garden, which is big enough to supply the whole +family with a succession of vegetables for summer and fall, as well +as some potatoes and turnips for winter, will take a diligent +workman about four days to dig over and three days to plant. The +four days' work of digging will need to be done only once. The time +spent upon planting succession crops will depend upon the amount of +the garden reserved for rotation. The part kept for lettuce, +radishes, spinach, beets, Swiss chard, peas, string and wax beans +may be digged over in a favorable season for three successive +plantings, while the part devoted to early potatoes would need to be +digged only twice—once when the planting is done, and again when +crop is gathered and the ground be prepared for a crop of late +cabbage or turnips. A planting table for vegetables, which is +complete and comprehensive, is distributed free by the National +Emergency Food Garden Commission at Washington, D.C. +</P> + +<P> +It is far more important to plant seeds at the proper depth than +that they should be planted thinly or thickly, for if they are +planted too thin, it makes a sort of advantage by giving the +individual plants ample room to develop to large size; and if +planted too thick, the evil can easily be remedied by thinning or +transplanting. +</P> + +<P> +After the seeds come up, the size of almost all the vegetables can +be increased by transplanting, in favorable soil, which gives each +plant room for complete development. +</P> + +<P> +It is too expensive to risk part of the land being unused or half +used on account of seeds dying, or to put in so many seeds in order +to insure growth that they will crowd one another. Where possible, +therefore, seeds should be sprouted and planted, not "sown." +</P> + +<P> +Lima beans planted on edge with eye down will come up much sooner +than if dropped in carelessly so they have to turn themselves over. +In a small garden the time saved by such planting will repay the +extra trouble. +</P> + +<P> +In some things like onions and radishes, however, it is better to +sow them thick, and then thin them out, so as to get the effect of +transplanting without so much labor. In others, like lettuce and all +the salad plants, transplanting gives new life and energy and +develops the individual plants in a way that will astonish those not +familiar with what free development means. +</P> + +<P> +It is wise to plant corn after lettuce and radishes are gathered, +and more lettuce, corn, or salad, after the beans are picked. Then +late crops, cabbage, cauliflower or spinach, can go where early corn +grew, so that the small patch may earn your living and pay big +dividends. +</P> + +<P> +Do not let two vegetables of the same botanical family follow each +other. For instance, lima beans should not follow green beans or +peas, as all the family draw about the same elements from the soil, +and are likely to have the same insects and diseases. +</P> + +<P> +Do not plant cucumbers, squash, or pumpkins too near each other, as +they will often inter-impregnate and produce uneatable hybrids. +</P> + +<P> +Decide what you are going to do with your crop before you plant it, +whether to sell it, at wholesale or at retail, to eat it, or to feed +it to stock. +</P> + +<P> +C. E. Hunn, in the Garden Magazine, gives the following arrangement: +"For the beginner who wants to get fresh vegetables and fruits from +May until midwinter, a space 100 X 200 feet is enough. +</P> + +<P> +"1. Plant in rows, not beds, and avoid the backache. +</P> + +<P> +"2. Plant vegetables that mature at the same time near one another. +</P> + +<P> +"3. Plant vegetables of the same height near together—tall ones +back. +</P> + +<P> +"4. Run the rows the short way, for convenience in cultivation and +because one hundred feet of anything is enough. +</P> + +<P> +"5. Put the permanent vegetables (asparagus, rhubarb, sweet herbs) +at one side, so that the rest will be easy to plow. +</P> + +<P> +"6. Practice rotation. Do not put vines where they were last. Put +corn in a different place. The other important groups for rotation +are root crops (including potatoes and onions); cabbage tribe, peas +and beans, tomatoes, eggplant and pepper, salad plants. +</P> + +<P> +"7. Don't grow potatoes in a small garden. They aren't worth the +bother. +</P> + +<P> +"By training on trellis or wire, the smaller fruit plantings can be +made much closer. +</P> + +<P> +"If fruits are wanted in the garden, plant a row of apple trees +along the northern border, plums and pears on the western sides, +cherries and peaches on the eastern side. Next the apple trees run a +grape trellis; and then in succession east and west, run a row of +blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries, and currants. These rows, +with the apple trees, form a windbreak, and besides adding to the +income, protect the vegetables. Next to the bush fruits, between +them and the ends of the vegetable rows, put rhubarb, asparagus, and +strawberries." +</P> + +<P> +Insect pests must be watched for and their destructive work checked. +Ashes, slaked lime, or any kind of dust or powder destroy most +insects which prey on the leaves of plants. The reason for this is +that the dust closes the pores through which the insects breathe. It +should therefore be applied when the leaves are dry. +</P> + +<P> +Cutworms can be destroyed by winter plowing. Rotation of vegetables +will reduce the damage from insects, because each family has its +peculiar bugs. By constant change to new soil, the pests have no +opportunity to get a foothold. +</P> + +<P> +With bugs, as with boys, only those who are interested in them and +therefore understand them can manage them. It is fun to study the +insects—and it pays. +</P> + +<P> +Here's another use of "land." Maybe a pool in your garden or a dam +in a little brook in it may help out your home garden bank account. +Of course a pond a few square yards in extent will give even better +returns if you can sell its produce at retail near by. +</P> + +<P> +W. B. Shaw, a seventy-year-old veteran who lost his right arm during +the Civil War, lives in Kenilworth, D. C., and clears $1500 an acre +every year out of mud puddles—if mud puddles can be measured by the +acre. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Shaw is a pond lily farmer, and despite his lack of his good +right arm, he poles his boat about his mud puddles and gathers in +the pond lilies. His is not exactly a "dry farm" and neither wet nor +cloudy weather bothers him. Furthermore, the demand for his pond +lilies in Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia, and even New York, +and Chicago, is greater than he can supply. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Shaw secured this swamp for almost nothing, as it was considered +worthless. He divided it into fifteen pools with little dams between +them, and rollers on the dams to enable him to drag his boat from +one to the other. From May to late in September he is busy every +morning gathering lilies. His average is about 500 a morning, which +he ships in little galvanized iron tanks with wet moss. +</P> + +<P> +Many school children know how to get results on a little land. Mr. +Mahoney, Superintendent of the Fairview Garden School, Yonkers, New +York, estimates that the total value of produce grown on the 250 +gardens, composing the school plot, in all about one and one quarter +acres of land, was $1308, or at the rate of more than a thousand +dollars per acre. When it is taken into consideration that all the +labor was done by boys ranging in age from eight to twelve years, +this result is truly astonishing. +</P> + +<P> +What may not adult skilled labor produce when applied freely to the +land. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT—SPECIALIZED CROPS +</H3> + +<P> +To subdue the land with an ax, a plow and a spade is possible; +millions of acres have been so subdued. This method, however, is the +most expensive of all, as in our times, markets won't wait, and the +man who wants to get on must produce as quickly as possible. To do +so, he must have the best tools. They will pay for themselves many +times over in a single year. For the farm, the following list, in +addition to a well-stocked tool chest (hammer, saw, plane, ax, etc.) +covers the indispensible: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1 team horses (these may be hired) $200.00<BR> + 1 walking plow 10.00<BR> + 1 disk or cutaway harrow 25.00<BR> + 1 farm wagon 50.00<BR> + 1 cultivator (two horse) 25.00<BR> + 1 one-horse cultivator 8.00<BR> + Shovels, pick, mattock or grubbing hoe 10.00<BR> + Work harness for two horses 25.00<BR> +<BR> + TOTAL $353.00<BR> +</P> + +<P> +These things you must have to get the land in proper shape for seeds +or plants; but special crops require special tools. A scythe is good +to keep weeds away from fences. A sickle is handy to keep down +grass. To reduce living expenses, a cow for $60, and fifty hens at +fifty cents each, say $25, will supply a large family with milk and +eggs. Most people make the mistake of buying too many things and +these poorly selected. It is better to have too few tools than too +many, for tools are often dropped where last used, and so are lost. +Then if money is scarce, you may not be able to make a shelter for +your machines and tools, and they will rust through the winter. Many +farmers, through neglect, have to replace their tool equipment every +four or five years, but with attention and care, the original +equipment, even to the team, ought still to be in use twenty years +after their purchase. I know many instances where this is true. The +above equipment is the minimum for beginning work. The character of +additions to it will depend much upon the crops which you select as +the money getters. +</P> + +<P> +For general market gardening and the kitchen garden too, the +following tool list, together with the above, will include +everything absolutely necessary. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Wheel hoe $6.00<BR> + Spade and fork, each $1.00 2.00<BR> + Push hoe .65<BR> + Watering can .60<BR> + Rake and common hoe 1.00<BR> + Bulb sprayer .25<BR> + Trowel .10<BR> +<BR> + TOTAL $10.60<BR> +</P> + +<P> +The wheel hoe is a great saver—of backache, especially to the +beginner; as Warner says, "at the best you will conclude that for +gardening purposes a cast-iron back with a hinge in it is preferable +to the ones now in use." +</P> + +<P> +The dibble, an old tool handle, or a bit of broomstick sharpened, +and garden lines to get the rows straight, labels, tomato supports, +plant protectors and stakes earl all be homemade out of old +material. The full outfit would include the following: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Roller $8.00<BR> + Wheel-hoe with seeder 8.50<BR> + Sprayer 3.75<BR> + Wheelbarrow 4.00<BR> + Crowbar 1.50<BR> + Weeder .35<BR> +</P> + +<P> +For such crops as admit of horse cultivation a horse hoe will save a +great deal of time. +</P> + +<P> +The weeder is a cousin to the push hoe and has a zigzag blade for +cutting off young weeds which are just starting above ground. It is +pushed backward and forward and cuts both ways. It is very good for +soft ground; on a harder patch use the push hoe. +</P> + +<P> +A market garden is really a big kitchen garden, from which the +cultivator supplies not only his own family, but his neighbors, the +public. To run a successful market garden for profit, land suitably +situated near transportation and markets, a large supply of stable +manure, hotbeds for raising plants, crates for shipping, wagons for +delivering, and a complete outfit of tools are necessary. You must +raise all sorts of vegetables and salad plants in quantities +sufficiently large to justify you in giving your whole time to the +work. An acre devoted to general market gardening could be attended +to by two men with some extra help for marketing. +</P> + +<P> +To get a place fully established on new, rich land requires two or +three years. On worn-out land it would take longer to build it up to +the high fertility needed for maximum production. Crops like +asparagus and rhubarb take two years to establish on a remunerative +basis. If bush fruits are raised, three years are required to get +maximum results. So in starting, land should be bought outright or +leased for ten years. +</P> + +<P> +In market gardening for profit, one acre might be devoted to +vegetables, one acre to small fruits; strawberries, raspberries, +blackberries, currants, gooseberries, etc. and one acre kept for +buildings, poultry, etc. An energetic man could clear one thousand +dollars a year besides his living, after he got a start, and be +absolutely independent; that is, unless some predatory railroad +corporation could confiscate his profits before his product reached +the market. +</P> + +<P> +Some persons are just naturally so successful with plants that if +they stuck an umbrella in the ground we should expect to see it +blossom out into parasols—but they don't know why it does, and they +can't teach any one else how to do it. +</P> + +<P> +Any fool can sneer at "book farming" or at anything else, but you +can hardly succeed without the best books by practical men. Do not +let some experienced ignoramus talk you out of experimenting under +their guidance. You will learn little without experience, and unless +you have the grower's instinct, you will learn less without books. +</P> + +<P> +Don't be hypnotized by long experience or by success. Hardly anybody +knows his own business. You must have noticed that few of the people +you buy of or sell to, know any more of their goods than you do. +</P> + +<P> +It is just the same with trades. Hardly a barber knows that he +should not shave you against the grain of the skin. Even the cat +won't stand being rubbed up the wrong way; but the barber never +thought of that. +</P> + +<P> +We lawyers and the doctors are supposed to be thorough in our own +field—I said lately to one of the ablest men at the New York Bar, +"About one lawyer in a hundred knows his business." He said, "That +is a gross overestimate." Shortly after I talked with three Judges, +one of the City Court, one of the Supreme Court, and one of the +United States Circuit, and they each agreed that my friend's remark +was about true, and that in most cases litigants would do as well +without lawyers as with them. +</P> + +<P> +If that is true, what chance is there that an uneducated man who has +"raised garden sass ever since he was a boy, and seen his father do +it before him," can teach you correctly? +</P> + +<P> +Men learn very slowly by experience, because no two experiences are +exactly alike, unless they perceive and apply the principles under +the experience. +</P> + +<P> +An intelligent man accustomed to investigation can learn more about +a specialty in a week's study than an untrained practitioner can +believe in a year. +</P> + +<P> +What the untrained teacher can tell us is of little account; what he +shows us is another matter. +</P> + +<P> +Therefore get help who know that they don't know anything about a +garden and who consequently will do with a will exactly what you +tell them to do; such labor is cheap—why should you pay extravagant +prices for skill to a man who has succeeded so poorly that he can +only earn day's wages? You can get much better knowledge at less +cost from a book. Study and put your knowledge into practice +yourself, where you see promise of a profit. +</P> + +<P> +Almost every crop can be made a specialty. In proportion as special +crops are profitable when conditions are right, so are they sources +of loss when things go wrong. If, after your first season in the +country, some special crop takes your fancy, give extra space and +time to it the second year and see if you are successful in handling +an eighth or a quarter acre. If so, you may extend your operations +as rapidly as purse and market permit. +</P> + +<P> +Before concentrating upon any crop as the chief source of income, a +careful study must be made of all the conditions surrounding its +production; a crop is not produced in the broad meaning of that term +until it is actually in the hands of the consumer. +</P> + +<P> +Potatoes, for instance, are grown by the hundred acres in sections +adapted to their growth, and special machinery costing hundreds of +dollars is used in planting, cultivating, and harvesting the crop. +The good shipping and keeping qualities of the potato enable it to +be raised far from markets and so brings into competition cheap land +worked in large areas, with large capital. In spite of this, +however, the small cultivator can usually make money if he can sell +his potatoes directly to the consumer. +</P> + +<P> +If your land is so situated that you can put your individuality into +the crop and can control all the circumstances, preparation of land, +planting, cultivation, harvesting, and marketing, your chances of +success are immeasurably increased. As soon as any important part +must be trusted to some one beyond your control, danger arises. +Assiduous care in planting, cultivating, and packing will avail +nothing if the product falls into the hands of transportation +companies or commission merchants indifferent as to what becomes of +it. It is therefore better to be quite independent, sell your own +crop, and have the whole operation in your own hands from the very +beginning. +</P> + +<P> +Generally speaking, seed growing for the market is a highly +developed special business which is usually carried on by companies +operating with large capital, able to employ the best experts, and +to avail themselves of all the advantages of scientific methods in +culture, regardless of expense. So uncertain is the business, that +even with all these facilities, they rarely guarantee seeds. It is +obvious that the amateur has little chance of succeeding in such a +difficult business. Nevertheless, he will be able after a few +seasons of increasing experience to gather seeds from selected +plants and so furnish his own supply. It must be borne in mind, +however, that plants can be improved by cross breeding and that by +keeping a variety too long on the same ground its quality +deteriorates, and the plant tends to revert to the type natural to +it before domestication. +</P> + +<P> +When land is cropped every season, the nitrogen, potash, and +phosphorus removed from the soil must be replaced in some form, +otherwise you have diminishing returns, while the expense for labor +is the same. In farming small areas for specialties you cannot +easily invoke the principle of rotation by enriching the land with +legumes, to be plowed under while green, the bacteria on the roots +of which gather nitrogen from the air, but you must get stable +manure or buy chemical fertilizers to maintain the fertility. +</P> + +<P> +Special crops divide themselves naturally into two classes: those +raised for immediate shipment to market, and those to be hauled to +canneries. The first type are generally prepared in a more expensive +way, and need more care and attention. Each class requires its own +special forms of packing to conform to market peculiarities fixed by +the taste of consumers. +</P> + +<P> +For the cultivation of all specialties, many items of preparation +are identical. Land must be well drained, it must contain a +sufficient amount of humus, or decaying vegetable matter, to make it +loose and porous; it must be free from sticks and stones or any +foreign matter likely to impede cultivation or obstruct growth. The +proper formation of a seed bed is a prime prerequisite to successful +cropping. After the land is manured and plowed it should be gone +over in all directions with a disk and smoothing harrow, until it is +of a dustlike fineness. +</P> + +<P> +In thorough cultivation before the crop is planted, lies the secret +of many a success, and in its neglect the cause of many failures. +Intelligent handling of crops is in a large measure knowledge of the +influence of wind and rain, sunshine and darkness, on the particular +nature of the plant Delicate plants, for example, ought to be grown +where buildings or forests break the force of prevailing winds. +Sheltered valleys in irrigated sections have proved the best for +intensive cultivation. For thousands of years in China and Japan the +conditions of successful intensive cultivation have been well +understood, and to-day the most efficient gardeners are the Chinese. +In some parts of Mexico, for the same reasons, intensive cultivation +has reached a high development. In our own West we are catching up +on vegetables and fruits. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE ADVANTAGES FROM CAPITAL +</H3> + +<P> +We have seen what a worker with very little money can do and how he +can succeed. A small capital, however, can be used to increase the +returns to as great advantage on a small farm as large capital can +be used on a large farm and with much less risk. +</P> + +<P> +Stable manure is still the favorite article with the masses of +gardeners. One ton of ordinary stable manure contains about 1275 +pounds of organic matter, carrying eight pounds of nitrogen, ten +pounds of potash, and four pounds of phosphoric acid. +</P> + +<P> +When thoroughly rotted, the manure acquires a still larger +percentage of plant food; it is more valuable, not only for that +reason, but also on account of its immediate availability. Further, +the mechanical effect of this manure in opening and loosening the +soil, allowing air and warmth to enter more freely, adds greatly to +its value. +</P> + +<P> +It is easily gotten and often goes wholly or in part to waste. On +the outskirts of some towns may be seen a collection of manure piles +that have been hauled out and dumped in waste places. The plant food +in each ton of this manure is worth at least two dollars—that is +the least Eastern farmers pay for similar material, and they make +money doing it. Yet almost every liveryman has to pay some one for +hauling the manure away. This is simply because farmers living near +these towns are missing a chance to secure something for +nothing—because, perhaps, the profit is not directly in sight. But +from most soils there is a handsome profit possible from a very +small application of stable manure. +</P> + +<P> +While writing this, I saw a man in New Rochelle, N. Y.; dumping a +load of street sweepings into a hole in a vacant lot. It would have +been less wasteful to have dumped a bushel of potatoes into the +hole. +</P> + +<P> +Commercial fertilizers are coming more and more in use by market +gardeners, and with reason. If we examine a good fertilizer, +analyzing five per cent available nitrogen, six per cent phosphoric +acid, and 8 per cent potash, we shall find that one ton of it +contains, besides less valuable ingredients: 100 lb. nitrogen, 120 +lb. phosphoric acid, 160 lb. potash. +</P> + +<P> +Such fertilizers probably retail at forty to sixty dollars per ton, +and are fully worth it. All this plant food, and perhaps one half +more, can be drawn in a single load, while it will take ten such +loads of stable manure to supply the same amount of plant food. +</P> + +<P> +There is no reason to be afraid of too much fertilizer, provided it +is evenly distributed and thoroughly mixed through properly prepared +soil. Stinginess in this item is poor economy. +</P> + +<P> +Nitrogen is the most essential food for plant growth. It is an +important element of plant food in manure. In ordinary manure most +of the value is due to the nitrogen, although phosphoric acid and +potash are also present. It is found in the most available form in +nitrate of soda. Nitrate of soda will benefit all crops, but it does +not follow that it will pay to use it on all crops. Its cost makes +it unprofitable to use on cheap crops; but on those that yield a +large return nitrate of soda is a very profitable investment. +</P> + +<P> +"It is shown in the experiments conducted with nitrate of soda on +different crops that in the case of grain and forage crops, which +utilized the nitrate quite as completely as the market garden crops, +the increased value of crops due to nitrate does not in any case +exceed $14 per acre, or a money return at the rate of $8.50 per 100 +pounds of nitrate used, while in the case of the market-garden crops +the value of the increased yield reaches, in the case of one crop, +the high figure of over $263 per acre, or at the rate of about $66 +per 100 pounds of nitrate." (New Jersey Agricultural Experiment +Stations, page 8, No. 172.) +</P> + +<P> +Professor Voorhees, of the same station, experimented with tomatoes, +with these results: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Manure and Fertilizer Used Cost Per Acre Value of Crop<BR> +<BR> + No manure $271.88<BR> + 30 tons barnyard manure $30.00 291.75<BR> + 8 tons manure and 400 lb. fertilizer 15.00 317.63<BR> + 160 pounds nitrate of soda alone 4.00 361.13<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Such common crops as tomatoes, cabbage, turnips, beets, etc., in +order to be highly profitable, must be grown and harvested early; +any one can grow them in their regular season; their growth must be +promoted or forced as much as possible, at the time when the natural +agencies are not active in the change of soil nitrogen into +available forms, and the plants must, therefore, be supplied +artificially with the active forms of nitrogen, if a rapid and +continuous growth is to be maintained. +</P> + +<P> +It is quite possible to have a return of $50 per acre from the use +of $5 worth of nitrate of soda on crops of high value, as, for +example, early tomatoes, beets, cabbage, etc. This is an +extraordinary return for the money and labor invested; still, if the +increased value of the crop were but $10, or even $8, it would be a +profitable investment, since no more land and but little additional +capital was required in order to obtain the extra $5 or $8 per acre. +</P> + +<P> +The results of all the experiments conducted in different parts of +the country and in different seasons, show an average gain in yield +of early tomatoes of about fifty per cent, with an average increased +value of crop of about $100 per acre. The rest of the report shows +similar results with other crops. (New Jersey Agricultural +Experiment Station, Bulletin 172.) +</P> + +<P> +Joseph Harris says, "Some years ego we used nitrate of soda +cautiously as a top dressing on the celery plants. The effect was +astonishing. The next year, having more confidence, we spread the +nitrate at the time we sowed the seed, and again after the plant +came up, and twice afterward during a rain. +</P> + +<P> +"Instead of finding it difficult to get the plants early enough for +the celery growers who set them out, they were ready three weeks +before the usual time of transplanting. +</P> + +<P> +"At the four applications, we probably used 1600 lb. of nitrate of +soda per acre, and this would probably furnish more nitric acid to +the plants than they could get from five hundred tons of manure per +acre, provided it had been possible to have worked such a quantity +into the soil. Never were finer plants grown. As compared with the +increased value of the plants, the cost of the nitrate is not worth +taking into consideration." +</P> + +<P> +As a means of fertilization without the use of artificial +fertilizer, soil inoculation has come. It has grown out of the +discovery of the dependence of leguminous plants on bacteria which +live on their roots. The discovery is one of the most important of +those made in modern agriculture. +</P> + +<P> +It has received its greatest impetus in America, under the +experiments of Professor Moore of the United States Agricultural +Department. +</P> + +<P> +The Department supplied free to farmers the bacteria for +inoculation. Now they supply it only for experimental purposes. A +laboratory has been fitted up for the work. The method is to +propagate bacteria for each of the various leguminous plants such as +clover, alfalfa, soy beans, cow peas, tares, and velvet beans. All +of these plants are of incalculable value in different sections of +the country as forage for farm animals. In the West, alfalfa is the +main reliance for stockraisers. The farmers of the East are trying +to establish it, but meet with difficulty chiefly for want of the +special bacteria which should be found on the roots. +</P> + +<P> +The function of these bacteria is to gather the nitrogen of the air +and supply it as plant food. Without the bacteria the plant can get +only the nitrogen which is supplied from the soil in fertilizers. +With the aid of the bacteria the growing plant can derive the +greater part of its food from the air. +</P> + +<P> +Here is one of the results of the use of inoculated seed as reported +by the United States Agricultural Bulletin No. 214. +</P> + +<P> +G. L. Thomas, experimenting with field peas on his farm near Auburn, +Me., made a special test with fertilized and unfertilized strips, +and stated that "inoculated seed did as much without fertilizers of +any kind, as uninoculated seed supplied with fertilizer (phosphate) +at the rate of 800 pounds and a ton of barnyard manure per acre." +</P> + +<P> +This seems to be only in its infancy. The Department warns us that +nitrogen inoculation is useless where the soil already has enough +nitrogen and where other plant foods are absent. +</P> + +<P> +The experiments are most important, and we are probably on the eve +of as great advances in agriculture as in electricity, but the human +race has a great love for "inoculation," and indeed for all +unnatural processes. +</P> + +<P> +You remember the story of the wonderful coon that Chandler Harris +tells? No? They were constantly seeing this enormous coon, but +always just as they almost got their hands on him, he disappeared. +One night the boys came running in to say that the wonderful coon +was up in a persimmon tree in the middle of a ten-acre lot; so they +got the dogs and the lanterns and guns and ran out, and sure enough +they saw the wonderful big coon up in a fork of the tree. It was a +bright moonlight night, but to make doubly sure they cut down the +tree and the dogs ran in—the coon wasn't there. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, but, Uncle Remus," said the little boy, "I thought you said +you saw the coon there." +</P> + +<P> +"So we did, Honey," said the old man, "so we did; but it's very +easy to see what ain't there when you're looking for it." +</P> + +<P> +Another method of increasing fertility at increased expense deserves +notice. The vacant public lands are for the most part desert-like, +and their utilization can come about only through irrigation. +</P> + +<P> +This land can be made to produce the finest crops in the world; and +the tremendous volumes of water that flow from the mountains to the +sea, once harnessed and piped or ditched to this land, will +transform it into beautiful gardens and farms. +</P> + +<P> +With the work being done by the United States Government, and that +of the various states, we may look forward in the not distant future +to this land being made habitable to man. +</P> + +<P> +It is well known that with the dry, even climate and with an +abundance of water applied as vegetation needs, this now arid waste +is far more productive than the Eastern states, where the crops are +at the mercy of the elements, sometimes having too much moisture and +at other times not having enough. +</P> + +<P> +"Irrigation offers control of conditions such as is found nowhere +except in greenhouse culture. The farmer in the humid country cannot +control the amount of starch in potatoes, sugar in beets, protein in +corn, gluten in wheat, except by planting varieties which are +especially adapted to the production of the desired quality. The +irrigation farmer, on the other hand, can produce this or that +desirable quality by the control of the moisture supply to the +plant. He can hasten or retard maturity of the plant, produce early +truck or late truck on the same soil, grow wheat or grow rice as he +deems advisable." +</P> + +<P> +"On the irrigated fields of the Vosges, Vaucluse, etc., in France, +six tons of dry hay becomes the rule, even upon ungrateful soil; and +this means considerably more than the annual food of one milch cow +(which can be taken as a little less than five tons) grown on each +acre." +</P> + +<P> +"The irrigated meadows round Milan are another well known example. +Nearly 22,000 acres are irrigated there with water derived from the +sewers of the city, and they yield crops of from eight to ten tons +of hay as a rule; occasionally some separate meadows will yield the +fabulous amount—fabulous to-day but no longer fabulous +to-morrow—of eighteen tons of hay per acre; that is, the food of +nearly four cows to the acre, and nine times the yield of good +meadows in this country." ("Fields, Factories, and Workshops," pages +116-117.) +</P> + +<P> +"If irrigation pays"—and no one now questions that—"the whole +Western country of rich soil, which asks but a drink now and then, +will be turned into a Garden of Eden." <I>(Maxwell's Talisman.)</I> +</P> + +<P> +Agriculture may be revolutionized with the advent of irrigation. +</P> + +<P> +A new method of disposing of sewage and at the same time irrigating +the soil, has come into use recently, and will be found valuable to +those who are situated so that they can make use of it. +</P> + +<P> +The sewage from buildings is drained into a large tank where the +heavier matter can settle to the bottom. When the water rises nearly +to the top of the tank it is siphoned into another tank, and from +there it is piped about the field. +</P> + +<P> +The piping is very simple—ordinary drain tile conveys the water. +Beginning at the highest point of the field to be irrigated, a +six-inch (or larger) line of tile should be laid along the highest +ground with a fall of not over one inch to each ten feet. From this +main trunk should be branch lines of "laterals," laid from eight to +twelve feet apart, as they would be laid for draining a field. These +branch lines may be laid at an angle to the main trunk as may be +most convenient; all the joints must be covered so as to keep out +the flirt. The whole system should be laid deep enough in the ground +to be secure from frost; but to be most effective it should not be +over fourteen to sixteen inches below the surface, hence +sub-irrigation cannot be used very successfully in the Northern +states. In a sandy loam soil with a clay subsoil it works best at +sixteen to twenty-four inches. +</P> + +<P> +This is substantially Colonel Waring's method of sewage disposal. To +get the best use of it for plants, the water should be assembled and +kept in the sun for ten to twelve days, then turned into the pipes +until the ground is well soaked, and then shut off and not allowed +in the pipes again for ten to fifteen days, according to the weather +and condition of moisture in the soil. The crop should be cultivated +between each watering. +</P> + +<P> +However, as Bailey says, "Evidently in all regions in which crops +will yield abundantly without irrigation, as in the East, the main +reliance is to be placed on good tillage." +</P> + +<P> +"Most vegetable gardeners in the East do not find it profitable to +irrigate. Now and then a man who has push and the ability to handle +a fine crop to advantage, finds it a very profitable undertaking." +("Principles of Vegetable Gardening," page 174.) Bailey, however, +was not thinking of "overhead irrigation." +</P> + +<P> +The late J. M. Smith, Green Bay, Wisconsin, was one of the expert +market gardeners of his region. "The longer I live," wrote Mr. +Smith, then in the midst of a serious drought, "the more firmly am I +convinced that plenty of manure and then the most complete system of +cultivation make an almost complete protection against ordinary +droughts." (Same, page 330.) +</P> + +<P> +If the soil is cultivated carefully and intensively, it will hold +water within itself and carry a storage reservoir underneath the +growing crop. Finely pulverizing and packing the seed bed, makes it +retain the greatest possible percentage of the moisture that falls, +just as a tumbler full of fine sponge or of birdshot will retain +many times the amount of water that a tumbler full of buckshot will. +The atmosphere quickly drinks up the moisture from the soil unless +we Prevent it. This we do by means of a soil "blanket," called a +"mulch" This finely pulverized surface largely prevents the +moisture below from evaporating, and at the same time keeps the +surface in such condition that it readily absorbs the dew and the +showers. Water moves in the soil as it does in a lamp wick, by +capillary attraction; the more deeply and densely the soil is +saturated with moisture, the more easily the water moves upward, +just as oil "climbs up" a wet wick faster than it does a dry one. +One can illustrate the effect of this fine soil "mulch" in +preventing evaporation by placing some powdered sugar on a lump of +loaf sugar and putting the lump sugar in water. The powdered sugar +will remain dry even when the lump has become so thoroughly +saturated that it crumbles to pieces. +</P> + +<P> +"We have no useless American acres," said Secretary Wilson. "We +shall make them all productive. We have agricultural explorers in +every far corner of the world; and they are finding crops which have +become so acclimated to dry conditions, similar to our own West, +that we shall in time have plants thriving upon our so-called arid +lands. We shall cover this arid area with plants of various sorts +which will yield hundreds of millions of tons of additional forage +and grains for Western flocks and herds. Our farmers will grow these +upon land now considered practically worthless." +</P> + +<P> +In this way it has been estimated that in the neighborhood of one +hundred million acres of the American desert can be reclaimed to the +most intensive agriculture. (See a study of the possible additions +to available land in Prof. W. S. Thompson's "Population, a Study of +Malthusianism": Col. U, 1915.) Frederick V. Coville, the chief +botanist of the Department of Agriculture, does not hesitate to say +that in the strictly arid regions there are many millions of acres, +now considered worthless for agriculture, which are as certain to be +settled in small farms as were the lands of Illinois. +</P> + +<P> +Land that was thought to be absolute desert has been made to yield +heavy crops of grain and forage by this method without irrigation. +</P> + +<P> +Macaroni wheat will grow with ten inches of rainfall, and yield +fifteen bushels to the acre. This however is less than the average +wheat yield in the United States. +</P> + +<P> +Much can be done by dry farming; that is, by plowing the soil very +deep and cultivating six or eight times a season, thus retaining all +the moisture for the crops and reducing evaporation to a minimum. +</P> + +<P> +There are thousands of acres in different sections of Montana that +grow good crops without irrigation. In Fergus County, for instance, +the wonderful yield of 45 bushels of wheat per acre is grown without +irrigation. Heavy crops of grain and vegetables are grown in the +vicinity of Great Falls by the dry farming system. +</P> + +<P> +The money and time spent in spraying is also well invested. The New +York Agricultural Experiment Station began a ten-year experiment in +potato-spraying to determine how much the yield can be increased by +spraying with Pyrox or with Bordeaux mixture. +</P> + +<P> +In 1904 the gain due to spraying was larger than ever before. Five +sprayings with Bordeaux increased the yield 233 bushels per acre, +while three sprayings increased it 191 bushels. The gain was due +chiefly to the prolongation of growth through the prevention of late +blight. The sprayed potatoes contained one ninth more starch and +were of better quality. +</P> + +<P> +The average increase of profit per acre from spraying potatoes was +figured to be about $22 on each acre. The result was arrived at from +experiment, two thirds of which was by independent farmers. +(Particulars will be found In Bulletin No. 264, issued by the +Department.) +</P> + +<P> +In fourteen farmers' business experiments, including 18 acres of +potatoes, the average gain due to spraying was 62-1/2 bushels per +acre, the average total cost of spraying 93 cents per acre; and the +average net profit, based on the market price of potatoes at digging +time, $24.86 per acre. +</P> + +<P> +"One class of gardeners," Burnet Landreth explains, "may be termed +experimental farmers, men tired of the humdrum rotation of farm +processes and small profits, men looking for a paying +diversification of their agricultural interests. Their expenses for +appliances are not great, as they have already on hand the usual +stock of farm tools, requiring only one or two seed drills, a small +addition to their cultivating implements, and a few tons of +fertilizers. Their laborers and teams are always on hand for the +working of moderate areas. In addition to the usual expense of the +farm, they would not need to have a cash capital of beyond 20 to 25 +dollars per acre for the area in truck." +</P> + +<P> +"Other men, purchasing or renting land, especially for market +gardening, taking only improved land of suitable aspect, soil, and +situation, and counting in cost of building, appliances, and labor, +would require a capital of $80 to $100 per acre. For example, a +beginner in market gardening in South Jersey, on a five-acre patch, +would need $500 to set up the business, and run it until his +shipments began to return him money. With the purpose of securing +information on this interesting point, the writer asked for +estimates from market gardeners in different localities, and the +result has been that from Florida the reports of the necessary +capital per acre, in land or its rental (not of labor), fertilizers, +tools, implements, seed and all the appliances, average $95, from +Texas $45, from Illinois $70, from the Norfolk district of Virginia +the reports vary from $75 to $125, according to location, and from +Long Island, New York, the average of estimates at the east end is +$75, and at the west end $150." +</P> + +<P> +I have before me now one of the roseate advertisements, which we so +often see in the newspapers, telling how fortunes can be made by +investing a few dollars in a tropical plantation in Mexico. +</P> + +<P> +It gives what are supposed to be startling yields per acre, and yet +the returns, which must necessarily be taken with considerable +allowance, are only from $580 to $1087 per acre on various +plantations. +</P> + +<P> +There are market gardeners and nurserymen near New York City who are +making their acres produce better returns than this. It is not +necessary to go off into the tropical wilderness seeking a fortune +which is usually a gold brick that some fellow is trying to sell +you, when as good results can be secured right at home. +</P> + +<P> +Market gardeners in and near Philadelphia pay $25 to $50 an acre and +upwards rent for land, and work from five to forty acres. This is as +much as similar land in many parts of the country could be bought +for. But it is not a high rent when they are right at the +market—one man makes the round trip in two and one half +hours—manure costs them nothing—for years they have been using the +excavations from the old style privy wells, which has been hauled to +their farm and deposited where they wished it, free. They have +modern facilities, such as trolley and telephone, and are as much +city men as any clerk in an office. They clear far higher profits +from an acre than the average farmer, raising never less than two, +and often three crops in a season. They employ several men to the +acre, and at certain times many more, working the men in gangs. Only +the difficulty of getting good help at their prices prevents them +from using twice the number. +</P> + +<P> +However, the possibilities of putting capital into land at a profit +are still infinite. +</P> + +<P> +What chiefly attracts the gardener to the great cities is stable +manure; this is not wanted so much for increasing the richness of +the soil—one ninth part of the manure used by the French gardeners +would do for that purpose—but for keeping the soil at a certain +temperature. Early vegetables pay best, and in order to obtain early +produce, not only the air, but the soil as well, must be warmed; +that is done by putting great quantities of properly mixed manure +into the soil; its fermentation heats it. But with the present +development of industrial skill, heating the soil could be done more +economically and more easily by hot-water pipes. Consequently, the +French gardeners begin more and more to make use of portable pipes, +or thermosiphons, provisionally established in the cool frames. +</P> + +<P> +Competition that stands in with the railroads can be met only by +being near the market or having water transportation. Indeed, the +erect of water transportation in getting manure, and in delivering +the produce from the railroads, appears in the early history of +trucking. The railroads often crush out boat competition by +absorbing docks and standing in with the commission men. This could +be met by such cooperative selling agencies as the flower growers +already have. +</P> + +<P> +"One of the earliest centers for the development of truck farming in +its present sense was along the shores of Chesapeake Bay, where fast +sailing oyster boats were employed for sending the produce to the +neighboring markets of Baltimore and Philadelphia. In a similar way +the gardeners about New York early began pushing out along Long +Island, using the waters of the Sound for transporting their +produce. The trucking region on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan +is another sample of the effect of convenient water transportation +in causing an early development of this industry. The building of +the Illinois Central railroad opened up a region in southern +Illinois that was supposed to be particularly adapted to fruit +growing." ("Development of the Trucking Interests," by F. S. Earle, +page 439.) +</P> + +<P> +If one goes into the trucking business on so large a scale as to be +able to make deals with the railroads, such as The Standard Oil +Company has made, of course additional prices could be gotten, owing +to the possibility of putting competitors at a disadvantage. That +business is a large one. +</P> + +<P> +In doing business on this scale, much will depend on your ability as +a merchant. +</P> + +<P> +"It is useless to grow good crops unless they can be sold at a +profit; yet it is safe to say that ten men grow good truck crops for +one who markets them to the best advantage." +</P> + +<P> +Three Acres and Liberty: Ch. XI-XV +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +HOTBEDS AND GREENHOUSES +</H3> + +<P> +Whether to get an early start on the garden or for raising plants +for field crops, a hotbed is all but indispensable. In making a +hotbed what we seek to do is to imitate Nature at her best, so get +the best soil and the sunniest spot you can find. +</P> + +<P> +In all hotbeds the underlying principle is the same: They are +right-angled boxes covered with glass panes set in movable frames +and placed over heated excavations. The bed may be of any size or +shape, but the standard one is six feet wide, since the stock glass +frames are usually six feet long by three feet wide. You can have +any length needed to supply your requirements. "Tomato Culture," by +A. J. Root, tells us that the cheapest plan is to get some old +planks, broken brickbats or stone, and piece together a box-like +affair in proper shape: to provide drainage, the front should be at +least ten inches above the ground and the rear fourteen inches. A +hotbed knocked together in this way is all right to start with, if +you cannot do any better, but will last only two or three seasons. +For a permanent bed, probably the best way is to make cement walls +extending to the bottom of the manure. The bed ought to face south +or southeast and be well protected on the north. It should be banked +all around with earth or straw to keep out the cold, and mats or +shutters should be provided for extra cold weather. The best +material for heating the bed and the most easily obtained, is fresh +horse manure in which there is a quantity of straw or litter. This +will give out a slow, moist heat and will not burn out before the +crops or the plants mature. Get all the manure you need at one time. +Pile it in a dry place and let it ferment; every few days work the +pile over thoroughly with a dung fork; sometimes two turnings of the +manure are enough, but it is better to let it stand and heat three +or four times. +</P> + +<P> +"You can make a hotbed also on top of the ground without any +excavation. Spread a layer of manure evenly one foot in depth and +large enough to extend around the frame three feet each way. Pack +this down well, especially around the edge, put on a second and +third layer until you have a well-trodden and compact bed of manure +at least two and one half feet in depth. Place the frame in the +center of this bed and press it down well." A two-inch layer of +decayed leaves, cut straw, or corn fodder, spread over the manure in +the frame and well packed down, will help to retain the heat. +Ventilate the bed every day to allow steam and ammonia fumes to pass +off. +</P> + +<P> +"The soil inside should be equal parts of garden loam and +well-rotted barnyard manure. Tramp well the first layer of three +inches. To make it entirely safe for the plant seeds in the hotbed, +add another layer of the same depth. Use no water with garden loam +and manure if you can possibly help it." +</P> + +<P> +"Before sowing any seeds put a thermometer in the bed three inches +deep in the soil. If it runs over 80 degrees Fahrenheit, do not sow. +If below 55 degrees it is too cold; you will have to fork it over +and add more manure. If the bed gets too hot, you can ventilate it +with a sharp stick by thrusting it down into the soil." +</P> + +<P> +Another way that the old gardeners have to make a hot bed is with +fire. On a large scale this is cheaper, though more complicated than +the fermentation of manure. In making this kind choose your location +and build the frames as before. "Cut a trench with a slight taper +from the east end of the plot to the end of the hotbed, and on under +the ground to about four feet beyond the end of the bed. This taper +to the outlet will create a draught and so keep a better fire. Arch +this over with vitrified tile. The furnace end where the fire is +should be about six feet away from the bed. When the trenches are +completed, cover over with the dirt that was taken out of them. Two +such trenches under the frames will make a good hotbed. Anyone can +do this sort of work." +</P> + +<P> +A hotbed can also be heated by running steam pipes through the +ground, but unless you happen to be where exhaust steam could be +used, this method is not economical except for big houses. The care +and expense of a separate steam plant would be too great to pay, +unless for growing winter vegetables for market or flower culture. +If you go into that on a scale large enough to pay, new problems at +once demand solution. +</P> + +<P> +Vegetables under glass have kept pace with other crops. Within +fifteen miles of Boston are millions of square feet of glass devoted +to vegetables, chiefly lettuce. There are more than five million +feet in the United States used for other crops. Ordinarily, under +favorable conditions, glass devoted to this work will yield an +average of fifty cents per year per square foot. +</P> + +<P> +About the lowest estimate of cost per sash is five dollars; this +amount includes the cost of one fourth of the frame and covers. +There are usually four sashes to one frame. A well-made mortised +plank frame costs four to six dollars. A sash, unglazed, costs from +one to two dollars. Glazing costs seventy-five cents. Mats and +shutters cost from fifty cents to two dollars per sash, depending +upon the material used. Double thick glass pays better in the end as +being less liable to breakage. These prices vary greatly, however. +</P> + +<P> +The following sample estimate by a gardener is for a market garden +of one acre, in which it is desired to grow a general line of +vegetables. It supposes that half of the acre is to be set with +plants from hotbeds. +</P> + +<P> +One eighth acre to early cauliflower and cabbage, about 2000 plants, +if transplanted, would require two 6 X 12 frames, from two hundred +to two hundred and fifty plants being grown under each sash. +</P> + +<P> +These frames may be used again for tomato plants for the same area, +using about 450 plants. This will allow a sash for every 55 plants. +</P> + +<P> +One frame should be in use at the same time for eggplants and +peppers, two sashes of each, growing fifty transplanted plants under +each sash. +</P> + +<P> +Two frames will be required for cucumbers, melons, and early +squashes; for extra early lettuce, an estimate of sixty to seventy +heads should be made to a sash. It is assumed that celery and late +cabbages are to be started in seed beds in the open. +</P> + +<P> +In the fashionable suburbs of Boston "one hotbed 3 X 6 feet was used +in which to start the seeds of early vegetables. Plantings were made +in the open ground as soon as the weather permitted, and were +continued at intervals throughout the season whenever there was a +vacant spot in the garden. The following varieties of vegetables, +mostly five-and ten-cent packets, were planted: Pole and wax beans, +beets, kale, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, corn, cucumbers, +corn salad, endive, eggplant, kohlrabi, lettuce, muskmelon, onions, +peppers, peas, salsify, radish, spinach, squash, tomatoes, turnips, +rutabagas, escarole, chives, shallot, parsley, sweet and Irish +potatoes, and nearly a dozen different kinds of sweet herbs." +</P> + +<P> +"In the larger garden, tomatoes followed peas, turnips the wax +beans, early lettuce for fall use took the place of Refugee beans. +Corn salad succeeded lettuce." +</P> + +<P> +"The spinach was followed by cabbage, while turnips, beets, carrots, +celery, and spinach gave a second crop in the plot occupied by +Gardus peas and Emperor William beans." +</P> + +<P> +"Winter radishes came after telephone peas, Paris Golden celery was +planted in between the hills of Stowell's blanching. The plot of +early corn was sown to turnips. The hotbed was used during the late +fall and winter to store some of the hardy vegetables, and the +latter part of October there was placed in it some endive, escarole, +celeriac, and the remaining space was filled up by transplanting +leeks, chives, and parsley." (Bailey, "Principles of Vegetable +Gardening," page 38.) +</P> + +<P> +"If spinach is grown in frames, the sash used for one of the late +crops above may be used through the following winter. +</P> + +<P> +"This, like the last case, makes a total of five frames, the cost, +depending on make and material, from one to five dollars; twenty +sash and covers, at, say, $2.75, $55; manure at market price, +calculating at least three or four loads per frame. This is a +liberal estimate of space, and should allow for all ordinary loss of +plants, and for discarding the weak and inferior ones. It supposes +that most or all of the plants are to be transplanted once or more +in the frames. Many gardeners have less equipment of glass." (Same, +pages 49-50 ) +</P> + +<P> +Growing vegetables under glass gives smaller returns than flowers; +as, for instance, a head of lettuce brings much less than a plant of +carnations, and suffers more from the competition of southern crops. +Nevertheless, the greenhouse-grown vegetables have come into +prominence lately because they can be raised in houses that are not +good enough for flowers. Lettuce and tomatoes are the principal +crops; some growers raise thousands of dollars' worth each year. The +greenhouse is also used for forcing plants which are afterwards +transplanted to the open air. This develops them at a time when they +could not grow outdoors and gives them such a start that they are +very early on the market, thereby realizing the highest prices. +</P> + +<P> +"Nearness to market is the most important feature in a greenhouse. +In large cities, manure, which is the chief fertilizer, can be had +in most cases for the hauling. The short haul is an important item, +and, most important of all, the gardener who is near the market can +take advantage of high prices, if the grower is near enough to the +city to make two or three trips; in such a fluctuating market as New +York, it is to his advantage." +</P> + +<P> +Some kind of a greenhouse is necessary, but one large enough to +produce a living would cost a very large sum. Vegetable raising +under glass has been made profitable in special localities where +nearly the whole community gives its time to building up the +industry, but complete success can be attained only by having +absolute control of all the conditions entering into production, and +giving assiduous and undivided attention to detail. +</P> + +<P> +Leonard Barron, in the <I>Garden Magazine,</I> says: "The best type of +greenhouse for all-round purposes is unquestionably what is known as +the even span—that is, a house in which the roof is in the form of +an inverted V, so as to be exposed as much as possible to sunlight, +and having the ridge-pole in the center. All other types of houses +are modifications from the simplest form, and are designed in some +way or other to fit some special requirements. These requirements +may be: the cultural necessities for some particular crop; a desire +to have the atmospheric conditions inside more or less abnormal at +given seasons (as in a forcing house); or an adaptation to some +peculiarity of the situation, as when a greenhouse is built as an +adjunct to other buildings." +</P> + +<P> +"It is plain common sense that the ideal greenhouse is one in which +the light is most nearly that which exists outside, and in which the +heat is as evenly distributed. It is practical experience that a +structure with as few angles and turns m it as possible and with a +minimum of woodwork in its superstructure, best answers these +conditions.... Greenhouse building has developed into a special +industry, and the modern American greenhouse is the highest type of +construction. It is built with as careful calculation to its +situation and its requirements as is the country dwellinghouse. Such +a thing naturally is not cheap." +</P> + +<P> +"The low-priced 'cheap greenhouse' is a makeshift of some sort. +Perhaps its roof is constructed of hotbed sash, a perfectly feasible +method of construction, which for ordinary, commonplace gardening +will answer admirably. Or, its foundation is merely the plain earth. +Such a building does admirably in the summer time, and even in the +late spring and early autumn; but woe betide the enthusiastic +amateur in winter, who, being possessed of one of these light +greenhouse structures, has indulged in a few costly, exotic plants. +They will be frozen, to a certainty! It is economy to pay a fair +price in the beginning to secure a properly built greenhouse that +will withstand the trials of winter." +</P> + +<P> +"If iron frame is used instead of wood there is greater durability, +and the structure being more slender, will admit more light, but the +cost will be increased." +</P> + +<P> +"It makes very little difference in cost what shape of house is to +be erected. The cost per lineal foot for an even span is practically +the same as for a lean-to of the same length and width. In the +lean-to, in order to get the sufficient bench and walk space inside, +it is necessary to carry the roof to a point much higher than in the +even span. The extra framework and material for the roof cost a good +deal, yet add practically nothing to the efficiency of the house." +</P> + +<P> +"Heating of greenhouses is best done by hot water, and in a small +house the pipes may well be connected with the heating system used +for the dwelling, if the greenhouse and the home are within any sort +of reasonable distance from each other. For large houses, or ranges +of several houses together, the independent heating plant is +necessary. Steam is used for heating by commercial florists, but it +is economical only on a large scale." +</P> + +<P> +"As a uniform temperature must be maintained in the house, the +fires, where steam is used, need watching continuously during cold +weather, for the moment the water ceases to boil, the pipes cool off +and a considerable time is consumed in starting the heat running +again. With hot water there is much more latitude in attention, for +though the fires dwindle' the water which fills the pipes will carry +heat for a long time, and it will circulate until the last degree is +radiated. But a hot-water system costs in the installation about one +fourth more than steam. Very small houses may be successfully heated +by kerosene stoves, which may be placed inside the house. A much +better way would be to use oil heaters for an inside water +circulation, carrying off all products of combustion by means of a +flue. Coal stoves should never be installed inside the house. It has +been done successfully by some amateurs, but the danger of coal gas +being driven back into the house by a down draft in the chimney is +too great a risk. Coal gas and illuminating gas are two virulent +poisons to plants." +</P> + +<P> +It is obvious that the amateur must proceed with great caution in +undertaking intensive cultivation under glass. Build at first the +simplest and least expensive kind of hotbeds or greenhouses. It +takes three to five seasons to train even an experienced farmer +along these special lines. Separate crops require special treatment. +Do not experiment, but follow well-tried procedure. It is +comparatively easy to farm an acre under glass, but it should be +worked up to, each step being taken only after a solid foundation is +ready to build on. Learn by your mistakes. Don't get discouraged by +failure. By not making the same mistake twice, you will soon learn +by experience just what is essential to production. The more you +learn about the way nature does things, the more likely you will be +to succeed when you seek to imitate her. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +OTHER USES OF LAND +</H3> + +<P> +We had intended to write an interesting chapter on the use of a few +acres of land for poultry, and another on raising a vast drove of +rabbits, both from practical men, but a good average man, just such +as this book is written for, sent the following: +</P> + +<P> +"I am very sorry that I cannot comply with your request to write a +chapter on poultry for your new book. It is true that I am +physically and mentally capable of performing that feat, and it +would be possible for me to prepare an essay that might entertain +the reader, and even make him believe that there is money in +commercial poultry. I prefer, however, to leave that sort of +romancing to the poultry journals who, by much practice, are adepts +in the art. The fact is, I did not make poultry raising pay, and had +I remained on my chicken ranch, I would have gone broke. I do not +mean to say, however, that there is no money in poultry, but merely +that I could not get it out. Perhaps others who are better equipped +for the work can make a success of such an undertaking, but I could +not. The numerous poultry journals are filled with instructions how +to do it and with letters from people who assert that they have done +well with poultry; but, really, during the four years that I was in +the business I cannot recall a single case of success, and, on the +other hand, I learned of failures without end. I had the reputation +of having the best planned and most completely equipped in this part +of Washington, and perhaps in the entire state. My stock was +thoroughbred and healthy, and they seemed to attend to business +strictly. I devoted about all my waking hours to them, did +everything that seemed necessary that was suggested by my own +success, and yet I could not make it go, am glad I am clear of it, +and have no desire to try it again. I am perfectly willing to admit +my possible unfitness for the business, but I am also compelled to +admit that I could not succeed and that no advice of mine could help +others." +</P> + +<P> +Although many, either under exceptional circumstances or because of +exceptional ability, have made a success of wholesale poultry +raising, it seems on reflection that Mr. Wolf's ideas are in the +main correct. +</P> + +<P> +The price of chickens is fixed, like all other prices, by supply and +demand, and toward the supply every farmer contributes his chickens +and their eggs which cost him practically nothing; at least he +counts that they cost him nothing. +</P> + +<P> +Now it is clear that if you considerably increase the supply at any +place, the price will fall, and the farmer, whose chickens and eggs +cost him almost nothing in money, will sell them low enough to +command a market and will continue to raise them, however little he +gets for them. +</P> + +<P> +So you are against inexhaustible competitors who can neither be +driven out nor combined with. It is worse than competing with +bankrupt dealers. To make much money you must have at least some +monopoly, and even a little bit of the earth that is well suited to +your purpose where there is no unreasonable and unreasoning +competition, will give you a chance. +</P> + +<P> +But while it is true that the farmer's subsidized hens have a very +disastrous effect at times upon the market, the fact is that, +notwithstanding the tariff, we import millions of dozens of eggs +laid each year by the pauper hens of Canada and often of Denmark. +</P> + +<P> +Another fact to be considered is, that it is when eggs are most +plentiful that the farmers depress the market. With their ways of +handling their poultry, their hens lay only when conditions are most +favorable, and in the winter when eggs are as high as fifty cents a +dozen in cities, they have no eggs to market. Like the market +gardener, to be timely in market is to succeed. A week may mean an +annihilation of profits. +</P> + +<P> +It is a different proposition to raise a few chickens as a side line +as the farmers do. +</P> + +<P> +A workman at the Connecticut place of one of the experts who has +revised this book had a bit of land not more than 100 X 200 feet, +and for several years cleared $100 a year by raising eggs and +broilers, doing the work together with that of a little garden of +small fruits before and after working hours The chickens fed largely +on green food in summer. +</P> + +<P> +In selling your surplus at a profit, the same principles apply as in +raising a surplus to sell at a profit. +</P> + +<P> +While poultry and egg raising does not require that you must be +first, it does require that you market your produce at a time when +the prices are highest. +</P> + +<P> +You must hatch at a time which will allow the young hens to begin +laying as winter approaches; the food must keep up animal heat and +the house must be warm enough to make the hens comfortable, and the +conditions must be such as to keep them laying. +</P> + +<P> +As an experiment, we once raised six pullets. They were hatched in +May, and in December they began laying. All during the winter they +laid never less than four and some times six eggs a day, and kept +this up until spring. +</P> + +<P> +They were fed on wheat and corn and plenty of meat scraps and green +food. They were kept in what was practically a glass house, +receiving the benefit of the sun during the day, and were protected +from the winds. The effect was to bring as near as possible the +condition of the warm months; these paid very well. +</P> + +<P> +Ducks are less frequently raised than chickens and often realize +good returns. +</P> + +<P> +The popular fallacy that ducks require a stream or pond is gradually +passing away. There was a time when nearly all ducks were raised in +this way, feeding on fish as the principal diet, but experience has +proved that ducks raised without a stream or pond tend to put on +flesh instead of feathers, and they have not the oily, fishy flavor +of those raised on the water. Nearly all of the successful duck +raisers now use this method. +</P> + +<P> +This is bringing the duck more into prominence as an article of +food; as James Rankin says in "Duck Culture," "People do not care to +eat fish and flesh combined. They would rather eat them separate." +</P> + +<P> +The white pekins are the popular birds, because they are larger, +have white meat, and are splendid layers. They lay from 100 to 165 +eggs in a season and are the easiest to raise. They can do entirely +without water; and Rankin tells of selling a flock to a wealthy man, +who afterwards wrote asking him to take them back, because he had +bought them for an artificial lake in front of his house, so that +his wife and children could watch them disporting in the water. He +complained that they would not go into the water unless he drove +them in and would remain only so long as he stood over them. +</P> + +<P> +Ducks are easier to raise than any other fowl and are freer from +disease. They are ready for market when eight weeks old. +</P> + +<P> +The industry is assuming large proportions, and ranches are now +raising ducks by the tens of thousands and are finding better +markets each year. +</P> + +<P> +In starting any poultry business, it is better to begin with +twenty-five fowls and master details with those, then double the +number as fast as they have been made to return profits. +</P> + +<P> +The Atlantic Squab Company, of Hammonton, N. J., says "it is a +simple matter for the beginner to figure out on paper net profits of +four or five dollars per year from each pair of breeders, but we +doubt if it can be made. It is, however, 'pigeon nature' to lay ten +or eleven times a year, but hardly natural to presume that each and +every egg will ultimately mean a Jumbo squab in the commission man's +hands. +</P> + +<P> +"A loft [that is, a pair] of high-class Homers, properly mated, +should average six pair of squabs per year. For one year our squabs +averaged us a fraction over 60 cent per pair; say $3.60 has been +the returns from each pair of breeders. It has cost us 90 cent per +pair to feed for twelve months; remember, we buy in large +quantities; it would cost the small breeder $1 a year per pair to +feed. It would be well to allow 60 cent a pair for labor and +supplies, such as grit, charcoal, tobacco stems, etc., although the +bird manure, which we find ready sale for at 55 cent. per bushel, +has covered these incidental expenses for us. The inexperienced +beginner, with good management and close attention to details, +should clear $2 a year from each pair of birds, provided he starts +with well-mated pure Homer stock." Pigeons are particular about +their mates, and will rather go single than take a disagreeable +partner. +</P> + +<P> +Raising Belgian hares at one time promised to be a most profitable +industry. The Belgian hare is a distant relation of the ordinary +rabbit. Its flesh is white, close-grained, and tender, resembling +the legs of the frog, and has a very savory flavor. It is considered +by many superior to poultry, and the rapidity with which they breed +gave promise of fortunes. The doe brings forth a litter of about +eleven every sixty days, and with prices ranging from $1.50 to +$2.50, as they were about the year 1900, with the cost of raising +from thirty to forty cents, the reason for this promise is evident. +In Southern California thousands turned their attention to it, and +some firms entered the business with equipment to the value of fifty +thousand dollars. +</P> + +<P> +Besides the ordinary market prices realized for the hares, some went +extensively into breeding fancy stock, and realized from $50 to $250 +apiece for them. +</P> + +<P> +This industry had indications of becoming extensive and enduring, +but by 1900 so many went into the business that the markets became +glutted and prices fell with disastrous effect. +</P> + +<P> +Whether it will pay you depends largely on the attitude of your +customers toward the hare as a food product. +</P> + +<P> +Bee-keeping offers an interesting and remunerative field of +employment. More than the average living awaits those only who will +make a careful and intelligent study of bees and their habits and +will give them the proper care and attention. +</P> + +<P> +One need not be a practical bee-keeper to enter this field. He can +purchase even one hive and, while increasing from this, he can gain +an experience that he could get in no other way. +</P> + +<P> +How shall one start bee-keeping? +</P> + +<P> +Get one hive or a few hives. If you have no room in the yard, put +them upon the roof. One man in Cincinnati, Ohio, makes his living +from bees kept on the roof of his house. +</P> + +<P> +Wm. A. Selzer, a large dealer in bee-keepers' supplies, in +Philadelphia, established many colonies on the roof of his place +right in the heart of the business district, where it would seem +impossible for bees to find a living. +</P> + +<P> +Very little space is required for bee-keeping; hives can be set two +feet apart in rows, and the rows six to ten feet apart. No pasture +need be provided for them. There are always fields of flowers to +supply the nectar. +</P> + +<P> +White clover produces a large yield of nectar of very fine flavor. +The basswood or linden tree blossom produces a fine nectar which +some consider better than white clover. Buckwheat also gives a good +yield of nectar, but it is dark in color and brings a lower price +for that reason. There are other plants which yield large quantities +of nectar, and it would be necessary to know the locality to say +what would be the best plants; but as white clover is found almost +everywhere in the northern states, it is safe to say this will be +the best producer in the spring, and goldenrod, where found, the +best for the fall supply. +</P> + +<P> +Frank Benton, in United States Department of Agriculture Bulletin +59, says: "It may be safely said that any place where farming, +gardening, or fruit raising can be successfully followed is adapted +to the profitable keeping of bees." +</P> + +<P> +There is always a farmer here and there who keeps a few hives of +bees. These often can be purchased at a very reasonable price, but +unless they are Italian bees and are in improved hives, it would be +better to purchase from some dealer. He may sell you a very weak +colony, but after the first year these ought to be as strong as any. +Start in the spring; when you have your bees, read good literature +on the subject. A. I. Root's "A B C of Bee Culture" is good for +beginners; subscribe for the <I>American Bee Journal,</I> of Chicago, or +<I>Gleanings in Bee Culture,</I> Medina, Ohio. They are full of the +latest ideas on the subject. +</P> + +<P> +A yield of fifty pounds of honey in a season can be obtained from +one hive of bees in almost any locality. In fact, this is often done +where bees are kept in built up cities. One hundred pounds would be +considered a very small yield by many apiarists, and twice this +amount is often gathered in favored localities where up-to-date +methods are followed. +</P> + +<P> +One man can take care of two hundred hives or colonies, as they are +termed, if he is working for comb honey, and perhaps twice that +number if for extracted honey. +</P> + +<P> +Comb honey is stored usually in one-pound boxes set in a super or +small box over the main hive body, which is itself a box about +seventeen inches long, eleven inches wide, and ten inches deep into +which frames of comb are slid side by side. These combs are +accessible and can be lifted out, exposing to view the inner +workings of the hive. It is in these combs that the queen lays as +many as three thousand eggs some days, and in which the young bees +are hatched. They are also used for storing honey for winter use. +</P> + +<P> +The extractor has been invented to remove this honey without +damaging the comb. The economy of this can readily be seen, as ten +pounds of honey can be stored while one pound of comb is being +built. +</P> + +<P> +This leaves the bees free to gather honey instead of using a portion +of their force to build comb, as is necessary when comb honey is +desired. +</P> + +<P> +The extractor is a round tin can on a central pivot with a revolving +mechanism. Into this the full combs of honey are placed and are +whirled around, throwing the honey out into the can by centrifugal +force. It is then run out at the bottom into bottles or barrels, and +the empty combs are replaced in the hive for the bees to fill again. +</P> + +<P> +Twice as many pounds of honey can be produced by this method; but +the price of extracted honey is much less than that of comb honey. +Adulteration of extracted honey with glucose is becoming so +prevalent that it threatens to ruin this branch of the industry. But +there will always be a good market for honey sold direct by the +producer to residents, or even through storekeepers, in medium size +towns, where customers can be sure that the honey is pure. +</P> + +<P> +The average wholesale prices of honey are about fifteen cents a +pound for extracted and twenty cents for fancy comb, so if the +apiarist with two hundred hives produces the small average of fifty +pounds of comb honey and sells it at fifteen cents a pound, he will +receive $1500 for his season's work. If he goes in for extracted +honey and produces one hundred pounds per hive, he will receive even +more. Of course, expenses will have to come out of this. +</P> + +<P> +That this has been done over and over again is proved by men who +started in with only a few hives and have accumulated considerable +property from the business. +</P> + +<P> +But no one need expect to do this unless he is willing to give the +bees the attention which they will require. To neglect them once +means often a total loss. Most of the work will have to be done +during the swarming season in May, June, and July. There has been so +much written on the subject and so many inventions and improvements +made in the hives that bee-keeping more than any other branch of +similar employment has been reduced to a science, and any one can +thoroughly master it in two or three years. It is because its +possibilities are not generally recognized that so few are now +engaged in it. +</P> + +<P> +The fear of stings will always deter many from entering this +business and so check competition from forcing prices down. +</P> + +<P> +The price of honey makes it a luxury, and there will be an unlimited +opportunity in the crop as long as the price does not get near the +cost of producing, which is far below the present prices. +</P> + +<P> +To use land directly is to open almost infinite opportunities. +Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin 204, says: "In the +United States the term 'mushroom' refers commercially to but a +single species <I>(Agaricus Campestris)</I> of the fleshly fungi, a plant +common throughout most of the temperate regions of the world, and +one everywhere recognized as edible." +</P> + +<P> +It is unfortunate that the commercial use of the term "mushroom" +restricts it to a single species. There are about twenty-five common +varieties of edible fungi in the Northern states. +</P> + +<P> +The successful cultivation of mushrooms in America has not been so +general as in most European countries. It is in France and in +England that the mushroom industry has been best developed. France +is the home of the industry. Unusual interest has been shown in the +United States in the growth of mushrooms within the past few years, +and it is to be hoped and expected that within the next ten years +the industry will develop to the fullest limit of the market +demands. The demand will, of course, be stimulated by the increasing +popular appreciation of this product. In some cities and towns there +is already a good market for mushrooms, while in others they may be +sold directly to special customers. This should be borne in mind by +prospective growers. +</P> + +<P> +While many American growers have been successful, a much larger +number have failed. In most cases their failures have been due to +one or more of the following causes: +</P> + +<P> +(1) Poor spawn, or spawn which has been killed by improper storage. +</P> + +<P> +(2) Spawning at a temperature injuriously high. +</P> + +<P> +(3) Too much water either at the time of spawning or later. +</P> + +<P> +(4) Unfavorable temperature during the growing period. It is +therefore important to the prospective grower that careful attention +be given to the general discussion of conditions which follow. +</P> + +<P> +Mushrooms may be grown in any place where the conditions of +temperature and moisture are favorable. A shed, cellar, cave, or +vacant space in a greenhouse may be utilized to advantage for this +purpose. The most essential factor, perhaps, is that of temperature. +The proper temperature ranges from 53 degree to 60 degree F., with +the best from 55 degree to 58 degree F. It is unsafe to attempt to +grow mushrooms on a commercial basis, according to our present +knowledge of the subject, in a temperature much less than 50 degree +or greater than 63 degree F. +</P> + +<P> +Any severe changes of temperature would entirely destroy +the profits of the mushroom crop. From this it is evident that in +many places mushrooms may not be grown as a summer crop. With +artificial heat they may be grown almost anywhere throughout the +winter. Moreover, it is very probable that in this country open-air +culture must be limited to a few sections. +</P> + +<P> +A second important factor is moisture. The place should not be very +damp, or constantly dripping with water. Under such conditions +successful commercial work is not possible. A place where it is +possible to maintain a fairly moist condition of the atmosphere, and +having such capability for ventilation as will cause at least a +gradual evaporation, is necessary. With too rapid ventilation and +the consequent necessity of repeated applications of water to the +mushroom bed, no mushroom crop will attain the highest perfection. +</P> + +<P> +Even a little iron rust in the soil is reported as fatal to the +Campestris, the only fungus so far successfully propagated. +</P> + +<P> +If other fungi than the Campestris come up wild, don't throw them +away as worthless. Many are better eating than the one you seek, and +you can avoid the risk of poisonous ones by learning to recognize +the dangerous family—send for the Agricultural Department's +Bulletin No. 204. Meanwhile, (1) all mushrooms with pink gills, (2) +all coral-like fungi, (3) all that grow on wood, and (4) all +puffballs, are good to eat if they are young and tender—only don't +mistake an unspread Aminita for a puffball. +</P> + +<P> +An ingenious person may find other sources of income in the country. +A young hotel porter in Ulster County, New York, bought seventy +acres of mountain woodland four miles from the railroad for two +hundred and fifty dollars, and puts in his winters cutting barrel +hoops, at which he makes two dollars a day. Meanwhile the land is +maturing timber. That is hard work, but to gather wild mushrooms or +to cut willows, or sweet pine needles to make cushions, or to catch +young squirrels for sale, is lighter, if less steady employment. +</P> + +<P> +And with all our uses of land, we must not forget a little corner +for the hammock and the croquet hoops for the wife and the children. +In the Province of Quebec, where the land is held in great tracts +under the Seigniors, I have seen croquet grounds no bigger than a +bed quilt in front of the little one-room cottages. +</P> + +<P> +The Frenchman knows the importance of such things as that, has meals +out of doors in fine weather, goes on little picnics, and keeps +madame contented in the country. +</P> + +<P> +A swing, or a seesaw, and a tether ball (a ball swinging from the +top of a pole eight feet high) for the children will help to keep +the family peace. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FRUITS +</H3> + +<P> +Fruit raising can succeed in either of two ways. Either planting the +orchard in some one fruit and specializing thereon, or diversifying +the operation to cover many varieties. In the first way it is usual +to establish orchards in favorable localities without special regard +to nearness to market; because in these days of refrigerator car +lines the product of an orchard in any part of the country can be +sent to market quickly enough to avoid loss. Where many varieties +are grown, the best site is usually near a large city where the +grower can market his own product on wagons and get the benefit of +retail prices. +</P> + +<P> +Remember that it is far more profitable to raise twenty baskets of +fine, well-shaped, clean, handsome apples or peaches or any other +hand-eaten fruit, than to raise a hundred barrels of stuff that is +good only for the common drier or for the mill or hogpen. +</P> + +<P> +Care and common sense are the jackscrews to use in raising fine +fruit. +</P> + +<P> +The apple is the great American fruit for extensive orcharding. The +question is whether there is a profit in apple growing. The answer +is, where the conditions are favorable and when the business is well +conducted there is. Under average conditions, with poor business +management, there is little or none. +</P> + +<P> +As Professor S. T. Maynard in <I>Suburban Life</I> tells us, "In a +suburban garden of one of our Eastern cities are seven Astrachan +trees, about twenty years old, from which have been sold in a single +season over one hundred dollars' worth of fruit. A friend near +Boston put three thousand barrels of picked Baldwins into cold +storage. None of the fancy apples sold for less than three dollars a +barrel, and the others netted more than two dollars. They were the +product of less than forty acres of trees which had been planted +about twenty-five years. Another fruit grower showed me several +returns of commission men of five, six, and even seven dollars a +barrel for fancy Baldwins. At such prices, and under such +conditions, there is a large profit in apple growing." +</P> + +<P> +"The other side of the picture, however, is the more common one. A +friend sent fifty barrels of fancy Baldwins to a commission house, +to be shipped to European markets, the returns for which were just +enough to pay for the barrels. The majority of apples grown in the +United States are sold to buyers, one buyer in each section, for a +dollar to two dollars for No. 1 quality, and a dollar for No. 2. +With the cost of barrels at about forty cents, labor for picking, +sorting, and packing, these prices leave little or nothing for the +use of the land, cost of fertilizers, spraying, thinning, etc., all +of which are necessary for growing fruit of the best quality." +</P> + +<P> +Holmes further says, in substance, that we must make the trees grow +vigorously, whether upon poor or good soil. Growth is the first +requirement. To do this, we need a strong, deep, moist soil,—good +grass land well underdrained makes the best. If this is on an +elevation with a northern or western exposure, it will be better +than a southern or an eastern one. While apple trees will grow on a +thin soil, so much care and fertilizing is required that the crop +will be of little or no profit upon such land. Lastly, we must +protect our fruit from insect and fungous pests. +</P> + +<P> +On land that is free from stones and not too steep, thorough and +frequent cultivation will give the quickest and largest returns. On +such land, hoed garden or farm crops may be profitable while the +trees are small, but after five or six years it will generally be +found best to cultivate it entirely for the growth of trees. Organic +matter in the form of stable manure or cover crops will be needed, +and must be applied in the fall or very early in the spring to keep +up the supply of humus in the soil. +</P> + +<P> +Stony land that cannot be plowed or cultivated except at a great +cost may be made to grow good crops of fruit. +</P> + +<P> +While the trees are young, the soil should be worked about them for +the space of a few feet and then the moisture retained by a mulch +system, making use of any waste organic matter like straw, leaves, +meadow hay, brush, and weeds cut before they seed. Most of the first +prize apples at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo were grown +under the "turf-culture" system. +</P> + +<P> +Unless you have trees already on your land, it is too long to wait +six or seven years for a crop. We can graft good fruit on almost any +tree, though the new dwarf trees will bear much sooner, and if we +have trees we need not even wait for the harvest of our crop, since +the windfalls will keep us in apple sauce, jellies, and pies, for no +apple is too green for apple sauce, not even the ones that the boys +can't bite. +</P> + +<P> +The greatest difficulty in the profitable growth of the apple is the +market. Much of the profit in apple growing, whether in the East or +the West, will depend upon the extent of the business done, +especially if one is a considerable distance from markets. The above +are the essentials noted by this practical scientist. Next to the +apple crop, perhaps the most important fruit crop for shipping is +the peach. The locality is perhaps the most important consideration +in a peach orchard. In the Eastern and Southern states, and in +Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, and, of +late years, Georgia, peaches flourish and produce enormous crops. As +a general rule, the nearer the orchard is to large bodies of water, +the more likely one is to get a crop, as the temperature of the +water prevents a too early budding out in the spring and delays +killing autumn frosts. +</P> + +<P> +Generally speaking, a sandy, porous soil is best for peaches, but +they may be raised on clay lands if provided with plenty of humus. +</P> + +<P> +Another fruit which is profitable in districts suited to its growth +is the grape. Bulletin No. 153, Cornell Experiment Station, says: +"Grapes are a dessert fruit. They are not used to a large extent in +the kitchen (though they might be), so there are few incidental or +secondary products; that is, they are not dried, canned, made into +jellies, and the like, to any extent, that is, in the United States. +</P> + +<P> +The grape is peculiarly a sectional product. Central New York has a +large area devoted to it. In northern Ohio, a strip along Lake Erie, +and some of its islands, are devoted almost exclusively to grape +vineyards. In districts where grapes are intensively grown, a great +part of the crop is used for wine, and American wine is extensively +sold m our home markets, although it frequently has foreign labels. +</P> + +<P> +Any one purchasing a farm should plant some grapevines for home use. +Grape juice is easily made and kept and is a pleasing beverage. +Grape jelly is excellent and could be readily marketed in any nearby +town, since there is very little, comparatively, on sale. A grape +arbor gives shade, needs little care, and can be planted near the +house where it will not interfere with the crops. For you cannot +cultivate all of your land; some grassy space must be left around +the house if only for drying clothes. But if ground is scarce, vines +or lima beans can be trained up the back porch or up the sunny side +of the house; or a few climbing nasturtiums will give decorations +without care, while the young leaves make a good salad. +</P> + +<P> +Of home orchard fruits, the plum, pear, and quince are all +profitable specialties, especially for intensive acre raising. In +general, the same remark may be made of them as of the other fruits, +that they need careful selection of land to get the best results. +The cherry has recently come to be recognized as a good commercial +specialty. Mr. George T. Powell, in <I>The American Agriculturist,</I> +says: "The crop is a precarious one to market.... The risk and loss +may be largely reduced by making a proper selection of site for the +orchard. This should be on high ground where the air generally +circulates freely. This is especially necessary for sweet varieties. +The soil should be rich, with naturally good drainage." +</P> + +<P> +He says: "I have had Rockport trees produce four hundred pounds each +and the fruit net ten cents a pound for the entire crop. The English +Morello trees may be grown fifteen feet apart each way, which will +allow two hundred trees to the acre. The larger trees ought to be +planted somewhat thinner.... Cherries are packed largely in +eight-pound baskets and in strawberry quarts. Each basket is filled +with carefully assorted fruit, every imperfect specimen being taken +out, after which they are faced by placing the stems downward so +that the cherry shows in regular rows upon the face. Girls and women +do this work. The Eastern fruit grower must bear in mind that he has +to meet in his market the competition of the Pacific coast growers, +who excel in fine packing; and although our Eastern grown cherries +are of a finer flavor, they are sent to the market in such a crude +manner and in such unattractive condition that they sell for much +less than the California fruit." +</P> + +<P> +Regarding bush berries, he says, you will get a small crop the +second year after planting and for the third and subsequent years a +full crop. The important thing is to keep the dead canes well pruned +out, as the cane borer is one of the worst insect pests. When they +appear they can be stopped by cutting off the shoot several inches +below the puncture as soon as it begins to droop, and burning the +part cut off. Again, Mr. Powell says, "Currants require rich soil. +A clay or heavy loam is better than a heavy dry soil. They should be +planted in the fall. The average from ten thousand bushes should be +about four quarts each. The cherry currant is perhaps the largest in +size, but not so prolific as some others. Currants are shipped and +sold in thirty-two quart crates and have to be carefully packed to +get to market in good condition." +</P> + +<P> +Gooseberries are raised by the acre. Mr. A. M. Brown, Kent County, +Delaware, in <I>The American Agriculturist,</I> tells of a plantation in +Central Delaware where over twenty four thousand pounds were +gathered from a scant four acres. The product was sold to the +Baltimore canners for six cents a pound, making $1440 in all. In +addition to the gooseberries grown on six acres, a large crop each +of apples and pears were grown on the same ground. Like currants, +the gooseberry must be sprayed to destroy the worms, and cut back +and burnt to destroy the cane borer. +</P> + +<P> +There is little special knowledge required, however, in raising this +fruit, and it is well adapted for growers with small acreage and +little money. +</P> + +<P> +In going into the cultivation of bush fruits, it is usually best to +grow them in great variety near the market where they are to be +sold. The bush fruits are then uniformly profitable. In <I>Suburban +Life</I> Mr. E. C. Powell tells us that the spring is the best time for +planting raspberries and blackberries, just as soon as the ground is +dry enough to work. The first season the plots should be well +tilled. It is possible to grow vegetables between the rows the first +year before the berries begin to bear, but unless pressed for space, +it probably doesn't pay. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps the best of small fruits, however, and most largely used is +the strawberry. The strawberry can be planted by the acre. The +ground must be rich loam and plenty of humus, well drained, with a +southern exposure. Well-grown plants set out in the open will bear a +small crop the first season, but will not become of maximum bearing +till the second year. After the crop is taken off in the fall a +mulch of straw or leaves should be placed over the plants to protect +them during the winter. The strawberries are picked by boys and +girls. +</P> + +<P> +The strawberry is an exceedingly profitable crop if properly +handled, and is one of the best small fruits for people with little +capital. While the price in the general market varies from fifteen +to thirty cents per quart, they sometimes run as high as fifty in +the early spring; yet it is possible to grow strawberries worth six +dollars a quart by intensive culture in greenhouses. Mr. S. W. +Fletcher, in <I>Country Life in America,</I> says: "The forcing of +strawberries is a specialized industry of the highest type. +Everybody cannot make it pay everywhere.... Strawberries are forced +in pots or in benches. The pot method is preferred by those who find +a demand for the highest quality of fruit regardless of expense.... +If fruit is desired for Christmas, the plants are not checked to any +extent, but are kept in continuous growth. The conditions of +springtime are simulated as far as possible. At Christmas time a +quart box of forced Marshall strawberries sells at from one-fifty to +eight dollars per quart, averaging about four dollars." +</P> + +<P> +Our most valuable allies against the insect armies are toads, bats, +wasps, dragon flies, and birds; they enjoy the battle. +</P> + +<P> +There cannot be too many toads or bats. Toads will eat all sorts of +flies, potato bugs, squash bugs, rose bugs, caterpillars, and almost +anything that crawls. +</P> + +<P> +If the wasps become a nuisance, it is easy to poison them; but the +birds are often a nuisance—the robins eat the strawberries and +cherries the instant they are ripe. They soon get used to +scarecrows; and to cover the fruit with nets gives the insects a +free hand. Some growers raise sweet cherries or other fruits +specially to feed up the birds so that they will let the rest alone. +Early rising and a plenty of cats is about the best remedy. A man, +or even a woman, working on the land is the best scarecrow. +</P> + +<P> +There are a few other fruits that grow wild in certain sections and +are gathered and sent to market. Among these the cranberry is the +most important. It grows in nearly inaccessible bogs, principally in +New Jersey, and the usual custom is for owners of land on which +there are cranberry bogs to let out the bog to pickers on a +percentage basis. Cranberries can be cultivated, and there is a +considerable profit in the business. The swampy nature of the ground +needed, however, will deter all except the most persistent from this +industry. Some cranberry bogs bring as high as a thousand dollars an +acre. +</P> + +<P> +The blueberry or huckleberry, or, as we call it in Ireland, the +bilberry, or frohen, grows wild in the northerly states, and is much +sought after in the market. Many efforts have been made to grow the +blueberry commercially; but, as is well said by Mr. J. H. Hale in +the <I>Rural New Yorker,</I> "The blueberry proved to be a good deal like +Indians—it would not stand civilization, and was never +satisfactory, although I monkeyed with it for a period of about ten +years." Mr. Fred W. Card, of Rhode Island, in the same issue reports +a similar experience. With our present knowledge of the blueberry, +it is doubtful if it can be made a commercially cultivated crop. +Lately, however, it is claimed that it can be grown in very poor, +non-nitrogenous soil. +</P> + +<P> +A variety, however, called the Garden Blueberry, gives almost +incredible yields, five bushels being reported from sixty plants. It +keeps all winter <I>on the branches,</I> if stored in a cellar, and is of +fine flavor and especially good for preserves. A little frost +improves it. +</P> + +<P> +But wild berries, crab apples, and elderberries and others, are good +to preserve and find a ready sale if attractively put up; they also +help out the table greatly. Then think of the fun! +</P> + +<P> +In recent years, certain varieties of nuts, like the English walnut, +the pecan, and the hickory nuts have been grown commercially. In the +South particularly, the pecan has been found a good crop to plant on +cotton plantations which have been overworked. In the <I>Rural New +Yorker,</I> Mr. H. E. Vandevan gives an account of an old cotton +plantation of 2250 acres Iying on the west bank of the Mississippi +River in Louisiana. The pecan tree was indigenous to the land, and +the wooded portion of the plantation has thousands of giant pecan +trees growing on it. The previous owners of this plantation had done +all in their power to destroy these trees, but they flourished in +spite of that. Mr. Vandevan, however, saw in the pecan a large +profit, and he has planted ten thousand trees on six hundred acres, +all in a solid block. The trees are set fifty feet apart both ways, +except where a roadway is left. Between the pecan trees Mr. Vandevan +has planted fig trees for early returns, with the intention of +canning the fruit. +</P> + +<P> +The English walnut is grown principally in California. Its value has +been recognized only recently, as all of the nut crops take a good +many years before the trees begin to bear. Nut growing on a small +scale is not of much value to a man with a little bit of land, +except as an additional source of income. +</P> + +<P> +If you find a sweet chestnut tree or a shell-bark hickory or two in +your wood lot, they will well repay protection and careful +cultivation. +</P> + +<P> +If you don't, why—there are great promises in quick maturing nut +trees. There is now an English walnut which is claimed to bear the +third or even the second year after setting out. My own small +experience with these in New Jersey, however, has not been a +success. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FLOWERS +</H3> + +<P> +Every city in the United States affords an opportunity for flower +gardening and nurseries, but a study must be made of the market in +order to know what is best to raise and where to raise it. +</P> + +<P> +The choice of crops depends on the popular taste. The flowers which +are now in greatest demand are the rose, carnation, violet, and +chrysanthemum. +</P> + +<P> +Near every large city there are hundreds of florists with glass +houses, some covering twenty acres or more. There were over 2000 +acres of flower land under glass reported at the last census. As +almost all industries to-day are specialized, so is floriculture; in +one place we see ten acres of glass given over to the rose, in +another thousands of dollars devoted to the carnation or the violet, +while one grower in Queens, Long Island, has 75,000 square feet of +glass for carnations. +</P> + +<P> +The specialist who devotes his thoughts and energies to raising one +flower can produce better results than if he raised a variety. He +has only one crop to market, and can do it more successfully than +with a number of crops. If he raises enough to make himself a factor +in the market, he can sell direct instead of sending his product to +a commission man, thereby receiving better prices. +</P> + +<P> +Little capital is required to start; intelligent effort is the road +to success. Very few, indeed, who are now leaders in floriculture, +started with more than $500 capital, and many with much less. One of +the largest growers of roses in the United States, whose plant +covers more than ten acres, did not have $500 when he started, and +many others not so well known are making handsome livings and have +accumulated thousands of dollars of property from a start of less +than $500. +</P> + +<P> +But practical knowledge is much more necessary than in raising +vegetables, as small mistakes will have more serious results. +Therefore, if you have some capital and wish to go into flower +raising, it will pay you, if circumstances permit, to hire out to a +florist, even at small wages, till you have learned the +business—even though you have raised flowers successfully in a home +garden. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Frank Hamilton, manager of C. W. Ward's of Queens, tells of at +least a dozen men, who have been in their employ during his +twenty-five years' experience, some of whom got only twenty dollars +a month at first, and afterwards started in a small way for +themselves, who are now making a substantial living. +</P> + +<P> +Although the market depends largely on the wealthy class in the +large cities, many florists devote considerable time and space to +flowers which are bought by the poorer class of city dwellers who +have no space or time to raise their own. +</P> + +<P> +There are always good markets somewhere for the crop, and it is not +an uncommon thing to ship flowers from New York to Chicago, Buffalo, +Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, or vice versa. The +chances of success for a lover of flowers are better in this +business than in any in which one with a like amount of capital can +engage. If the business at first is not large enough to use all his +time he will find no trouble in securing employment in his immediate +vicinity. There are always some who want such a person to care for +their lawns or to give some time to their conservatories. +</P> + +<P> +In the last ten years the business has doubled, and while many have +gone into it, the profit they are making indicates that supply has +not kept pace with demand, and that it is not likely to be overdone +the near future. +</P> + +<P> +Professor B. T. Galloway, in an article in <I>The World's Work,</I> says, +"An acre of soil under glass pays fifty times as much as an acre +outdoors. There are annually sold in this country six to seven +million dollars' worth of carnation flowers There are no less than +eight to ten million square feet of glass in the United States +devoted to this flower alone." +</P> + +<P> +Although Mr. Rockefeller's place at Tarrytown is the largest +competitor in the New York market for violets, there is no local +monopoly in that, and the local producer with personal attention can +do well. +</P> + +<P> +In the <I>Country Gentleman</I> an account is given of a violet farm on +the north shore of Illinois, where two women are supplying local +florists.. One of them says: "We started our farm last spring in the +face of most discouraging prophecies from our friends and the +keenest competition of violet growers of New York. But we believed +we could be successful. We had studied the best scientific methods +of growing the plants, had imported the best soil obtainable, and +built a greenhouse fully adapted to our needs, so we just went ahead +and we found it to be a paying proposition. +</P> + +<P> +"Our first experiment was in using cuttings from the violet farm of +a lady at Lansing, Michigan, who has been a most successful grower. +These did not thrive, and we next imported 3000 cuttings from the +Tarrytown neighborhood, where violet culture has been most +successful. +</P> + +<P> +"The first rule is to keep the temperature of the greenhouse between +forty-five and fifty degrees. Violets are spring flowers, and wither +and droop if the temperature is not at the right degree. Most people +think the double violets have no fragrance because most of those +that we get lose their fragrance in transit. +</P> + +<P> +"We supply 2000 flowers a week, and as they reach our patrons within +two or three hours at the most from the time of cutting, they retain +their fragrance. They are also larger and of a deeper color than the +New York flowers. Next year we hope to go in on a much larger scale. +</P> + +<P> +"While the work is not hard, it requires infinite care and vigilance +when the little plants are growing. As a career for a woman, violet +growing offers greater inducements than anything I can think of." +</P> + +<P> +Then, surely, others can succeed in other flowers at other places. +While there is little choice between the standard styles of +greenhouses for violets, there should be abundant provision for +supplying fresh air, either from the sides or top, whichever is +chosen. The system of ventilation should admit of operation either +from the inside or the outside of the house, as fumigation with +hydrocyanic acid gas is sometimes necessary, in the fumes of which +it is impossible to enter, unless with a gas mask. +</P> + +<P> +The arrangement of the house should secure the greatest possible +supply of sunshine in December and January, and the least possible +during the growing season, when, as Miss Howard points out, it is +necessary to secure as low a temperature as possible, so as to +obtain good, vigorous, healthy-growing plants. The best site is a +level piece of ground, or one sloping gently to the south. +</P> + +<P> +Of the diseases to which cultivated violets are subject Mr. P. H. +Dorsett, of the Department of Agriculture, names four as especially +dangerous: Spot disease, producing whitish spots on the foliage; +root rot, apt to attack young plants transplanted in hot, dry +weather; wet rot, a fungus apt to appear in too moist air or where +ventilation is insufficient; and yellowing, of the cause of which +little is known. Any of these diseases is difficult to exterminate +when it once gains a foothold. The best thing to do is to get +strong, vigorous cuttings, and then to give careful attention to +watering, cultivation, and ventilation, and the destruction of dead +and dying leaves and all runners as fast as they appear. +</P> + +<P> +Among insect enemies, the aphids, red spiders, eel worms, gall +flies, and slugs may be mentioned. Most of these can be easiest +controlled by hydrocyanic acid gas treatment. +</P> + +<P> +Chrysanthemums, especially of preternatural size and bizarre +colors—the college colors at football games, for instance—are in +great demand. They are extremely decorative, and their remarkable +lasting quality insures their permanent popularity. I have heard +that the unexpanded bud can be cooked like cauliflower for the +table; but we have not learned to use them in that way. In Japan and +China the leaves of the chrysanthemum are esteemed as a salad. One +attempt has been made by English gardeners to introduce this use of +them into England, but it was unsuccessful. +</P> + +<P> +The annual shows of chrysanthemums and of roses indicate the +importance of the business. +</P> + +<P> +It is not generally known, but the poppies are coming into favor for +cut flowers in spite of the fact that they do not keep very well. +Miss Edith Granger avoids this difficulty, as she explains in the +<I>Garden Magazine,</I> "by picking off all blooms that have not already +lost their petals in the evening, so that in the morning all the +open flowers will be new ones. These are cut as early as possible, +even while the dew is still upon them, and plunged immediately into +deep water." +</P> + +<P> +You need not be discouraged by the low prices at which flowers, +especially violets and roses, are often offered in the streets. +Those flowers are the discarded stock or delayed shipments of the +swell florists. You will find that those flowers are fading, or +revived with salt, and will not keep. +</P> + +<P> +That they are so peddled, shows that everybody, at hotels, dinners, +funerals, weddings, in the home, and the young men for the young +women, want flowers, the loveliest things ever made without souls. +We have only to supply such a want to find our place in life. +</P> + +<P> +As a side line the common flowers will bring good prices; +mignonette, bachelor buttons, cosmos, and even nasturtiums, which +you can't keep from growing if you just stick the seed in the +ground, or lilies of the valley, which you can hardly get rid of +once they start, never go begging, if they are fresh. +</P> + +<P> +A favorite flower with many is the sweet pea, which can be grown out +of doors in the summer time where you have a good depth and quality +of soil. +</P> + +<P> +I have seen May blossoms and autumn leaves on the branch and even +goldenrod brought into town and sold at good prices. +</P> + +<P> +Enterprises often look attractive at a distance; for instance, +raising orchids, especially as some of the flowers remain on the +plants ready for market for weeks and bring high prices. But to ship +flowers at a profit they must be in quantities, else the expenses +eat up the returns, and they must be shipped with considerable +regularity, else you lose your customers. To get such a supply of +orchids would take a very large capital and involve so much labor +that it is doubtful if more than good interest could be realized on +it. +</P> + +<P> +Many florists make money by keeping constantly on hand ferns, palms, +and other plants like rubber trees, which they rent out for social +functions, weddings, and other occasions. Most florists in the +larger cities have also quite a thriving business in tree planting, +which is everywhere on the increase. A highly specialized department +of horticulture is that of raising young trees and plants to sell +for improving grounds, planting orchards, or similar uses. The +nursery business bears much the same relation to the commercial +florist or orchardist as seed growing does to the market gardener. +</P> + +<P> +Certain communities, through favorable soil or climate, are best +adapted to the production of nursery stock. Consequently, one finds +this industry most highly developed in scattered localities. It is +true that people with small capital should not tackle a business so +technical as this. +</P> + +<P> +The business of bulb production is another highly specialized +department. In certain sections of Holland large areas of the rich +lowlands are given over to bulbs of various kinds of lilies, nearly +all of which are propagated in that manner. To attain perfection, at +least in the North, most bulbs require deep, rich, warm, and highly +manured soils; and assiduous attention at every stage. In many plant +specialties, the gardeners of Europe still far surpass our own, +because conditions there have forced them to make use of every +available means to increase production. The immense price that +European gardeners have to pay for land has been a most potent +factor in forcing them to seek out and apply the most ingenious +forcing methods. The time is upon us here in America also when we +must find out the highest use of land and apply it to that use. +</P> + +<P> +As the aesthetic qualities of our people become more highly +developed, the business of raising flowers must become of increasing +importance, and will readily reward any one who goes into it +conscientiously. Flower growing is peculiarly adapted to women, +since the work is light There are few disagreeable features, unless +it be the handling of the manure incidental to the best results. +</P> + +<P> +Still, the enjoyments of agriculture depend upon individual tastes. +I have seen "lady gardeners" picking strawberries with the footman +holding up an umbrella to screen them from the sun. +</P> + +<P> +Some women would like that, some not. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DRUG PLANTS +</H3> + +<P> +A source of profit from land to which little attention has been +given in the United States is collecting or raising plants, some +part of which may be used for medicinal purposes. We condense from +Farmers' Bulletin No. 188, United States Department of Agriculture: +</P> + +<P> +Certain well-known weeds are sources of crude drugs at present +obtained wholly or in part from abroad. Roots, leaves, and flowers +of several of the species most detrimental in the United States are +gathered, cured, and used in Europe, and supply much of the demands +of foreign lands. Some of these plants are in many states subject to +anti-weed laws, and farmers are required to take measures toward +their extermination. +</P> + +<P> +The prices paid for crude drugs from these sources save in war time +are not great and would rarely tempt any one to this work as a +business. Yet if in ridding the farm of weeds and thus raising the +value of the land the farmer can at the same time make these pests +the source of a small income instead of a dead loss, something is +gained. +</P> + +<P> +One rather alluring fact contained in an article by Dr. True, is +that a shortage has become keenly felt in "Golden Seal," which the +early American settlers learned from the Indians to use as a +curative for sore and inflamed eyes, as well as for sore mouth. The +plant grows in patches in high open woods, and was formerly found in +great abundance in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia, but +is now so rare that its price has risen from thirty-five cents +wholesale in 1898 to over seventy-five cents a pound. Persons in +different parts of the country have undertaken the production of +Golden Seal on a commercial scale. More than six hundred dollars' +worth can be grown on an acre: so a crop this year would be a +fortune. The methods of raising it can be ascertained upon +application to the Department of Agriculture. +</P> + +<P> +Ginseng is one of the drug crops which paid handsome returns a few +years ago, perhaps because it takes from five to seven years to grow +from seeds; but so many went into that line that few men to-day make +anything at it. Furthermore, the Chinese, who use a large part of +it, will buy only the wild roots—and they know the difference. +Those who control the trade have burned quantities in the effort to +keep up the price. +</P> + +<P> +There are some drug plants which might be raised with success by +those who would specialize in one plant, but the lesson we learn +from ginseng should act as a warning. +</P> + +<P> +Raising drugs is one of those things that seems to be more +profitable to teach others to do than to do yourself. A well known +Professor said to me: "If I were twenty-five and knew what I know +about drugs and the market for them, I should go into the +drug-raising business. But I should expect to lose money for some +years. If I were a small clerk, say, or an old man who wanted to get +out of city life, and I had $500 I really wanted to venture in drug +raising, I should divide it in half—half I should put in the bank +and the other half I should throw into the Hudson River. Then I +should be sure of $250 instead of being drawn on to spend it all." +</P> + +<P> +"Most of the people who have been in the business, notably the +Shakers, who used to do the most of it, are gradually getting out of +it. The few men who make money raising drugs keep it to themselves." +</P> + +<P> +In many cases when weeds have been dug the work of handling and +curing them is not excessive and can readily be done by women and +children. +</P> + +<P> +Too much emphasis cannot be placed upon the importance of carefully +and thoroughly drying all crude drugs, whether roots, herbs, leaves, +barks, flowers, or seeds, and putting them under cover at nightfall. +If poorly dried, they will heat and become moldy in shipping, and +the collector will find his goods rejected by the dealer and have +all his trouble for nothing. Leaves, herbs, and flowers should never +be washed. +</P> + +<P> +It is important also to collect in proper season only, as drugs +collected out of season are unmarketable on account of inferior +medicinal qualities, and there will also be a greater shrinkage in a +root dug during the growing season than when it is collected after +growth has ceased. +</P> + +<P> +The roots of annual plants should be dug in the autumn of the first +year just before the flowering period, and those of biennial and +perennial plants in the fall of the second or third year, after the +tops have dried. +</P> + +<P> +After the roots have been dug the soil should be well shaken from +them, and all foreign particles, such as dirt, roots, and parts of +other plants, should be removed. If the roots cannot be sufficiently +cleared of soil by shaking, they should be thoroughly washed in +clean water. Drugs must look wholesome at least. It does not pay to +be careless in this matter. The soil increases the weight of the +roots, but the purchaser is not willing to pay by weight for dirt, +and grades the uncleaned or mixed drugs accordingly. It is the +bright, natural looking root, leaf, or plant that will bring a good +price. +</P> + +<P> +After washing, the roots should be carefully dried by exposing them +to light and air, on racks or shelves, or on clean well-ventilated +barn floors, or lofts. They should be spread out thinly and turned +occasionally from day to day until completely cured. When this point +is reached, in perhaps three to six weeks, the roots will snap +readily when bent. If dried out of doors they should be placed under +shelter at night and upon the approach of rain. +</P> + +<P> +Some roots require slicing and removing fibrous rootless. In +general, large roots should be split or sliced when green in order +to facilitate drying. +</P> + +<P> +Barks of trees should be gathered in spring, when the sap begins to +flow, but may also be peeled in winter. In the case of the coarser +barks (as elm, hemlock, poplar, oak, pine, and wild cherry) the +outer layer is shaved off before the bark is removed from the tree, +which process is known as "rossing." Only the inner bark of these +trees is used medicinally. Barks may also be cured by exposure to +sunlight, but moisture must be avoided. +</P> + +<P> +Leaves and herbs should be collected when the plants are in full +flower. The whole plant may be cut and the leaves may be stripped +from it, rejecting the coarse and large stems as much as possible, +and keeping only the flowering tops and more tender stems and +leaves. +</P> + +<P> +Both leaves and herbs should be spread out in thin layers on clean +floors, racks, or shelves, in the shade, but where there is free +circulation of air, and turned frequently until thoroughly dry. +Moisture will darken them. +</P> + +<P> +Flowers are collected when they first open or immediately after, not +when they are beginning to fade. Seeds should be gathered just as +they are ripening, before the seed pods open, and should be winnowed +in order to remove fragments of stems, leaves, and shriveled +specimens. +</P> + +<P> +The collector should be sure that the plant is the right one. Many +plants closely resemble one another, and some "yarbs," contrary to +the popular impression, are deadly poison—nightshade (belladonna) +and the wild variety of parsnips, for instance. Therefore, where any +doubt exists, send a specimen of the entire plant, including leaves, +flowers, and fruits, to a drug dealer or to the nearest state +experiment station for identification. +</P> + +<P> +Samples representative of the lot of drugs to be sold should be sent +to the nearest commission merchant, or drug store, for inspection +and for quotation on the amount of drug that can be furnished, or +for information as to where to send the article. +</P> + +<P> +In writing to the different dealers for information and for prices, +which vary greatly, it should be stated how much of a particular +drug can be furnished and how soon this can be supplied, and postage +should always be inclosed for reply. The collector should bear in +mind that freight is an important item, and it is best, therefore, +to address the dealers accessible to the place of production. The +package containing the sample should be plainly marked with contents +and the name and address of the sender. When ready for shipment +crude drugs may be tightly packed in burlap or gunny sacks, or in +dry, clean barrels. +</P> + +<P> +Burdock root brings from three to eight cents per pound, and seed +five to ten cents. About fifty thousand pounds of the root is +imported annually, and the best has come from Belgium. Of dock +roots, about 125,000 pounds are imported annually, at from two to +eight cents. +</P> + +<P> +The field for the sale of dandelion root is large. +</P> + +<P> +Of couch grass, the roots of which cause much profanity in this +country, there are some 250,000 pounds annually imported at from +three to seven cents per pound. +</P> + +<P> +A common weed with which there is a considerable trouble is the +pokeweed, the root of which brings from two to five cents per pound +and the dried berries five cents per pound. +</P> + +<P> +Forty to sixty thousand pounds of foxglove are imported from Europe. +Analysis has shown that the leaves of the wild American foxglove are +as good as the European article, the price of which per pound ranges +from six to eight cents. +</P> + +<P> +Of mullein flowers about five thousand pounds used to be imported, +chiefly from Germany. The leaves are also imported. +</P> + +<P> +Dried leaves and tops of lobelia bring from three to eight cents per +pound, while the seed commands fifteen to twenty cents per pound. +</P> + +<P> +Of tansy about thirty-five thousand pounds have been imported +annually at a price rallying from three to six cents. +</P> + +<P> +The flowering tops and leaves of the gum plant are used as drug. +They bring from five to twelve cents per pound. +</P> + +<P> +Boneset leaves and tops bring from two to eight cents per pound. +Catnip tops and leaves two to eight cents per pound. +</P> + +<P> +Of horehound about 125,000 pounds are imported annually, prices +being three to eight cents per pound. +</P> + +<P> +Blessed thistle is cultivated in Germany, and it is imported to a +limited extent. +</P> + +<P> +Yarrow is a weed common from the New England states to Missouri. It +is imported in small quantities, and brings from two to five cents +per pound. +</P> + +<P> +Canada fleabane brings from six to eight cents per pound. Of +jimsonweed, leaves are imported, from 100,000 to 150,000 pounds +annually, and 10,000 pounds of seed. Leaves bring two and one half +to eight cents per pound, and seeds from three to seven cents per +pound. +</P> + +<P> +Of poison hemlock, seeds are imported from ten to twenty thousand +pounds annually. Price for the seed is three cents per pound, for +the leaves about four cents. The flowers are also used. +</P> + +<P> +The American wormseed has been naturalized from tropical America to +New England; the seed commands from six to eight cents per pound; +the oil distilled from this seed brings one dollar and a half per +pound. +</P> + +<P> +Black mustard, which is a troublesome weed in almost every state in +the Union, is nevertheless imported in enormous quantities, the +total imports of the seeds of the black and white mustard amounting +annually to over five million pounds, the prices being from three to +six cents per pound. All these prices and quantities were before the +war and may greatly change after it. +</P> + +<P> +In studying the wild drug plants, one may learn the immense variety +of field salads and greens. On a visit to the Spirit Fruit Society +at Ingleside, Illinois, one of the girls took me out to gather wild +vegetables for dinner. We pulled up about a dozen varieties out of +the corners of a field; two or three of the nice looking ones that I +gathered the young lady threw out, saying she did not know them; but +it seemed to me that she took almost anything that was not too +tough. The following are commonly used as salads: Dandelion, yellow +racket, purslane (pusley), watercress, nasturtium; and the following +as greens for cooking: narrow or sour dock, stinging nettle, +pokeweed, pigweed or lamb's quarters, black mustard. Young milkweed +is better than spinach, and also makes an excellent salad. Probably +all the salad leaves could be cooked to advantage. Rhubarb leaves +and horseradish tops are garden greens usually neglected most +unfairly. +</P> + +<P> +Osage Orange <I>(maclura aurantiaca)</I> is generally supposed to be +poison, and is described in Webster's dictionary as "a hard and +inedible fruit," but I have found one kind, at least, superior to +quinces. +</P> + +<P> +Capsicum or red pepper, licorice (the imports of which have all been +in the hands of one person), camphor, belladonna, henbane, and +stramonium are possible fields for culture; but they are all +experiments. +</P> + +<P> +If you are growing poppies for the flowers it might be worth while +to gather some opium, especially if the new process succeeds in +separating morphine directly from the plant. +</P> + +<P> +Caraway seeds, anise, coreander, and sage are common garden plants +that may be sold as drugs. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +NOVEL LIVE STOCK +</H3> + +<P> +Occasionally we hear stories of the wealth which is being made on a +frog farm here or there. But as a rule little commercial success has +attended attempts in this direction. +</P> + +<P> +The difficulty lies in feeding them. A single frog can be fed by +dangling a piece of meat before it, but it would be impossible to +feed thousands this way. There are so many enemies that few tadpoles +become adult frogs; besides, the frog is a cannibal and will eat not +only the larvae or eggs, but the tadpoles and young frogs as well. +</P> + +<P> +Frog culture is successful in some places where ponds are large +enough to be partitioned, separating the tadpoles and young frogs +from the old ones, and where insects are abundant enough to supply +food naturally for them. Near San Francisco there are a number of +frog ranches. Even in 1903, according to Mary Heard in <I>Out West,</I> +one ranch sold to San Francisco markets 2600 dozen frogs' legs, +netting $1800. This was considered poor. Frogs' legs are sold to +hotels and restaurants, and bring in New York, according to size and +season, from fifty cents to a dollar a pound. +</P> + +<P> +Tons of frogs come to New York markets each year from Canada, +Michigan, and from the South and West. Few people outside of the +cities eat them. The United States Fish Commissioners reported the +product in one year: Arkansas, 58,800 lb., valued at $4162; Indiana, +24,000 lb., valued at $5026; Ohio, 14,000 lb., valued at $2340; +Vermont, 5500 lb., valued at $825, etc.—a total of $22,953. +</P> + +<P> +The enormous and increasing prices of large diamond backed turtles, +and the cheapness of little ones shows that maturing, at least, if +not actually breeding them, would be well worth investigation. Many +wealthy New Yorkers send direct to Maryland for their supplies. +Where turtle meat is bottled or canned, the snapping turtle and the +common box tortoise are sometimes used as "substitutes." Both are +capital eating. +</P> + +<P> +The carp is one of the most excellent fresh water fish, and is of +great value on account of the facility of culture and the enormous +extent to which this is carried on. "In Europe some artificial ponds +comprise an area of no less than 20,000 acres, and the proceeds +amount to about 500,000 pounds of carp per annum." (Hessel, in "Carp +and Its Culture.") +</P> + +<P> +It attains the weight of three to four pounds in three years without +artificial feeding, and much more under more favorable conditions. +It lives to a great age and continues to grow all the while. +</P> + +<P> +"In Europe it is common to see carp weighing from thirty to forty +pounds and more, measuring nearly three and one half feet in length +and two and three quarters feet in circumference." +</P> + +<P> +It lives on vegetable food, insects, larvae, and worms, and will not +attack other fishes or their spawn. It is easy to raise, and, +provided certain general rules are followed, success will attend its +culture. +</P> + +<P> +The localities best adapted to a carp pond are those in which there +is sufficient water at hand for the summer as well as the winter. A +mud or loam soil is best adapted for such a pond. A rocky, gravelly +ground is not suited for carp; the water should be the same depth +all the year, as variation has an injurious effect on the fish. +</P> + +<P> +Carp spawn in the spring. In stocking a pond three females are +calculated to two males. The females lay a great number of eggs, but +only a small number are impregnated. The most liberal estimate will +not exceed from 800 to 1000 to one spawner, the aggregate per acre +amounting to from 4000 to 5000. +</P> + +<P> +The large cities containing large numbers of Europeans furnish the +principal markets for carp. The Jewish people will not, as a rule, +buy carp unless they are alive, so it is not an uncommon thing to +see fish dealers in the Hebrew quarters pushing through the streets +carts constructed as tanks and peddling the carp alive. +</P> + +<P> +Some years ago carp ponds were quite a fad among farmers of the +Central West. Americans have been slow to adopt the German carp as a +food fish. +</P> + +<P> +Trout, of course, can be raised, and the high prices which they +bring, both in market and for fishing privileges, make them very +attractive; but the cold running water needed makes opportunity for +breeding them with access to a good market generally unavailable to +owners of five acres. +</P> + +<P> +There is another fish, famous for its eating qualities, which well +repays effort put upon its production. I refer to the black bass. It +is indigenous to the waters of the Eastern states, where it is +usually found in creeks or rivers. It can be successfully bred in +properly constructed ponds. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Dwight Lyell, in Forest and Stream, has this to say about a +breeding place for the small-mouthed black bass. "The pond should be +six feet deep in the center and two feet around the edge; the bottom +should be of natural sand; water plants should be growing in +profusion, particularly such aquatic plants as the Daphnia, Bosmina, +and the Corix, to furnish food for the young bass. A good size for a +breeding pond is 100 X 100 feet." For spawning, artificial nest +frames are built in rectangular form. They are made two feet square +without bottoms. On two adjoining sides these frames are four inches +high and on the other two adjoining sides sixteen inches high. These +frames are made because the bass needs a barrier behind which the +spawning may be done and which will protect the nest when made. For +raising the fish to a size large enough for food, ponds can be of +any convenient size. In order to keep the water in healthful +condition the pond must be fed by a flowing brook with some +provision to prevent the water being disturbed by freshets. This can +usually be arranged by a sluice to carry off the surplus water +during heavy rains. Black bass raised in shallow ponds will take the +fly all summer, so that considerable may be made from fishing +privileges. +</P> + +<P> +In the absence of minnows, which are the food of the bass, they must +be fed on fresh liver cut in threads like an angle worm to tempt the +fish. Even then the liver diet must be varied by feeding minnows +from September until the bass goes into winter quarters. In no other +way can fertile eggs be assured for the spring hatching. Minnows +left in the pond all winter will breed and so furnish fry on which +the young bass can feed the next summer." +</P> + +<P> +What has been said refers particularly to the small-mouthed black +bass. The conditions are substantially the same for the +large-mouthed bass (which grows to a much larger size), except that +the bottom may be made of Spanish moss imbedded in cement. +</P> + +<P> +There is a growing market for the young bass or fingerlings to stock +streams and ponds. The relation between the producer of stock fish +and those who expect to raise bass of a marketable size is about the +same as exists between the professional seed grower and the market +gardener. It is much better for the small farmer who has or can make +an artificial pond to buy his fingerlings from the professional +breeder, who has facilities which are too elaborate to be duplicated +on a small scale. +</P> + +<P> +Fish culture, except under government auspices, is little known in +the United States. +</P> + +<P> +<I>American Homes and Gardens</I> has an account of the breeding of +pheasants, which is of interest. That it is possible to breed +pheasants, even around an ordinary suburban home, is shown by Mr. +Homer Davenport, the famous cartoonist, who succeeded in breeding +and raising some of the choicest pheasants on his place at Morris +Plains, New Jersey. +</P> + +<P> +A great variety of species are commonly bred, but all of them came +from China or India. The pheasant can be tamed by careful handling, +but cats and dogs and other small animals must be kept away. The +pheasantry should be placed on high, well-drained ground with a +southern exposure, where the soil is good enough to raise clover, +oats, and barley. The quarters for pheasants and the management are +very much like those for fancy chickens. The yard should be inclosed +by wire netting both on sides and top to keep the birds from +wandering away; and there should be houses for roosting and breeding +with nesting quarters attached. +</P> + +<P> +In Central Park, New York, the running space allotted to three or +four birds is not more than ten by twenty feet, and Mr. George +Ethelbert Walsh tells of a case where sixty pheasants were kept in +excellent condition in a house ten by fifty feet, with five yards +attached, averaging 10 X 25 feet. However, with pheasants, as with +all the bird family, especially turkeys, the more ground they have +for ranging the less liable they will be to disease. The chief +difficulty in breeding game birds like the pheasant is to secure the +insects, such as flies, maggots, and ant eggs, which are the natural +food of the young. Sufficient green food like lettuce, turnip tops, +cabbage, etc., must also be provided. There is always a market at +fancy prices for more of the matured birds than can possibly be +supplied. +</P> + +<P> +Some people make money in breeding or training fancy birds like +canaries, mocking birds, finches, parrots, and so on; but this +industry can be carried on almost as well in rooms in the city as in +the country. Specializing on any kind of animal rearing must be gone +into with extreme caution, because in the breeding of animals there +are many factors to be dealt with which do not confront the breeder +of plants. Make haste slowly, and before branching out be sure that +you master each step in its turn. +</P> + +<P> +An industry which is practically unknown in this country, but which +flourishes in Burgundy, France, is the raising of snails for food. +Those who are shocked by this will be surprised to learn that snail +culture was practiced by the Romans at the time of the Civil War +between Caesar and Pompey, as Jacques Boyer says in <I>American Homes +and Gardens.</I> The snail lays from fifty to sixty eggs annually. They +are deposited in a smooth hole prepared for them in the ground and +hatched within twenty days. So rapidly do they grow that they are +ready for market six or eight weeks after hatching. The snail park +is made by inclosing a plot of damp, limy soil with smooth boards +coated with tar to prevent the snails climbing out, and held in +place by outside stakes strong enough to withstand the wind. The +boards must penetrate the soil to the depth of eight inches at +least, and at a level with the ground they must have a sort of shelf +to prevent the snails from burrowing under them. When the snail +encounters an obstacle in its path, it lays its eggs, sensible +beast. Ten thousand snails can be raised on a plot of land one +hundred by two hundred feet. The ground is plowed deeply in the +spring, the snails are placed on it and covered with from two to +four inches of moss or straw which is kept damp. They must be fed +daily with lettuce, cabbage, vine leaves, or grass; as they eat at +night, they are fed shortly before sunset. Aromatic herbs, like +mint, parsley, etc., are planted in the inclosure to improve the +flavor of the snails. +</P> + +<P> +In October, the snails having become fat through the summer, retire +into their shells, the mouths of which they close with a thin +gelatinous covering. They are now ready for picking, and are put on +screens or trays which are piled together in storehouses, where they +remain several months without food. When the fast has been +sufficiently prolonged, the shells are brushed up and the snails +cooked in salt water in a great pot holding about ten thousand. When +cooked, they are immediately sent to the consumer in wooden boxes +holding from fifty to two hundred. The business is a very profitable +one, as the snail is considered a great delicacy by epicures. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps the silkworm is not exactly in place in a chapter on Novel +Live Stock. It is at present not much more than an interesting +experiment, but there will be money in silkworm culture as soon as a +market for the product is developed. The main difficulty is lack of +food, as the worm thrives best on the leaf of the white mulberry +tree. Until a substitute is found, it will be necessary therefore to +set out young trees, which in two years will bear enough leaves to +supply food. The labor of silkworm rearing all comes in one month. +It can be carried on in any large, airy room The eggs are hatched by +the summer heat, and the worm does not become a heavy eater until +the last two weeks. It sheds its skin four times, and after the +final moult it climbs into loose brush prepared for it and spins the +cocoon. These are then dried and shipped. +</P> + +<P> +At the South, where the climate is well suited for silk culture, an +obstacle has been found in the unadaptability of the cheap labor, +particularly colored labor, to the delicate handling, and especially +winding of the silk from the cocoons. +</P> + +<P> +Many people make money by breeding dogs. Not much land is required +and very little capital, as kennels can be multiplied as demand +increases. There is always a profitable market for dogs, and some of +the lap species, like the King Charles spaniel, bring fabulous +prices. Hunting dogs, such as setters, pointers, retrievers, really +require a game country and a practical hunter who can train the +puppies, to make much of a success of it; with these, if properly +handled, the business is a safe one, as there is little other +technical skill required beyond ordinary care, such as is given to +domestic animals. +</P> + +<P> +Cats are a better venture than dogs because they are sold to women +who will pay any price for what strikes their fancy. Fashions in +cats change about as fast as fashions in coats, but cats breed +faster than coats wear out, so it is quick business. +</P> + +<P> +Just now, coon cats, tortoise-shell cats, and bizarre colors of +Persian cats are mostly in vogue, but the tailless Manx cat, and +even freaks like the six-toed cat and Iynx cats always find a ready +market. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, these can be raised in the city, but if it is done in a +large enough way to make a living out of it, the Board of Health and +the neighbors will raise—something else. +</P> + +<P> +Fishing and hunting are primitive industries of which we think only +in connection with wild land. But every bay and pond and wood will +supply at least some subsistence or profit to the intelligent +seeker. +</P> + +<P> +Oysters, clams, crabs, mussels, frogs, and common fish are found in +abundance in many places, and help out with table expenses. Even +English sparrows are delicious. +</P> + +<P> +Almost any wild animal is much more wholesome to eat than pork. +Squirrels and even weasels are cleaner feeders than pigs, and the +Indians eat them with great relish, while everybody knows the +keenness of the darkies for "coon." Most snakes are better eating +than eels and not near so repulsive—when you get used to them. +</P> + +<P> +The woodchuck is a nuisance to the farmer, covering his field with +loads of subsoil from the burrow and then eating the tender sprouts; +and the farmer does not know enough to eat his tender corpse, but he +is good to eat. If a rabbit and a chicken could have young, it would +taste like a woodchuck. +</P> + +<P> +Muskrats, mink, raccoons, and gray and fox squirrels are easily +trapped; and the skins of those killed in that way find a steady +market. Skins of poisoned animals do not sell so well, as they are +rough and dry. +</P> + +<P> +In order to be profitable, these do not need to pay very well in +proportion to the time they take, since they are hunted as +recreation and at odd times. +</P> + +<P> +But there is a larger field in raising wild animals, which our +Western people have not been slow to avail themselves of, and we +hear of men being prosecuted for breeding wolves, coyotes, and +bobcats, a kind of lynx, to get the government bounty for the snouts +or scalps. +</P> + +<P> +In a legitimate way profit may be had from such animals. +</P> + +<P> +Ernest Thompson Seton has an article in <I>Country Life in America,</I> +on raising fur-bearing animals for profit; this offers a good +chance for small capital and large intelligence. He suggests the +beaver, mink, otter, skunk, and marten, and says that whoever would +begin fur farming is better off with five acres than with five +hundred. He describes two fox ranches at Dover, Maine. They raise +twenty to forty silver foxes a year, on a little more than half an +acre of land. The silver fox's fur is one of the most valuable on +the market and sells at an average of $150 a pelt, that is, $3000 to +$6000 gross for the year's work. Foxes are not expensive to breed, +their food consisting chiefly of sour milk and cornmeal or flour +made into a cake, and a little meat about once a week. +</P> + +<P> +The capital required is small. A fence for the inclosure should be +of one and a half inch mesh No. 16 galvanized wire, ten feet high, +with an overhang of eighteen inches to keep the foxes from escaping, +and is about the only outlay except for purchase of stock. +</P> + +<P> +Stakes should be driven close to the fence to keep them from +burrowing out. +</P> + +<P> +They are naturally clean animals, and with careful attention are +free from disease. Mr. Stevens reports that in his two years' +experience he has had twenty to thirty foxes and lost none by +disease, while Mr. Norton, with five years' experience, carrying +thirty to forty, reports that one to two die each year. +</P> + +<P> +They breed as well in captivity as in their wild state, usually +bringing forth a litter of six or seven in the spring. These breed +the following spring and their fur is ready for market the following +December. And now breeders sell fine stock to other breeders who are +entering the industry, sometimes getting three to four hundred +dollars per pair. Mr. Seton remarks, "I am satisfied that any man +who has made a success of hens can make a success of foxes, with +this advantage for the latter a fox requires no more space or care +than a hen, but is worth twenty times as much, and so gives a chance +for returns twenty times as large." +</P> + +<P> +This is an infant industry, but if others can get the same results, +it will pay handsomely. To get the best furs, however, requires a +district where the winters are cold and long. +</P> + +<P> +There are a few skunk farms in the West. It is said that the scent +gland can be taken out, though that is not necessary, and that the +farms do well. Their oil is also said to be valuable. But while +skunks are so common there cannot be much in breeding them. +</P> + +<P> +If your fancy goes to "critters" rather than crops it is much better +to raise game birds. Wild turkeys raised under a hen or in an +incubator and made pretty tame (if too tame they do not thrive so +well in a small area), "wild" ducks, grouse, partridges, quails, +even wood ducks which build their nests in trees are no longer +experiments. +</P> + +<P> +All the common enemies you have to contend against are foxes, dogs, +cats, rats, mink, skunks, hawks, owls, crows, frogs, turtles, +snakes, poachers, game legislators, and disease. +</P> + +<P> +It has been calculated that one pair of quails and its +progeny would produce five or six million birds in eight years if +there were no losses. But so would chickens; and probably you will +not get that many. +</P> + +<P> +All about these game birds is set forth in an advertising booklet +called, "Game Farming" of the Hercules Powder Co., which has offices +in a dozen cities, so we need not enlarge. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WHERE TO GO +</H3> + +<P> +Intensive cultivation, raising a big crop on little land, can be +carried on most profitably near areas of dense population; for +perishable products, like fruits and vegetables, can be best +marketed near the consumer. The limit for delivery by auto is about +fifteen to twenty miles, and then only if roads are good; if the +land selected lies on the line of a railroad which gives equal terms +to way freight and to through freight, you will fare nearly as well. +Railroads control agricultural development. Sparsely settled regions +always practice extensive cultivation, raising light crops on big +farms, because only such crops can be grown as can be raised on +large areas by machinery, and are not perishable. Staples like corn, +wheat, pork, and beef are transported at low prices for long +distances by the railroads. This forces the settlers in newly opened +portions of the country to sell in a market created by the +railroads, in competition with what is produced within the areas of +intensive cultivation, that is, with access to adjacent markets. +</P> + +<P> +So we find the bonanza wheat farms of California, the Dakotas, and +the Canadian Northwest, the pampas of the Argentine, the Steppes of +Russia, and the Indian uplands devoted to wheat raising; in the +United States corn belt, fields of from five to twenty thousand +acres are still not uncommon. Conversely, intensive cultivation is +most advanced in China, where a dense population forced the people +long ago to bring into use every foot of tillable soil that is left +open to them. +</P> + +<P> +Near the towns of the United States a few market gardeners supply +such vegetables as the people do not raise for themselves. The +states along the Atlantic seaboard have all the facilities for +successful intensive cultivation—a dense population and idle, +cultivable land. In choosing a location, the home crofter should +well consider his experience, and try to enter a community where he +can engage in analogous pursuits. Dairy regions never have enough +men who understand cattle and horses; fruit-growing districts always +need experienced pickers; market garden regions need men who +understand rotating crops and making hotbeds, transplanting, etc. +</P> + +<P> +If you have a little money, you can probably do best by buying and +draining some swamp land, which is the most productive of all, as it +contains the washings of the upland for centuries. Swamp land can +usually be cleared and drained for from thirty to forty dollars per +acre. It can be bought very cheap and when ready to cultivate will +have increased many times in value. +</P> + +<P> +The next best is the "abandoned" or worn-out farm. Proper methods of +cultivation will bring it back to more than its original fertility. +The Eastern states from Maine to Virginia abound with them at from +five to twenty-five dollars per acre. In many cases the buildings +are worth more than the whole price asked. +</P> + +<P> +The nearest land easily available in the East is in the state of New +York. The writer believes it is true that "there are twenty thousand +farms for sale in this state, and nearly, all at such low prices and +upon such favorable terms as to make them available for any one +desiring to engage in agriculture or have a farm home. The soil of +these farms is not exhausted, but on the contrary is, with proper +cultivation, very productive. Nearly all have good buildings and +fences, are supplied with good water and plenty of wood for farm +purposes, and in nearly all cases have apple and other fruit trees +upon them." (List of Farms, occupied and unoccupied, for sale in New +York State. Bureau of Information and Statistics, Bulletin, State of +New York, Department of Agriculture.) +</P> + +<P> +These farms are distributed all over the state, some in nearly every +county. In Sullivan County, for example, there are farms for sale +ranging in price from ten to one hundred dollars per acre. These +can, almost without exception, be bought by small payments, balance +on long mortgages, and it is wonderful how cheap they are. In Ulster +County thirty farms, some of which I have seen, are offered for sale +at trifling prices. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, many of these farms have been sold since the first +editions of this book, and the prices have advanced, perhaps on the +average doubled; but cheap automobiles have improved roads and have +made others available that were useless ten years ago. The +development of the Southern states, with eradication of the cattle +tick (the cause of "Texas Fever") and irrigation and rotation of +crops, has opened up new countries. N. O. Nelson writes he has +bought many Louisiana farms for his cooperative enterprise for about +what the improvements are worth. +</P> + +<P> +Cut over woodlands which we have learned to make produce incomes of +about five dollars each year per acre by intelligent forestry, as +well as swamp lands which we now know how to make healthful by +drainage and by the extinction of mosquitoes, can still be had at +low prices in New York and other states. Numerous others are in the +market from five dollars per acre up, and so it goes through the +state, from Wyoming County in the extreme western end, where farms +ranging from thirty to three hundred acres are in the market at from +thirty to forty dollars per acre, to St. Lawrence County in the +north, where land can be bought as low as fifteen dollars per acre. +</P> + +<P> +When it is considered that these lands are within easy access to +established markets with transportation and mail facilities, rural +delivery, and telephone a proper idea may be formed of their value +in opportunity. The authority quoted further states that "probably +fifty thousand agricultural laborers can find employment on the +farms of New York at good wages. Families particularly are wanted to +rent houses and work farms on shares." Wages for new hands run from +twenty to thirty dollars and upwards per month with board. Men who +know how to milk are especially in demand throughout the dairy +regions. These conditions make it possible for experienced farmers, +although entirely without money, to get to the soil. +</P> + +<P> +Over three hundred thousand aliens annually settled in the cities of +New York State during some years in the last decade. These people +could be got out of the cities, where in normal times they are +little needed, into adjacent country districts where they are much +needed. +</P> + +<P> +In the <I>Real Estate Record and Guide,</I> Mr. A. L. Langdon says: "It +is most remarkable that there are on Long Island, within from +thirty-five to seventy miles of New York, thousands of acres of land +which have never been cultivated, which have for years produced +nothing but cordwood, and which the owners allow to be overrun with +fire almost every year. A large part of this land has soil two or +three feet deep underlaid with gravel. The best water in the world +is abundant and the climate is more equable than on the mainland, +and in each locality where any reasonable effort has been made to +cultivate the soil, it has produced plentifully of all fruits and +vegetables which can be grown in this latitude." +</P> + +<P> +Long Island should produce all the fruit, vegetables, poultry, eggs, +and milk needed by its own residents, with a large surplus for the +city markets, instead of getting, as it does, a large part of its +supply of these things from the city. +</P> + +<P> +When it is considered that about a quarter of a million acres of +this land so close to the city is now scrub oak and uncultivated +waste, and that there are about a million adult workers in the city, +the importance of the experiment is obvious; especially as we learn +from the United States census that over ten thousand of these +workers are already in agricultural pursuits within the city limits. +</P> + +<P> +"Here midway on Long Island, and just beyond the limits for a man to +locate who expects to earn his living by daily work in the city, is +a territory about forty miles long and ten miles wide which by +intensive farming would yield a good living for more than two +hundred thousand inhabitants. In this agricultural section, a man of +small means who expects to live on the land the year round, should +purchase a plot not too small to produce enough to support himself +and family and a surplus to sell, not less than six acres. Probably +all men have more or less land hunger a desire to own land and it is +a worthy object to encourage to the extent of inducing a man to +purchase what he can pay for and be satisfied with, but it is a +shameful thing to induce a poor man, who has to earn his living in +New York, to buy on the installment plan a small lot so far from his +place of employment that he cannot live on it and travel to and from +his work every day, and where there is the strongest probability +that he will never make more than two or three payments, and will +consequently lose what he does pay." The writer hears of one plot +which was sold nineteen times and the contracts defaulted on after +payments, before any one took title. +</P> + +<P> +If the seeker is not satisfied with the opportunities which the +state of New York offers, he may turn to New Jersey, equally +accessible and equally rich in chances. +</P> + +<P> +New Jersey Year-Book: "There are in the southern part of the State +large tracts of land which are still uncleared, or covered with +brushwood, and which are adapted to tillage and capable of producing +large crops of small fruits and market garden vegetables. The wood +on them is mainly scrub oak, with some dwarfed pitch pine and yellow +pine, and hence they are called oak lands to distinguish them from +the more sandy lands and tracts on which the pitch pine grows almost +exclusively. The latter are known as pine lands. The total area of +cleared (farm) lands in the southern division of the State, +southeast of the marl belt, is about 450,000 acres. The pineland +belts have an aggregate area of 486,000 acres, making at least +800,000 acres accessible by railways from the large cities and also +near to tidewater navigation. The maps of the Geological Survey show +the location and the extent of these lands, their railway lines, and +their relation to the settlements already made and to the cities. +</P> + +<P> +"The soils of these tracts are sandy and not naturally so rich and +fertile as the more heavy clay soils of the limestone, the red +shale, and the marl districts of the State, but they are not so +sandy and so coarse-grained as to be non-productive, like some of +the pineland areas. The latter are often deficient in plant food and +are deservedly characterized as pine barrens, being too poor for +farm purposes. The growth of oak and pine, as well as chemical +analyses, shows that the oak-land soils contain the elements of +plant production. They are not so well suited to pasturage or to +continuous cropping as naturally rich virgin soils; they are better +fitted for raising vegetables, melons, sweet potatoes, small fruits, +peaches, and pears than wheat, Indian corn, hay, and other staples. +The eminent superiority of this kind of farming in New Jersey over +the old routine of wheat, corn, hay, and potatoes is well known. +These South Jersey soils are easily cleared of brushwood or standing +timber, and of stumps, with a hand or horse-power puller which is a +cheap affair, and the wood is salable in all this part of the State +at remunerative prices, often bringing more than the original cost +of the land. The long working season and the short and mild winter +favor the arrangement of work, so that all is done with the least +outlay for help. They also favor the mosquitoes. +</P> + +<P> +"The success of Hammonton, Egg Harbor City, Vineland, and other +places is notable, and equally good results are to be had at a +hundred or more places as well situated as they are. These lands are +sold at low figures, and the settler saves in capital and interest +account. Only the difficulty of getting money to help in building +interferes with rapid settlement. +</P> + +<P> +"The West Jersey Railway, the Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia and +Reading's Atlantic City Railroad, the Philadelphia and Seashore +Railway, the New Jersey Southern Railroad, and other branch roads +afford excellent facilities for access to New York, Philadelphia, +and the cities of the State. The Cohansey, Maurice, and Mullica +rivers head well up near the northwest limits of these lands, and +their navigable reaches run for miles across them. The waters of the +Delaware Bay and the ocean are within a few miles of a large part of +this oak-land domain. +</P> + +<P> +"The advantages of an old settled and Eastern State, within easy +reach of these large markets, of land which is easily tilled and +generous and quick in its response to feeding, and at low prices, +make them equal to, if not better than, the rich prairie soils of a +new West, or the low prices and cheap lands of the abandoned +hillsides of New England." +</P> + +<P> +Wages for unskilled farm labor are about the same as for New +York—twenty to twenty-five dollars per month. The canning and fruit +industries make room for a large number of people in the late summer +and fall, who may thus, by taking a temporary place, kind some +permanent location where they may improve their health and fortunes. +</P> + +<P> +"Delaware also offers unequalled opportunities to immigrants. It is +ideally situated on the Atlantic Ocean and the Delaware Bay, and is +penetrated by numerous creeks and rivers. +</P> + +<P> +"The railroad, steam, and electric facilities of the State are +developing steadily year by year, while every section of the State +possesses easily navigable streams, with vessels for carrying +freight and passengers. +</P> + +<P> +"Over fifteen millions of people live within a radius of three +hundred miles; the large majority reside in cities and towns and +furnish the finest markets in the world. Within five hundred miles +are more than one third of the people of all North America. +</P> + +<P> +"Wilmington is a city of seventy-five thousand people, is growing +rapidly, and is becoming a great manufacturing place. +</P> + +<P> +"These people may be reached in one day by the luscious fruits that +grow in Delaware, and every one of them is perfectly happy when he +gets a Delaware peach. Many other Delaware products are as good as +the peaches. +</P> + +<P> +"As cattle and wheat raising developed in the great West, Delaware +people thought that they were ruined. They did not change at once, +but slowly discovered that the light lands are wonderfully +productive of fruits and vegetables, and that they pay much better +than cattle and grain ever could. But these new methods have not +been adopted in all parts of the State, so that land neglected and +unprofitable is for sale. The tides of immigration have swept +westward and left Delaware untouched. Men, money, and enterprise are +needed. +</P> + +<P> +"There are few unoccupied or 'abandoned' farms in Delaware." The +land is mostly held by descendants of the early settlers, who form a +species of landed aristocracy. Lately, owing to the younger members +of these families having become established in the newer states and +on account of the death or incapacity of the older members left in +possession, there has been a marked tendency to sell off these +farms. However, "a large proportion of the farms in Delaware are not +for sale at any price. Some of them have been in the same family for +generations, and if put on the market would sell for from one to two +hundred dollars per acre." +</P> + +<P> +The soil is all the way from a heavy white oak clay, which is too +stiff and too sticky for most crops, to very light sand. +</P> + +<P> +The heaviest clay is made lighter and more porous, and the lightest +sand is readily made retentive of moisture and extremely productive, +by plowing in different kinds of crops as green manure, such as cow +peas, soy beans, the vetches, etc.; crimson clover, winter oats, +rye, turnips, and numerous other crops may be sown in August or +later, and produce a fine crop for turning under early in the +spring. Crimson clover grows nearly all winter. Pure cold water is +reached at from twenty to fifty feet by dug or driven wells. +</P> + +<P> +The climate is good; there are no cyclones. There is some damp +weather in winter, but there are no malignant fevers, and there is +little or no malaria, except in a few marshy places. There are some +mosquitoes and flies, but they are not especially troublesome, and +there are no poisonous reptiles. +</P> + +<P> +The population is mostly native, five sixths white, one sixth +colored. The white population is almost entirely of Anglo Saxon +descent. +</P> + +<P> +"Perfect titles may be secured, but all titles everywhere should +always be searched by a competent lawyer, the usual fee for which is +ten to twenty dollars. +</P> + +<P> +"Farm hands receive from twenty to twenty-five dollars per month and +board, for a season of nine or ten months, sometimes for the whole +year. Day hands receive from seventy-five cents to two dollars per +day and board themselves." +</P> + +<P> +Those who are tempted by the advertisements for fruitpickers should +beware. Delaware, like some other states, allows fees to constables +and to the "squires"—Justices of the Peace they would be +elsewhere—for arrests, and it is a common practice to advertise for +fruit pickers, then arrest them as tramps when they come, and the +next day release them on condition that they will leave the county +at once—and leave the trap open for the next comer. +</P> + +<P> +Delaware peaches have made fortunes for many, but will make still +greater fortunes in the future for the owners of the land. +</P> + +<P> +Pears, plums, grapes, watermelons, and cantaloupes thrive, and find +an ideal home, and small fruits all flourish. Sweet potatoes yield +bountifully and are of the finest quality. Asparagus and early white +potatoes pay handsome profits. Tomatoes, the great canning crop, are +grown by the thousands of acres. +</P> + +<P> +"The grasses and clovers grow in luxuriance, and hence dairying and +beef production are profitable. Poultry pays as well as anywhere +else; chickens often run on green clover all through the open +winter. +</P> + +<P> +"The game consists of various species of ducks, quails, reed birds, +hares, marsh rabbits, and other small creatures. Shad, trout, +herring, crocus, black bass, pike, white fish, rock fish, oysters, +clams, crabs, and terrapin are abundant in Delaware waters." +</P> + +<P> +The tax in the rural counties is generally sixty cents on the +hundred dollars. Besides this there are taxes on business and a very +light school tax. There is no state tax, yet the state makes large +appropriations for the support of the public schools, which are free +to everybody. +</P> + +<P> +Maryland has established a State Bureau of Immigration in Baltimore +to give information to home seekers, and advise them as to choice of +location, opportunities for getting started in agricultural +production, and aid them in any way consistent with a State Bureau. +Most of these facts are taken from such reports. +</P> + +<P> +Southern Maryland and the eastern shore are especially adapted to +gardening and trucking, as well as fruit growing. Land is cheap and +can be purchased in tracts of any size from an acre upwards, at from +ten to fifty dollars per acre. Farms from twenty acres to seven +hundred acres and up are for sale in nearly every county in the +state. The removal of a large part of the negro population from the +country to the cities has resulted in the partition of the large +estates into smaller farms, thus affording an opportunity for home +seekers who are seeking cheap land amid congenial surroundings. +Nearly all of these farms have buildings, some in need of repair, +others in very good condition. +</P> + +<P> +For those who wish to avoid the hard work of breaking woodlands, the +eastern and western shores offer abundant well-cultivated lands with +buildings, orchards, and woods, in the immediate vicinity of +navigable rivers and railways, on good roads at from twenty dollars +per acre upwards. That seems cheap. +</P> + +<P> +For settlers who are accustomed to mountainous regions, western +Maryland has land for sale at even cheaper rates. +</P> + +<P> +"There are many large tidal marshes in Maryland, as might be +expected in a territory watered like this state. They are of the +richest soil to be found, because the Chesapeake Bay is a great +river valley, receiving the drainage of a vast area of fertile land, +comprising nearly one third of New York and nearly all of the great +agricultural states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Every +year this drainage brings down a black sediment, called oyster mud, +which is deposited on the marshlands and enriches the soil, making +it, with proper cultivation, of productivity like that of the rice +and wheat fields of Egypt. These unreclaimed lands are used chiefly +for grain." +</P> + +<P> +Proper drainage of small tracts of this land would bring unsurpassed +and absolutely untouched fertility. +</P> + +<P> +The Chesapeake River valley is not so large as that of the Nile or +Ganges, but is of enough consequence to play an important part in +human affairs and to support in comfort and prosperity a population +as large as that of many famous states. +</P> + +<P> +"The eastern shore is uniformly level, with good roads. The +proximity of the ocean and the bay greatly modifies the temperature. +It has a great trunk railway, with connections along its entire +length, called the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania railroad, +which furnishes direct transportation to Philadelphia, New York, and +other northern cities." +</P> + +<P> +"On the eastern shore there are many thousand acres of land devoted +to garden truck, and the strawberry crop has of late years become of +importance. Over one hundred carloads of strawberries are shipped +daily during the season to the Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, +and Boston markets." +</P> + +<P> +Land properly cultivated will yield four thousand quarts of +strawberries to an acre. +</P> + +<P> +The canning of various fruits and vegetables has grown to be larger +than that of any other state and is one of the most profitable of +the industries of Maryland. The principal articles canned are +peaches, peas, and tomatoes. +</P> + +<P> +The tomato crop is also profitable to the grower. The young plants +are set out in the spring; many do this with a machine, but two +persons can easily plant seven acres in a day by hand. +</P> + +<P> +An acre will produce from six to eighteen tons of tomatoes, +according to the quality of the soil. All such products bring better +prices now in Maryland markets than they did before canning was +resorted to. The Maryland tin can is known wherever civilization +reaches. +</P> + +<P> +Tobacco is extensively produced only in southern Maryland, although +it can be raised in any section of the state. +</P> + +<P> +In the neighborhood of the larger cities trucking and fruit growing +are profitable, combined with poultry raising, often on farms of not +more than five or ten acres. +</P> + +<P> +Many farmers devote part of their time successfully to bees, and +there is nowhere a better climate for flowers than that of Maryland. +Two English florists who have settled in Baltimore County, ten and +thirteen miles northeast of the city, daily send to all parts of the +United States and even to Canada many large boxes of beautiful +roses, carnations, violets, and other choice flowers. Both of these +men began on a small scale and have prospered. +</P> + +<P> +The farmer who has a couple of thousand dollars to pay cash for a +small farm in Maryland is assured of a good living. But also a less +favored settler, if he has only from four to eight hundred dollars, +can have a good start in Maryland, and probably as good a chance for +independence and prosperity as anywhere. +</P> + +<P> +Families of immigrants when traveling to the Western, Northwestern, +and Southern states of America have to spend from one hundred and +fifty to two hundred dollars for railroad tickets from New York to +their destination; by going to these adjoining states they can save +all that money, and invest it in land. +</P> + +<P> +The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Immigration also +publishes information for the home seeker. +</P> + +<P> +To most people the name Virginia carries with it limitless vistas of +tobacco fields covered with darkies plying the hoe, or picking off +the ubiquitous worm. Before the War this picture would have been a +true one; but since the awakening of the younger generation to a +better understanding of her resources, together with the withdrawal +of large numbers of the colored people into industrial occupations, +no state offers more attractive inducements to the homecrofter than +Virginia. In climate, diversity of soils, fruits, forests, water +supply, mineral deposits, including mountain and valley, she offers +unsurpassed advantages. Truly did Captain John Smith, the +adventurous father of Virginia, suggest that "Heaven and earth never +agreed better to frame a place for man's habitation." +</P> + +<P> +Virginia lies between the extremes of heat and cold, removed alike +from the sultry, protracted summers of the more southern states, and +the longer winters and devastating storm and cyclones of the North +and Northwest. Its limits north and south correspond to California +and southern Europe. +</P> + +<P> +The climate is mild and healthful. The winters are less severe than +in the Northern and Northwestern states, or even the western +localities of the same latitude, while the occasional periods of +extreme heat in the summer are not more oppressive than in many +portions of the North. +</P> + +<P> +Tidewater Virginia, or the Coastal Plain, as it is sometimes called, +receives the name from the fact that the streams that penetrate it +feel the ebb and flow of the tides from the ocean up to the head of +navigation. It consists chiefly of broad and level plains, while a +considerable portion, nearest to the bay, has shallow bays and +estuaries, and marshes that are in most instances reached only by +the ocean tides. These marshes abound with wild duck and sora. +Tidewater is mainly an alluvial country. The soil is chiefly light, +sandy loam, underlaid with clay. Its principal productions are +fruits and early vegetables, which are raised in extensive "market +gardens," and shipped in large quantities to Northern cities. The +fertilizing minerals—gypsum, marl, and greensand—abound, and their +judicious use readily restores the lands when exhausted by +improvident cultivation. +</P> + +<P> +Middle Virginia is a wide, undulating plain, crossed by many rivers +that have cut their channels to a considerable depth and are +bordered by alluvial bottom lands that are very productive. The soil +consists of clays with a subsoil of disintegrated sandstone rocks, +and varies according to the nature of the rock from which it is +formed. +</P> + +<P> +The principal productions of middle Virginia are corn, wheat, oats, +and tobacco. The tobacco raised in this section and in Piedmont, +known as the "Virginia Leaf," is the best grown and the best known +in the United States. In this section, as in Tidewater, the low +bottom lands formed by the sediment of the waters are exceptionally +productive. +</P> + +<P> +The Piedmont section is diversified and surpassingly picturesque. +The soil is heavier than that of middle Virginia, the subsoil being +of stiff and dark red clay. On the slopes of the Blue Ridge grapes +of delicious flavor grow luxuriantly. These produce excellent wines, +and the clarets have a wide fame. The pippin apples of this section +are of unrivaled excellence. +</P> + +<P> +The "Great Valley," as it is descriptively called, is in the general +configuration one continuous valley, included between the two +mountain chains that extend throughout the state; it is one of the +most abundantly watered regions on the face of the globe. Deep +limestone beds form the floor of the Great Valley, and from these +beds the soil derives an exceeding fertility, peculiarly adapted to +the growth of grasses and grain, and it bears the name of the +"garden spot" of the state. +</P> + +<P> +Five trunk lines of railroads penetrate and intersect the state. The +lines of steamboats that ply the navigable streams of eastern +Virginia afford commercial communication for large sections of the +state with the markets of this country and of Europe. Norfolk and +Newport News maintain communication with the European markets by +steamers and vessels, while from these ports is also kept up an +extensive commerce along the Atlantic seaboard. The seaports are +nearer than is New York to the great centers of population, and +areas of production, of the West and Northwest. +</P> + +<P> +Market garden crops of every description can be grown. The following +result was obtained on a four-acre patch near Norfolk: +</P> + +<P> +"The owner stated that in September he sowed spinach on four acres. +Between Christmas and the first of March following he cut and sold +the spinach at the rate of one hundred barrels to the acre, at a +price ranging from two to seven dollars per barrel—an average of +$4.50 per barrel. Early in March the four acres were set out to +lettuce, setting the plants in the open air with no protection +whatever, 175,000 plants on the four acres. He shipped 450 +half-barrel baskets of lettuce to the acre, at a price ranging from +$2 to $2.75 per basket. +</P> + +<P> +"Early in April, just before the lettuce was ready to ship, he +planted snap beans between the lettuce rows; and today, June 2d, +these are the finest beans we have seen this season. +</P> + +<P> +"The last week in May he planted cantaloupes between the bean rows, +which, when marketed in July, will make four crops from the same +land in one year's time. The cantaloupes will be good for 250 crates +to the acre, and the price will run from $1 to $1.50 per crate. A +careful investigation of these 'facts, figures, and features' will +show that his gross sales will easily reach $2000 per acre; his net +profits depend largely upon the man and the management; but they +surely should not be less than $1000 clear, clean profit to the +acre." +</P> + +<P> +"This is for farming done all out of doors. No hothouse or hotbed +work—not a bit of it, with no extra expense for hotbeds, cold +frames, or hothouses." +</P> + +<P> +"Intensive," thorough tillage and care of the soil will probably pay +as well here as at any point in the United States. +</P> + +<P> +Apples are the principal fruit crop of the state. There is a yearly +increasing number of trees. In one of the valley counties a +seventeen-year-old orchard of 1150 trees produced an apple crop as +far back as 1905 which brought the owner $10,000, another of fifty +twenty-year-old trees brought $700. Mr. H. E. Vandeman, one of the +best-known horticulturists in the country, says that there is not in +all North America a better place to plant orchards than in Virginia; +on account of its "rich apple soil, good flavor and keeping +qualities of the fruit, and nearness to the great markets of the +East and Europe." +</P> + +<P> +The trees attain a fine size and live to a good old age, and produce +abundantly. In Patrick County there is a tree nine feet five inches +around which has borne 110 bushels of apples at a single crop; other +trees have borne even more. One farmer in Albemarle County has +received more than $15,000 for a single crop of Albemarle Pippins +grown on twenty acres of land. This pippin is considered the most +delicious apple in the world. +</P> + +<P> +The fig, pomegranate, and other delicate fruits flourish in the +Tidewater region. +</P> + +<P> +New England, from Maine to Rhode Island, is suffering from one +disease—lack of intelligent labor. Thirty years ago the sons and +daughters who, in the natural course of events, would have stayed to +cultivate the home acres, left to form a part of the westward throng +making for the level, untouched prairies of Illinois and Iowa. +</P> + +<P> +The old folks have died or become incapacitated. New interests chain +their children to adopted homes. Result,—unoccupied lands by the +hundred thousand acres, awaiting energy, skill, and faith. +</P> + +<P> +Ten dollars an acre is a common price for the rocky hills of New +England. The choice river bottoms, and land near the larger cities +is as high priced as similar land anywhere else. Intending settlers +can buy small areas for little money; usually the smallest farms +have good buildings worth in many cases more than the price asked +for the whole farm. Climatic conditions are not favorable to single +cropping. In the old days general farming, grain, beef, sheep, and +hogs were the rule; nowadays, special crops, dairying, fruit +growing, etc. +</P> + +<P> +Tobacco is the great staple in the rich Connecticut River bottoms, +and even on the uplands, if properly manured, it pays from one to +three hundred dollars per acre. Tobacco can be raised on small areas +far from the railroad, as, when properly cured and packed for +shipment, it is not perishable. To many the worst feature of New +England is the climate—long, cold winters and short summers. Maine +being farthest north suffers most in this respect, but that does not +prevent her producing hundreds of thousands of tons of sweet corn +for canning and vast quantities of eggs and butter. Fruit does well +on the lower coast; a small orchard of peaches or plums will in +three or four years from planting make a comfortable living. Bush +fruits grow in abundance and give never-failing crops. +</P> + +<P> +Poultry is peculiarly successful on the rocky hills, because they +are nearly always dry or well drained. Dairying can be made to pay +if near a creamery, or where milk can be sold at retail. The +prospective settler here should bear in mind that wherever he goes, +the first year will produce little more than a kitchen garden; the +second enable him barely to pull through, and the third give him a +start at a permanent income. In farming, as in all other businesses, +only those will succeed who know what they want and how to get it; +who have selected with care the locality best suited to the special +crops they intend to raise; and after having once made a selection, +stick until they have compelled success. +</P> + +<P> +The lure of the vast West and of the new South is not forgotten; but +the time has passed when the young man could go West to take a farm +of Uncle Sam's. Desirable land is too expensive for the pioneer, and +the constant toil and comparative isolation of the prairie farm +offers but a poor sort of liberty, though it still affords a living. +</P> + +<P> +But close to the growing towns in those states small plots of land +can still be had to work with the same bright prospects that are +offered near the great metropolis. +</P> + +<P> +In nearly all the sections within the area of intensive cultivation, +timber is still plentiful enough to make it the cheapest building +material; and persons who really want to get to the land can +contrive a sufficient shelter, like a pioneer's, for from two to +five hundred dollars. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CLEARING THE LAND +</H3> + +<P> +It is pretty good fun to hack at bushes and to chop trees down and +then to chop them up. If there is only a small part of the land to +be cleared, a man can easily learn skill with the ax and do it at +odd times, but he was a wise old man of whom his little girl said, +"When grandpa wants anything, that moment he wants it." It is now +that we need the land; but even if it is covered with trees, there +is no cause for discouragement. Lumber is so high that the local or +portable sawmill men will buy the timber by the acre. They will cut +the trees and haul the logs. +</P> + +<P> +If you decide to cut a tree yourself, a little inquiry will show for +what purpose it will bring the highest price. Locust sticks, for +example, four to six inches thick, will bring in New York ten or +fifteen cents a running foot for insulator pinions. If a maple +proves to be either "curly" or "bird'seye" (this depending not on +the variety, but on the accidental undulations of the fiber), it +will be in demand for the manufacture of furniture. +</P> + +<P> +Sugar maples ten or fifteen feet high can be transplanted or sold. +Nut and fruit trees will nearly always be worth keeping. +</P> + +<P> +Cedar sticks fourteen feet long will bring twenty cents in most +places for hop and bean poles. See what can be sold instead of +burned, and don't cut down recklessly; an unsalable tree may be +valuable as a windbreak or as shade for your house. The wrong tree +for shade is the dense foliaged, low-branched tree which forms a +solid dome from the ground up. The right tree, in the opinion of +Henry Hicks (in <I>Country Life in America),</I> is the American elm, +which ought to be called the umbrella tree. Pliny speaks of the +plane tree, our sycamore or buttonwood, as excellent, because of the +horizontal branches which, like window blinds, allow free passage of +the breezes while intercepting the heat of the sun. +</P> + +<P> +The ideal shade tree is a canopy like a parasol over the house, with +high, leafy branches that do not shut off light and air from the +windows. This cools a house by keeping the sun off and cools the air +by the rapid evaporation from its leaves, and will make it ten to +fifteen degrees cooler in summer. It will be cheaper and more +effective than a combination of awnings, piazza, and eaves. Woodman, +spare that tree. +</P> + +<P> +Stumps may be burned out To get a good draught, bore a hole in a +slanting direction far down among the roots. The smoke goes through +the hole first and then the flame, boring the body to the roots deep +enough to plow. Land can also be cleared by dynamite. We condense +from Edith Loring Fullerton in <I>Farming,</I> on what has been done. +</P> + +<P> +To go into the desolate, uncultivated, burned over "waste lands" +near a great city and put ten acres under cultivation in the +shortest possible space of time was our problem. We undertook it at +short notice in an uncertain season—the autumn—with the +determination to get at least a portion of the land seeded down to +winter rye before cold weather prohibited further work. +</P> + +<P> +United to this problem was that of working a small farm to its +utmost capacity rather than half cultivation of a large one, which +is difficult to handle from lack of time and labor and an unwise +proposition for the East under the most favorable circumstances. +</P> + +<P> +Ten acres of scraggy-looking woodland was purchased, sixty-eight +miles from New York City on the north shore of Long Island. The plot +had a few second and third growth oak and chestnut trees and +"sprouts" along the borders. All else had been burned, and the +center of the acreage exhibited the mangled and blackened remains of +a once thrifty woodland. +</P> + +<P> +We proceeded to choose as our helpers native Long Islanders whom we +were desirous of allowing to work. We succeeded by strenuous efforts +in getting together a "gang" of both colored and white men to the +stupendous number of eight. They fell to work with a right good +will, at first cutting down here and trimming up there as directed. +However, after giving them a fair trial, we decided that they must +be replaced by Italians. The question of housing the eighteen +Italians soon came up. Tents might be adopted or even the unsanitary +"dugout" be allowed to mar the landscape. A shanty was entirely too +ugly to suit our tastes, and also expensive, and useless when the +men were through with it. Tents were too airy, as we knew the work +would continue until freezing weather, and perhaps well into the +winter. We "passed" on the "dugout." The ideal was something that +would be of use after the work of clearing was completed, and for +that purpose we decided upon "condemned freight cars." They cost but +ten dollars each, the railroad being glad to get rid of them. We +bought two, ultimately using one for a chicken house and the other +as a barn. In the meantime it was decided to remove the stumps by +dynamite, as trying to yank them out by stump pullers or by mattock +and plow was both slow and brutal. The ordinary custom of allowing +nature to work six years at the stumps and gradually eliminate them +by decay was not to be thought of. +</P> + +<P> +Dynamiter Kissam, a Long Island expert, arrived and set to work, +using fuses for small stumps up to two feet in diameter. +</P> + +<P> +With the advent of the Italians work began in earnest; they cleared +out every useless tree, cutting cord wood where any could be +obtained and burning the branches and charred trees as they went. +They also cleared out all underbrush thoroughly. +</P> + +<P> +The dynamiter with his helper followed them up. This is the most +exciting and interesting part of clearing land by modern methods. +</P> + +<P> +The dynamite is put up in half-pound sticks. They are a little +larger than an ordinary candle and are wrapped in heavy yellow +paraffined paper. One folded end of this paper is opened up and a +hole made by a wooden skewer into the dynamite stick, which is +plastic and resembles graham bread in color and consistency. +</P> + +<P> +For magneto-battery work where several charges are required, a +copper cap in which is a minute quantity of fulminate of mercury, +and which is exploded by a spark, is attached to fine electric wires +and sealed by sulphur. This cap is placed in holes in the sticks of +dynamite, and then securely tied by drawing string tightly around +the paper which is raised to admit the cap. +</P> + +<P> +In preparing a charge for fuse ignition, the cap is crimped to the +end of a piece of mining fuse and this is inserted in the dynamite +stick and securely fastened as previously described. +</P> + +<P> +These prepared charges are placed in a basket and carried very +tenderly to the stumps which have been prepared by the dynamiter's +assistant. All the work is handled very carefully, for while there +is not much danger of an accident unless fire is placed near the +explosive, nevertheless extreme caution is used at all times. It +requires a nature serene, calm, and deliberate. +</P> + +<P> +Deep oblique holes were then made with a round crowbar under the +stump singled out for execution. This hole should be as nearly +horizontal as possible and directly under the stump so that all the +explosive force may be expended on the wood and not on the earth +between the dynamite and the stump. The earth acts as a cushion and +the natural tendency of dynamite to exert force downward is +counteracted. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as a small strip was blown, the Italians, gathering up all +the stumps, roots, and fragments, removing any pieces that were +loosened but not completely torn out, and piling them at intervals, +immediately burned them. This cannot be done when stumps are removed +by any other method, for by the digging process the earth must be +picked and scraped from them and ultimately the stump hacked in +pieces before it will burn. +</P> + +<P> +By our method the stump is burned and the finest kind of unleached +wood ashes—containing lime to "sweeten" and potash and phosphoric +acid to furnish plant food—are spread upon the ground a few hours +after the stumps are blown out. These ashes would under other +circumstances have to be purchased at a cost of perhaps two dollars +a barrel, and as five barrels at least to the acre are required for +good fertilization, these ashes gave us the first credit upon the +books. +</P> + +<P> +Following the burners came the manure spreaders; five carloads of +manure had been purchased and was delivered before it was needed. +When the manure was spread upon the land (one half carload to the +acre), the plow started its work smoothly and with none of the +strain and jerk on man and beast usual in new land. The soil was +turned over with the greatest ease, for the explosions had shivered +and torn out even the smallest roots, so the plow ran through the +ground much more easily than in sod land. +</P> + +<P> +Our friable, sandy loam, with a light admixture of clay, pulverized +and aerated by the explosions, was in market garden condition at +once and without the year's loss of crops assured by old methods. +</P> + +<P> +A tooth harrow was next run over the plowed section, and gleaners +followed the harrow, picking up the fine roots as they were brought +to the surface. As piles of these fine roots grew, they were burned +and the ashes immediately spread upon the land. The tooth harrow was +run again across the rows, the disk harrow following chopped and +pulverized the earth into the finest possible condition. Thirty five +and one half working days after Larry and his gang arrived, rye was +drilled into three and one half acres. +</P> + +<P> +The condemned freight cars were placed upon skids and drawn to the +desired position over soaped planks. They were raised from the +ground to give good under ventilation. The north and east sides are +filled or banked up with sand which came out of the well. This keeps +out the cold winds, and, in the case of the chicken-house car, +allows the fowls a shaded shelter on hot summer days. +</P> + +<P> +The chicken-house car was placed facing the southeast. The western +end has a large glazed sash placed on it, and two in the southern +side. One half the car was partitioned off for roosting quarters, +while the other half serves as a laying and scratching house. This +farm keeps only a few chickens for family use. +</P> + +<P> +The artesian well was started in October. The well was, naturally, a +necessity, but there was much to be considered in regard to the +method of pumping. Under ordinary circumstances a windmill would do, +and is generally a good auxiliary; a ten-foot iron tower and a +ten-foot fan wheel cost about fifty dollars, but our farm is not to +be allowed to be a failure for lack of water in a dry season. In +case of drought (and every summer brings one of greater or less +duration) water must be on hand, and as a drought usually is +accompanied by windless weather, the windmill could not be depended +upon. An engine was obviously necessary. Both gasoline and kerosene +engines were closely investigated, with the result that a kerosene +oil engine was decided upon. (The new style of heavy oil engine is +better and cheaper to run. Ed.) An advantage of the engine over a +windmill is that it will furnish power for cutting wood, grinding +grain, or lighting the buildings, a two and one half horsepower +engine running twenty-five 16 c.p. lights easily. +</P> + +<P> +The rye was turned under green in the spring to furnish humus, the +greatest and only vital need of this particular spot of virgin soil. +</P> + +<P> +Since that was written an excellent and cheap stump puller has been +introduced, but the account of work is still typical. Dynamiting is +still the modern way to clear land as well as to break up a stiff +subsoil or hardpan, so as to loosen the earth to let deep roots like +trees or alfalfa go down and to secure drainage. +</P> + +<P> +Primitive American man regarded trees as "lumber" instead of as +timber and still destroys countless millions in valuable wood as he +"clears the ground." +</P> + +<P> +After it is cleared, it is vital to keep it cleared of weeds, which +worse garroters of crops than trees. To do that we don't need to bow +to the Earth, nor to hammer her with a hand hoe. +</P> + +<P> +"The Man with the Hoe" began to be a back number when Arkwright +invented the ark or the mule or whatever he did invent. The man with +the wheel hoe is the man that is "It." A wheel hoe costs from $6 to +$12, and will do the work of several men without breaking the heart +or even the back of one of them. It has as many attachments as a +summer girl and is equally versatile. It must be run between the +rows as soon as the ground is dry after every rain, so as to slay +the weeds before they are born. If you don't they will slay your +profits, if not yourself. +</P> + +<P> +Crops grown on that experimental farm are: Asparagus, berries, +beans, beets, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, carrots, cucumbers, +corn, eggplant, endive, fruit trees, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, limes, +melons, martynias, onions, okra, parsley, parsnips, peas, potatoes +(sweet and white), pumpkins, radishes, rhubarb, salsify, squash, +tomatoes, etc. Marketed strictly choice radishes May 18, peas June +10, lettuce June 21, beans June 29, beets July 8, carrots July 10, +cabbage July 11. Surely a rapid result. +</P> + +<P> +Hemp is hardly worth your growing for itself under ordinary +circumstances; the returns per acre are not sufficient. But Charles +Richard Dodge, in one of the United States Yearbooks of the +Department of Agriculture, says that as a weed killer it has +practically no equal. +</P> + +<P> +In proof of this, a North River farmer stated that thistles +heretofore had mastered him in a certain field, but after sowing it +with hemp not a thistle survived; and while ridding the land of this +pest, the hemp yielded him nearly sixty dollars an acre, where +previously nothing valuable could be produced. +</P> + +<P> +As it grows from Minnesota to the Mississippi Delta, its value for +this purpose is considerable. +</P> + +<P> +But there is a way easier and cheaper of clearing land than by +blasting, if we can afford to wait a little; and Mr. George Fayette +Thompson, in Bulletin No. 27, Bureau of Animal Industry, tells us +how, giving some interesting facts about Angora goats, of which the +following is a condensation: +</P> + +<P> +To people taking up raw land, particularly where there is a heavy +undergrowth to be cleared away, goats of some kind are an invaluable +aid. In its browsing qualities the common goat is as good as any, +but, aside from the clearing of the land, the profit in his keep is +very little, though some demand is growing up for goat's milk for +infants and for some fancy cheeses. A much better animal from the +standpoint of profit, while in use as a scavenger, is the Angora +goat. Their long, silky hair has been used for centuries in making +blankets, lap robes, rugs, carpets, and particularly the "cashmere" +shawls, formerly a great luxury in this country. Much of the camel's +hair dress goods is in reality made from the hair of the Angora +goat, or mohair, as it is called. Angora goats thrive best in high +altitudes with dry climates. They exist in greatest number in the +United States in California, New Mexico, and Texas. They have been +used successfully in the Willamette Valley of Oregon to eat the +underbrush off the land, doing for nothing that for which the +farmers pay Chinese laborers twenty-five to forty dollars per acre. +The cost of Angora goats is about ten to thirty dollars each for +does, with bucks at fifty to two hundred dollars, so that even with +a small area of land to clear it would pay to buy a little flock for +that purpose. Dr. Shandley, of Iowa, says that two to three goats to +the acre is sufficient for cleaning up land, and that in two years +the goats will eat all of the underbrush from woodland, such as +briers, thistles, scrub oak, sumac, and, in fact, any shrub +undergrowth. They need no other food than what they can secure from +the woods themselves. Consequently, the income from the sale of +mohair is nearly net. +</P> + +<P> +The more nearly thoroughbred the goats are, the better the mohair +and the higher the price. The meat of the Angora goat is superior to +mutton, although if sold in the market under the name of goat meat, +it commands only half the price of mutton. +</P> + +<P> +As an example of the Angora's utility in cleaning up land, the +Country Gentleman says: "Mr. Landrum exhibited ten head at the +Oregon State Fair. In order to demonstrate their effectiveness as +substitutes for grubbing, he left them on three acres of brush. At +the end of the second year the land was mellow and ready for the +plow." +</P> + +<P> +It might be possible to build up a business in clearing lands for +others by means of a herd of Angoras. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +HOW TO BUILD +</H3> + +<P> +If you find an "abandoned farm" on which the buildings are worth +more than the whole price asked, as frequently happens, you are all +right. Even if the buildings are somewhat dilapidated, you can fix +them up for a few dollars. But in buying small plots of ground, +larger farms have to be broken up. If you buy from the resident +owner, he may sell you five acres off his larger tract, and keep his +house to live in. Certain it is that if a farm of 100 acres is +subdivided into twenty five-acre farms, at least nineteen new houses +must be built, although sometimes an old barn can be made into a +fair residence. +</P> + +<P> +If you can do no better, it is possible to start by tenting. An +outfit large enough for a family of six would be about as follows: +</P> + +<P> +1 wall tent with fly, 10 X 14, for sleeping 1 wall tent with fly, 10 +X 14, for dining +</P> + +<P> +1 old cook stove (to be erected outdoors), 2 floors, 10 X 14, at $5 +each +</P> + +<P> +Brown tents, at least for the sleeping rooms, are best; they last +longer, are cooler, and do not attract the flies; though indeed we +need not have house flies if we keep the horse manure covered +up—they are all bred in that. If the tents are in the shade, the +cost of the cover or fly can be saved in the dining tent; but it is +necessary in the living tent, because wet canvas will leak when +touched on the inside. To make the tent warm for the winter, we must +bank up to the edges of the platform with earth and cover the whole +with another tent of the same shape, but a foot larger in every +dimension. These are commonly used in Montana. +</P> + +<P> +It is to be presumed that no one would attempt moving in without +household utensils, which may be as simple or elaborate as you +please. If there is a sawmill in the vicinity, a temporary shack for +winter, say 22 X 30 feet, could be built for from $400 to $600, +depending on the interior finish. Partitions can be made very cheap +by erecting panels covered with canvas, burlap, old carpet, etc. +Such a building does not need to be plastered, but can be made warm +enough by an inside covering of burlap, heavy builders' paper, or +composition board. Tar paper laid over solid sheeting makes a roof +that will last for two or three years. For such a shack draw the +plans yourself. All you really need is a living room, bedroom, and +kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +A cheap and effective water supply can be gotten from a driven well, +which in most places costs about one dollar per foot. Have it where +the kitchen is to be, so that the water can be pumped into a barrel +or other tank over the stove. With a good range you can have as good +a supply of hot and cold water as you had in the city. +</P> + +<P> +If so fortunate as to find a piece of land with a good spring on it, +you can lay pipes and draw the water from that. If you can get +twelve or fifteen feet fall from the spring to the kitchen, you +don't need a pump at all. +</P> + +<P> +For a toilet closet, build a shed four feet wide, six feet long, and +eight feet high. Use a movable pail or box. Lime slaked or unslaked +or dry dust or ashes must be scattered every time the closet is +used. Always clean before it shows signs of becoming offensive: keep +it covered fly tight and mix the contents with earth or litter, and +scatter on the garden. +</P> + +<P> +A shack can be built of logs which will do for comfort and will look +dignified. +</P> + +<P> +Horace L. Pike, in <I>Country Life in America,</I> says: "The lot on +which we meant to build our log house stood thirty-five feet above +the lake. The problem was how to build a cabin roomy, picturesque, +inexpensive, and all on the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"The ground dimensions are thirty-two by thirty feet outside. This +gives a living room sixteen by fourteen; bedrooms twelve by twelve, +twelve by ten, and nine by seven; kitchen eleven by nine; a five-by +four-foot corner for a pantry and refrigerator; closet four by six, +front porch sixteen by six feet six inches, and rear porch five by +five—705 square feet of inside floor space and 130 square feet of +porch. +</P> + +<P> +"A dozen pine trees stand on the lot, and maneuvering was required +to set a cottage among them without the crime of cutting one. The +front received the salutes of a leaning oak, the life of which was +saved by the sacrifice of six inches from the porch eaves, the trunk +forming a newel post for the step railing. +</P> + +<P> +"We closed the contract immediately for 120 Norway or red pine logs, +thirty feet long and eight by ten inches diameter at butts. The +price was low—one or two dollars their like should have brought. We +used, however, only eighty-one logs; forty thirty-foot, fourteen +eighteen-foot, thirteen sixteen-foot, and fourteen fourteen-foot. +</P> + +<P> +"Work was begun on April 22. Two days sufficed for the owner and one +man to clear and level the ground, dig post holes, set posts, and +square the foundation. The soil was light sand with a clay hardpan +three feet down. +</P> + +<P> +"Twenty-seven days each were put in by two men from start to finish, +with assistance rendered by the owner. There were seven days by the +mason, eight by carpenters, and four teen and one half by other +labor. On June 4 the cabin was ready for occupancy, and the family +moved in. The prices, as in most cases cited, are higher to-day. +Cheaper transportation or lower tariff may reduce them again. +</P> + +<P> +"Making allowances for increased cost of logs and differences in any +of the material cost, this cabin can be duplicated for less than +$700 by any one who has the ground, a few tools, and some building +ability. It is compact, convenient, and more roomy than a +superficial glance reveals, and it can be occupied (slight care is +required) from April to November with only the kitchen stove and the +fireplace supplying the heat. The same plan can be used for an +all-frame structure, perhaps at less cost. It could be sheathed and +slab covered in a locality where slabs, edged to six or eight inches +wide, could be had; or slabs could be used perpendicularly in the +gable ends and on the outside of the rear extension." +</P> + +<P> +We must not overlook the differences in cost of lumber and labor in +different places, sometimes more than doubling nor the fact that +different contractors will vary often twenty-five per cent in their +bids. +</P> + +<P> +A mere cabin, like a wooden tent, 12 X 10 with a platform adjoining, +will accommodate one or even two persons and can be built by a +contractor even at war prices for about fifty to one hundred +dollars. This will serve for tool house or storeroom when a more +convenient residence can be afforded. A number of such can be seen +at "Free Acres," New Jersey, an hour from New York City on the D. L. +& W. Railroad. +</P> + +<P> +Thoughtful provision and planning will go far to reduce costs. A +stove pipe which should run up inside the house, not outside, so as +to conserve heat and fuel, serves as chimney and fireplace. A +Franklin stove, practically an open fireplace set out entirely +inside the house, is a practical device, though it costs from $18 to +$30. It gives a cheerful open fire to burn wood or coal and has a +flat top to keep things hot, a clutch oven of sheet iron, and a bob +can be attached to the front of the grate. +</P> + +<P> +But remember that though you may have trees or fallen wood for the +cutting it takes a lot of time to cut it. A cylindrical self-feeding +coal burner is most economical for heating and a lined sheet iron +cooking stove for the kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +A fireless cooker, which retains the heat all day by means of +soapstone or insulation and slowly cooks the food without losing the +juices, is an economical device. It can be made at home by copying +what you see in the stores or by getting directions from the U. S. +Department of Agriculture. +</P> + +<P> +Don't forget double windows at least toward the north; and on all +windows have heavy holland shades which make an air space between +the cold windowpanes and the atmosphere of the room. +</P> + +<P> +Portable houses sound attractive, but they do not pay unless you +will need to move them. Manifestly it costs more to make a house +like a trunk than like a shed. The houses shipped ready made of the +"Aladdin" type, with all the parts ready marked to be nailed +together by unskilled labor are a much better investment and are not +shaky. +</P> + +<P> +It is true that living is expensive in the train suburbs, when +almost all that is eaten comes from the city, with freight and +monopoly rates added. But one can raise most of what the family +eats, and save besides in car fares and doctor's bills. +</P> + +<P> +The rent, perhaps a quarter of the income, that was paid for a place +so small that the cat had to jump on a chair when the baby sat down, +will be a clear gain. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Warrington's cottage at Rose Valley, Pennsylvania, forms a very +interesting subject, and is built from designs of well-known +architects of Philadelphia, who have taken up building small, +inexpensive modern houses in a practical manner. The house is built +with a stone foundation and a wooden superstructure with exterior +walls covered with metal lath and cement stucco which is stained a +cream color. The trimmings are stained a soft brown and the sashes +are painted white. The roof is covered with shingles, and is left to +weather finish. The front porch, from which a vestibule leads into +the house, has a hooded cover formed by the main roof sweeping down +sufficiently to form a protection. The vestibule forms an entrance +to both the living room and the kitchen; the kitchen is at the front +of the house, allowing the main rooms and a private porch to be at +the south side. The interior throughout is trimmed with cypress and +stained a soft brown. The second floor joists are exposed to view +and are stained in a similar manner, while the ceiling space between +the joists is plastered. A broad archway separates the living and +the dining rooms, and while it forms a separation, it does not +preclude the possibility, when desired, of throwing the two rooms +into one large apartment. The large, open fireplace is built of +clinker brick, and its facings extend from the floor to the ceiling; +it has a wooden shelf supported on corbeled brackets. A semi-boxed +stairway rises out of the living room to the second floor. There are +three bedrooms with good-sized closets, and a bathroom on the second +floor. A cellar, under the entire house, has a cemented bottom, and +contains a laundry. This house costs about $2000 complete. +</P> + +<P> +Houses built of cement blocks are growing in favor. Cement blocks +can be made anywhere by unskilled labor. All that is needed is a +competent foreman to direct the making and seasoning of the blocks +and laying them in the walls. +</P> + +<P> +The cost of concrete compared to frame or brick structures is, if +anything, all things considered, in favor of concrete. Houses built +of wood are likely to become increasingly expensive because of the +deforesting which is going on in all parts of the United States. +</P> + +<P> +There are abundant books of plans and costs published, showing what +may be built, and several responsible publishers recklessly offer to +refund the cost of the plans if the expense of building the house +exceeds their estimates. +</P> + +<P> +There are also a number of manufacturers of ready-made portable +houses, running in cost from about three hundred dollars for four +rooms, upward. Some of these are adapted to all-the-year-round use +and may be used where land is taken experimentally. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BACK TO THE LAND +</H3> + +<P> +"Life, to the average man, means hard, anxious work, with +disappointment at the end, whereas it ought to mean plenty of time +for books and talk. There is something wrong about a system which +condemns ninety-nine hundredths of the race to an existence as bare +of intellectual activity and enjoyment as that of a horse, and with +the added anxiety concerning the next month's rent. Is there no +escape? Through years of hard toil I suspected that there might be +such an escape. Now, having escaped, I am sure of it, so long as +oatmeal is less expensive than Hour, so long as the fish and the +cabbage grows, I shall keep out of the slavery of modern city +existence, and live in God's sunshine." (Hubert, "Liberty and a +Living.") +</P> + +<P> +The wealthy class are taking up farming as a healthy and beautifying +diversion, and we may expect others to follow, as it certainly +promotes happiness and adds to the attractions of those who adopt +it. With the aids which science has given, a farmer can now make +good profits with less labor than was formerly necessary to get a +bare living. The amount that a single well-managed, well-tilled acre +will produce in a season is simply incredible. This accounts for the +increased demand for farming lands wherever they are to be had on +reasonable terms. The wage earners are learning this, and it is only +a question of a little time when manufacturing plants will have to +be convenient to lands where the families of the hands can have a +small tract of land to cultivate. This requires good transportation +facilities from the homes to the factories. +</P> + +<P> +Corporate operation has been a great aid to human progress. +Organization is man's orderly way of following the Divine Plan for +his economic salvation vet the far mer has profited less by +organization than trades unions. Where farmers have organized to aid +each other to buy and sell, they have gained wonderfully, but a +beginning in this direction has but served to show how much more is +needed. +</P> + +<P> +To the individual farmer with large area and small means, the +improvements in machinery that cheapen his production are not at +present available. The discoveries in methods of fertilization of +the soil only make it more difficult for him to earn a living in +competition with those whose ample capital increases production by +its use. Improvements in fruits and vegetation, by hybridization and +various methods that add wealth to those of means, only add to the +troubles of our present small farmers. +</P> + +<P> +Hitherto corporate operation has been mainly for the benefit of +stockholders. The cases where those whose labor creates dividends +get more than wages have been rare. "A living wage" has been the +ambition of labor itself: all profit beyond this is supposed to be +the right of capital. There is with some persons an unconscious +reluctance to share profits with labor lest the laborers become +independent, and thus reduce their number to an extent to raise the +labor market, so that it is difficult to get fair consideration of +any business proposition that promises better conditions for the +producer or independence for the laborer. This is undoubtedly short +sighted, as the higher intelligence of the people who have land +increases production and gives enlarged opportunities for the +profitable employment of money. However, if capitalists persist in +this narrow view, the money of the people when they learn and think, +can be applied to this purpose instead of being deposited in savings +banks, where much of it is used in increasing the wealth of those +who already have abundance. +</P> + +<P> +The idea of "helping others to help themselves" finds a responsive +chord in the hearts of many wealthy people. But the question is, how +can all be helped? No business method by which this can be +accomplished has, as yet, been practically demonstrated. +</P> + +<P> +In no field does corporate operation promise more for the betterment +of human conditions, for a higher standard of morals and of +education, or great certainty of profit for capital, than by +systematically aiding men to obtain farms. +</P> + +<P> +Progress proceeds on the line of returns for expenditure. When a +man's economic condition permits, his first thought is to give his +children an education and a better chance in life than he had. Those +who extol the simple life as the ideal condition of happiness do not +mean that want and deprivation of necessities is the ideal +condition. If they did, they would put their children in that +condition to make them happy. Both extremes of wealth and of poverty +are burdens and retard mental and moral progress. The ideal +condition is to be found on a farm where the land is paid for and +ample means are at hand to supply the necessities for physical +demands, with leisure to learn and enjoy those pleasures of the mind +which come with knowledge of Nature's laws, and wisdom to live in +harmony with them, and in a measure comprehend the purposes of +creation. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. G. W. Smith, founder of the Hundred Year Club, suggests that +there is an opening in intensive farming for the benevolent but +canny wealthy who are interested in the soil and want to combine +philanthropy and percentage. +</P> + +<P> +His plan is to get capital to secure land and all the necessary +means, give to each approved applicant perpetual leases of land for +a small farm and a lot in a village site convenient thereto, with a +house merely sufficient for shelter, requiring as a first payment +sufficient to secure capital against loss in case the farmer +forfeits his contract, say $100. Let the company provide scientific +supervision and conduct the operation mainly as though the farmers +were employees, all the necessaries to be charged to each with only +sufficient profit to pay the expense and a fair interest on the +capital employed. Through a purchasing and sales department all +products should be sold in the best market and each farmer credited +with the net result of his productions until the agreed sale price +is received, when title should pass in fee to the farmer, who, +during the time, has become scientific so far as that piece of land +is concerned, and in future can operate it with the advantages which +progress has made. A public building would be necessary for a +storehouse, in which rooms for meetings of various kinds should be +provided, also such shelter as might be necessary for assembling and +storage of products for shipment. +</P> + +<P> +The expense of public buildings and other utilities could be paid +for out of the increased value that they bring to the land. The +company should have a nursery to provide fruit tree, etc., the +growth of which, with the increase of population would make the +farms, when paid for, worth far more than their cost. Such +opportunities as this, opened to all, would do away with the tramps +who are now able to live on the charitable, only because of the +known difficulties of finding work. +</P> + +<P> +The farmers should be utilized as far as possible in the purchasing +and sales department, and should divide into committees to try +various experiments connected with their business, that through +their reports all may be benefited by the knowledge gained. Dairying +and large orchards on land suitable and not of use in the general +farming plan could be conducted by the community, each farmer being +a stockholder. The labor performed on these cooperative undertakings +should be paid for and charged to cost of production, each one who +performs a share of the labor participating in the profits as near +as may be. As money is received by the company from products, it can +be used in similar operations. When the farms are paid for, the +farmers can continue the cooperative features that experience has +proved useful and extend the business principle to other fields, +such as heating, light, and power by electricity, machinery for +preparing products for market, drying, canning, etc., as well as for +the cultivation of the soil. +</P> + +<P> +Where the land is level the farms can be laid out on a general plan +that will admit of the use of steam plows to reduce the cost of +plowing, save hard labor, and reduce the number of work animals. +</P> + +<P> +Among the multitude of advantages the individual would have in these +communities, social, educational, and economic, health and physical +development appear as not the least. +</P> + +<P> +The farm, as it is, still furnishes a horde of recruits for insane +asylums; its isolation and monotony of everyday life, with its lack +of social intercourse and educational advantages, nearly +counterbalance the strain and poverty of the cities. +</P> + +<P> +But the greatest difficulty is the growing inability of the farmers' +sons to secure land and the means to cultivate it when they arrive +at a marriageable age. Those who have seen for threescore years the +ever-increasing flow of boys and girls from the farms to the cities, +greater in proportion to the rural population than in any other age, +realize the necessity for aid in this direction. While it is true +that the farm has contributed largely to the numbers of our +successful city men, the fact remains that the mass of boys who come +to the cities as well as the city born, lack the faculty to grab or +save, and fail, while the healthy girls swell the ranks of +prostitution, where an average of eight years lands them in a +pauper's grave. +</P> + +<P> +Our soldiers, as well as those of other countries, are not up to +former physical standards. Degeneracy, disintegration is apparent in +every direction. +</P> + +<P> +The power of a nation depends on the physical and mental condition +of the great mass of people, and to leave the people in ignorance +that they may be controlled by the intelligent few who understand +their needs and may have their welfare at heart, is a mistake that +other nations than Russia have made. The law of the survival of the +fittest has wiped out races and nations who have ignored this +fundamental law, that all men must progress together. +</P> + +<P> +A race or civilization with such a basis of farmers as this plan +would create would be enduring. +</P> + +<P> +The nation or race, like the individual, must have intelligent +organization and live in harmony with the laws of nature in order to +survive. Opposition to them means destruction Cooperation is +constructive. +</P> + +<P> +If we are to profit by this lesson, it is necessary that we improve +the conditions surrounding our lower classes. That this is +recognized by a large number of leading minds is proved by the +efforts of the many who are engaged in educational and other social +movements, most of which result in little net good to the +wage-earners. +</P> + +<P> +Obstacles to small farming near large cities are that farms of three +to ten acres with buildings are not plentiful, and that mortgage +loans are hard to get in the East and loans to help in building are +hardly to be had at all. +</P> + +<P> +Land is either held intact as large farms or is sold entire to +speculators who hold it until it can be divided into city lots. +Here, it would seem, is an opportunity for those who are interested +in bettering the condition of their fellow men by wholesale, and can +invest large capital, but little time, in the work. +</P> + +<P> +Let them buy up land in large acreages and cut it up into small +plots of from one to ten acres, charging enough advance to return +interest on the money invested and to meet the necessary expenses in +such operation. Then make liberal building loans to buyers. +Inquiries among real estate men show that they always have a larger +demand for small acreage than they can meet, so an immediate market +with large profits would await those who are first in this field. +</P> + +<P> +There is no use in blaming people for not leaving the cities to go +to the farms; they don't know enough to go, they don't know enough +to make a living if they do go, and they don't know enough to enjoy +it. Besides this, they have not the capital. We must teach them and +help them. +</P> + +<P> +George H. Maxwell's Homecrofters' Guild at Watertown, Mass., where +boys are taught what to do with the earth and how to do it, is worth +whole shelves of books on "The Exodus to the Cities" or the +"Prosperity of the Settler." +</P> + +<P> +It is reported that the state of Texas offered six million acres of +land for sale to settlers, at one dollar per acre. It has been +suggested that it would be better that the states should rent out +the land at four per cent of the sale price. This would leave more +money in the hands of settlers and enable many to get farms who +cannot pay the price and have enough left to raise a crop. In +reality it would be better for the state to help farmers get a start +rather than to tax them one dollar per acre to begin with. However, +under our system of government, we permit only those who have money +to have land. +</P> + +<P> +There can be no doubt that the state of Texas and her people would +be better off if the land were leased than to have it sold. Probably +a tax on the value of the land instead of a rent would be the best +for all the people, especially as it would check speculation. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE COMING PROFESSION FOR BOYS +</H3> + +<P> +In order that as little as possible may seem to be taken for granted +or as mere expressions of the opinions of the author, we cite the +views of specialists as to the possibilities of this field, so new +in this country, of intensive agriculture. +</P> + +<P> +These will show that the conviction has become general that, as +workers, as teachers, and as discoverers, there is no career more +inviting or more lucrative or more dignified than that of the +skillful foster-father of plants. +</P> + +<P> +"Children brought up in city tenements tend to become vicious and +sickly, but if transported to country homes they may grow up strong +and self-respecting men and women. +</P> + +<P> +"There are hundreds of applicants for every position in the cities, +and competition forces the pay down to the lowest level. Living +expenses are heavier. The risk to health from sedentary occupations, +long hours in ill-ventilated offices, stores, and workshops is +serious. +</P> + +<P> +"There are few inducements to out-door exercise. Even if he lives at +home, the boy who is forced to the street or into the factory before +he has the strength or education to do good work remains an +unskilled worker all his life. +</P> + +<P> +"Manufacturing is upon a larger and larger scale. The division of +labor is greater and greater. Not only does the gulf between +capitalist and laborer widen, but with it the gulf between skilled +and unskilled labor." ("What Shall Our Boys Do for a Living?" +Charles F. Wingate.) +</P> + +<P> +It is the city that breeds or attracts most of the pauperism and +crime. The country has its own healthy life. +</P> + +<P> +Every one is born with some natural gift, and it is a good thing to +discover early in life what one's natural gifts are so that each may +be educated in the direction suited to natural capacity. +</P> + +<P> +How are you to treat a lad who has naturally an inclination for the +work on the farm? In the first place do not provide him with any +spending money unless he earns it. The prime thing necessary is to +give the boy a personal interest in what is going on upon the farm. +Give him a plot of land as his own, let him understand that anything +he may grow upon this land shall belong to him, but do not give him +this plot and say, "There, take that; do as you like with it," he +will wonder what to do with it. He will need somebody to help him by +teaching him what he is to do. Enter into a partnership with him at +the start, give him some instruction as to what it is best for him +to do with his plot. Find out his inclinations; give him sympathy +and help. Bring out his natural aptitude for farming life, teach him +method in his work; teach him to think his way out; and, best of +all, teach him to work for definite results; that is what is wanted +in any line of life, especially in farm life. +</P> + +<P> +Let the work of the boy have a meaning and a purpose. Let him +understand that certain results cannot be accomplished in any other +way, and give him chances to go outside and see what other people +are doing. Let him see good scientific agriculture and be encouraged +to pursue such methods. +</P> + +<P> +Provide for him the very best reading that can be found in +agricultural journals and books. Let him have three or four years at +an agricultural college. All the influences there point to +agriculture as the best calling for a young man who is fit for it, +whereas in other colleges the influences are all in the opposite +direction. At our agricultural colleges a youth has all the +necessary advantages of general education, and also an education in +the lines fitting him especially for the calling he has selected. +(United States Department of Agriculture, Bulletin 138, condensed.) +</P> + +<P> +"Among farmers and gardeners not enough thought is given to the whys +and wherefores, or cause and effect; as a rule, they go on year +after year without profiting by the personal opportunity afforded +them of observation, or by the results of experiments at scientific +stations. +</P> + +<P> +"With rare exceptions the young farmer and gardener takes up his +work, not from the scientific side, but strictly from the labor +side; and he begins at the bottom, meeting the same difficulties as +did his father and too often not acquiring information beyond what +his father possessed. +</P> + +<P> +"This should not be; agriculture should be taught in all our public +schools in country districts, as it has been taught for years in +Germany and Austria. It should be elevated as an art; in its higher +estate it is already an art. No pursuit possesses a greater scope +for development; the field is almost unoccupied by leaders, +scientific and practical." (Burnett Landreth, in <I>999 Queries and +Answers.</I>) +</P> + +<P> +In accordance with these ideas, the Baron de Hirsch Agricultural +School at Woodbine, New Jersey, is giving practical courses in +agriculture to Jewish boys, on the principle of individual +plots—all free where necessary. +</P> + +<P> +The trustees of the State Agricultural College of New Jersey, at New +Brunswick, have established winter courses in agriculture, open to +all residents of New Jersey over sixteen years of age. Courses will +be for twelve weeks, and only a small entrance fee is required; few +books will be needed. +</P> + +<P> +Other states are doing likewise; all will need many teachers and +experimenters. At present all who know anything about intensive +agriculture are snapped up by the numerous government experiment +stations at good salaries. The land like that of the Rockefellers, +the Paynes, the Cuttings, on which farming is carried on by +unnecessarily expensive methods, needs the services of trained +agriculturists and professional foresters. The Division of Forestry +at the start employed eleven persons, but now it has in the field as +many hundreds of employees, including a lot of trained foresters. +</P> + +<P> +The railroads also see the profit in teaching farming, and are +devoting more and more money to experiments and lectures to show the +farmers that they can get more and better crops with the same effort +by intelligent selection of seeds. +</P> + +<P> +The Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railway Company ran its first +Seed and Soil Special over the entire system in the winter of +1904-1905, and has lectured to hundreds of thousands of farmers +since. +</P> + +<P> +They report to us that "there is no doubt that the lectures did a +great deal of good, and necessarily the larger increase of crops +which followed is due to the scientific methods of farming expounded +by the various professors." The late President James J. Hill wrote +much about the small farms' large yields. +</P> + +<P> +The hundreds of thousands of "war gardens" unskillfully conducted +and glutting the local markets with crops all matured at about the +same local time will unreasonably disgust many with intensive +cultivation, especially those who work but do not think. The remedy +is more instruction. The effect the agricultural colleges and +experiment stations is plain to the eye in the better appearance of +farms as we near the centers of instruction. +</P> + +<P> +Some years ago a clergyman published a book upon the Adirondacks; it +was full of poetry, and he sent men up there who afterwards became +known as "Murray's Fools." They knew nothing about the life and had +no suitability and little preparation for it. We do not wish to +bring out a crop of "Three Acres and Liberty Fools." We are telling +what has been done and what can be done again. It does not follow +that every man can or will do it, much less teach it or advance the +art, but the field is a large one and holds out great promise to +those who persevere and excel in it. +</P> + +<P> +If any one thinks that the profit of the earth will come to the +cultivator without very intelligent and steady work, he is mistaken. +No owner of land, unless others require it to live upon, can make +money by neglecting it. +</P> + +<P> +Says <I>Maxwell's Talisman:</I> "The greatest good that can be done to +the American farmer to-day is to teach him to make the greatest +possible profit from the smallest tract of land from which a family +can be supported in comfort. A great influence operating to-day +against keeping the boys in the country is that the boy does not +have money enough to buy a farm. It is unfortunately true that in +some places there is a trend in the direction of absorbing farms +into still larger farms with a consequent diminution of population, +as in Iowa and other sections. The remedy for this is to demonstrate +that if the value is in the boy rather than in the farm, and the boy +is taught intensive, diversified, scientific farming, a good living +with a surplus profit that will provide amply for old age, may be +made from a comparatively small tract of land. The tract may be, +say, ten acres, with ample cultivation, irrigation, and +fertilization, or even without irrigation because a hoe and a +cultivator in the hands of a scientific farmer may bring as good and +better results in providing moisture for growing plants as can be +had from a ditch and unlimited water in the hands of an ignorant +farmer." +</P> + +<P> +The field of discovery is always limitless, and it is to those boys +or girls who devote their attention to this that the greatest return +will come. "What a fine thing it would be to find even one plant +free from rust in the midst of a rusted field. It would mean a +rust-resistant plant. Its off-spring would probably be also rust +resistant. If you should ever find such a plant, be sure to save its +seed and plant in a plot by itself. The next year again save seed +from those plants least rusted. Possibly you can develop a rust +proof race of wheat! Keep your eyes open." ("Agriculture for +Beginners," by Burkett, Stevens, and Hill, pages 76-78.) So you may +pluck gain out of loss. +</P> + +<P> +If you want to do experiments, the influence of ether on plants is +one new and wonderful field. It seems to induce artificial rest, so +that lilacs, for instance, can be made to bloom twice by a +treatment, the last time near Christmas. +</P> + +<P> +E. V. Wilcox says in <I>Farming</I> that in 1899 a small quantity of +durum or macaroni wheat was introduced into this country for trial. +It was found profitable in localities where there was too little +rain for ordinary wheat. Six years later, 20,000,000 bushels per +year of the wheat was grown in the United States. Its production has +increased greatly every season and has added materially to the total +of the wheat crop.. Thorough fall cultivation has been found to +increase the yield, and in some parts of the wheat belt one in five +of the farmers has already adopted the practice. In certain states +where manuring has been thought unnecessary, experiments have +demonstrated that the yield may be increased 60 per cent by this +simple practice. The wheat production of Nebraska was increased more +than 10,000,000 bushels by the introduction of a hardy strain of +Turkey red wheat. Swedish select oats in Wisconsin have greatly +augmented the oat yield of the state. In 1899 six pounds of the seed +was brought to the state and from this small beginning a crop of +9,000,000 bushels was harvested five years later. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Gideon, of Minnesota, planted many apple seeds, and from them +all raised one tree that was very fruitful, finely flavored, and +able to withstand the cold Minnesota winter. This tree he multiplied +by grafts and named it the Wealthy apple. It is said that in this +one apple he benefited the world to the value of more than one +million dollars. You must not let any valuable bud or seed variant +be lost." ("Agriculture for Beginners," page 61.) +</P> + +<P> +"This fact ought to be very helpful to us next year when planting +corn. We should plant seed secured only from stalks that produced +the most corn. If we follow this plan year by year, each acre of +land will be made to produce more kernels and hence a larger crop of +corn, and yet no more expense will be required to raise the crop." +(Same, page 71.) +</P> + +<P> +<I>The World's Work</I> tells how the country got a new industry. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. George Gibbs, of Clearbrook, Wash., has made his "stake" by +growing tulip and hyacinth bulbs. He had a little place on Orcas +Island, in Puget Sound. He did not know anything about growing +flowers, but he did know that certain varieties of bulbs brought +good prices in the East. He was observant enough to see that the +moist, warm, climate and rich soil of the Puget Sound country were +peculiarly favorable to flowers. +</P> + +<P> +He had bad luck with his bulbs; that only meant that he still had +something to learn. He kept his nerve even when he went bankrupt. +His friends told him he was wasting time, but they could not shake +his faith. +</P> + +<P> +In twelve years he found that he was right. His wonderful gardens +were making him rich. Other men have gone into the business, but he +was first and has kept his lead. He has made the Puget Sound country +the greatest rival of Holland in the sale of flowering bulbs. +</P> + +<P> +Quantities of wild herbs, fruits, and roots that no one eats are +good; the Jesuits had a list of over two hundred kinds that the +Indians ate, but it was lost. Some one can do a great service by +making it up again by research and experiment. Thousands more of the +wild things must be good for dyes, fabrics, and fodder. +</P> + +<P> +Fame like Burbank's and fortune awaits the one who is a good +self-advertiser and can find the use of the poetic daisies, +goldenrod, and thistle, the all-pervading "pusley," and such other +vegetable vermin. +</P> + +<P> +An interesting experiment is conducted in growing tea with colored +child labor, at Tea, South Carolina, by the aid of education and +machinery and the cooperation of the Agricultural Department at +Washington, who will furnish particulars. Whatever may be its +outcome, this will give an opening to some intelligent cultivators, +and it points the way to other fields. +</P> + +<P> +Those who are first in raising new or improved plants find a waiting +market for them. +</P> + +<P> +<I>The Market Growers Gazette,</I> of London, England, reports that Mr. +A. Findlay, Mairsland, Auchtermuchty, Scotland, sold one season to +five leading growers whose names are given five seed potatoes at +L 20 each (which would be, perhaps, $500 a peck). He says +enthusiastically: "It is as perfectly round-shaped a potato as can +be imagined. There is a slight dash of pink on the outer rim of the +eye. My stock of it is very small, only 126 lb. and I do not care to +sell any. If next year's crop yields as well as this year's, we +shall have twenty times that quantity." Mr. Findlay has other seed +potatoes, just as high priced, for which he wants $125 per lb., +which, he says, "means that I do not want to sell any." +</P> + +<P> +This shows what progressive people think of the real value of good +seed. +</P> + +<P> +It is worth mentioning that "The land on which these are grown is +not highly manured; the only artificial manure that it has received +is about 200 lb. of potash per acre. It has the drawback of being +rather stony." +</P> + +<P> +Of course this is "a fad"; it is doubtful if it will pay any one to +give such prices for seed except to sell to some bigger fool than +himself. Of course, also, the market for a particular fancy thing +may soon be overstocked, but it seems to be a nice thing for the +Findlays meanwhile, and it does good in teaching people to +appreciate good things. +</P> + +<P> +Yet the average potato patcher prudently saves his small potatoes +for next year's seed, which is just as if a breeder were to keep the +colts that were too poor to sell, to be the parents of his herd. +</P> + +<P> +In the dark ages of farming—to wit, in 1881, for this is a true +story—a minister of the Gospel came into possession, by +inheritance, of a fifteen-acre farm a short way from Philadelphia. +He found the soil a reddish, somewhat gravelly clay, and so worn out +from years of cropping that it did not support two cows and a horse. +City born and bred, he was encumbered with no knowledge of +agriculture which had to be unlearned. He began a careful and +systematic study of the agricultural literature, and ultimately +developed a novel system of dairy farming to which he adhered +religiously. +</P> + +<P> +The farm Iying near the city is high-priced land; for this reason, +and because of the limited acreage, the cows were kept in the barn +the year round. For six years his bill for veterinary services was +$1.50, while the income from the milk of his seventeen cows was +about $2400 a year. In addition, from four to six head of young +cattle were sold annually, netting about $500 a year. As the stock +on the farm was stall fed every particle of plant food contained in +the stable manure, liquid as well as solid, was utilized. No +fertilizer was ever purchased. Yet all of the "roughage" for thirty +head of stock was raised on the thirteen acres of available soil. +Only $625 a year was expended for concentrated feeding stuffs. The +net earnings of the farm for the period averaged more than $1000 a +year. And this was during the early days of his experience; later he +made more. +</P> + +<P> +Professor W. J. Spillman, of the Agricultural Department, visited +him in 1903, and studied the methods employed. Then, he says, the +rush to see the farm became so great that the owner had to give it +up. +</P> + +<P> +Few people who know nothing about it, and won't learn, can take even +three acres and make anything off it. To get the phenomenal yields +takes capital—sometimes large capital, wisely spent. Sometimes we +read of immense products "per acre"; this often means the product of +a single rod of ground, this gives at the rate of so much "per +acre," or might, if extended. +</P> + +<P> +But any one can take a little bit of ground and use it thoroughly +and increase his borders and his knowledge as he goes on. He will +find plenty to pay him for doing or teaching whatever he has learned +to do that no one else has done "If a man make but a mousetrap +better than his fellows, though he makes his tent in the wilderness, +the world will beat a path to his door." +</P> + +<P> +The mission of this book is accomplished if it interests you to +consider the possibilities of making a living on a few acres and +leads you to investigate. It is not written as a textbook, for, as +has been shown, there are authorities enough cited to supply all the +technical information needed. +</P> + +<P> +Its sole object is to show what has been done and what can be done +on small areas and to show that life in the country need not be so +laborious if the same methods are used which make successes of +business in other lines. +</P> + +<P> +If it does this and is the means of checking in any degree the +reckless trend of people from the country to the cities, the author +will feel that his efforts have been well repaid. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE WOOD LOT +</H3> + +<P> +If you have a bit of woods on your little farm, take care of it. By +intelligent thinning you can make an average income of five dollars +per acre from ordinary second growth wild woods. The cord wood, +barrel hoops, fence posts, and so on will decrease your expenses, +while the timber will increase in value. That lot is the place to +start your boy as a forester. +</P> + +<P> +Instructions how to treat the trees can be obtained from your State +Forestry Department or from the National Forest Service at +Washington: the care of growing timber is a big subject and requires +study, but don't sell your standing timber without their advice. +Forestry can hardly be made to pay on a small lot with hired labor +or hired teams, and you must not pay much for your wood lot, else +interest and taxes will eat up the returns. +</P> + +<P> +To be of high quality, timber must be, to a considerable proportion +of its height, free of limbs, which are the cause of knots; it must +be tall; and it must not decrease rapidly in diameter from the butt +to the top of the last log. In a dense stand of timber there is very +great competition for sunlight among the individual trees, with the +result that height growth is increased. Trees in crowded stands are +taller than those in uncrowded stands of the same age. When the +trees are crowded so that sunlight does not reach the lower +branches, these soon die and become brittle they then fall off or +are broken off by the wind, snow, or other agencies. By this process +trunks are formed which are free from limbs, and hence of high +quality. +</P> + +<P> +It is evident, therefore, that trees in the wood lot should be so +crowded that the crown or top of each individual tree may be in +contact with those of its nearest neighbors. A crowded stand of +trees produces not only a larger number but also a greater +proportion of high quality sawlogs than an uncrowded stand. So vital +a matter is their forest shade that it does not do to set out young +trees which have grown in the forest. Ordinarily, the exposure to +the sunlight stunts them and often kills them. Nursery trees are +best; the next best are trees that have grown at the edge of the +woods. +</P> + +<P> +The actual value of woodland as pasture is small. One dollar per +acre per year is probably a liberal estimate of the value of its +forage. Thrifty fully stocked stands of timber will grow at the rate +of 250 or more board feet of lumber per year. Adopting only 250 +board feet as the growth and assuming the value of the standing +timber to be from $5 to $8 per 1000 feet board measure, the value of +the timber growth is from $1.25 to $2 per acre per year. +</P> + +<P> +If the timber is given good care, moreover, the growth should be as +much as 500 board feet per acre per year. The larger value of the +wood lot for growing timber, as compared to the value of its forage +only, is therefore apparent. +</P> + +<P> +It must not be thought possible to secure this growth of timber and +utilize the wood lot for pasture at the same time, because the stock +eat the seedlings and damage the trees. +</P> + +<P> +If shade, however, rather than forage is the wood lot's chief value +to stock, it can doubtless be provided by allowing the stock to +range in only a portion of the lot. The remainder can more +profitably be devoted to the production of wood. +</P> + +<P> +Owners are doubtless in some instances indifferent about fires in +their wood lots, because they do not realize that these may do great +harm without giving striking evidence of the fact. They burn the +fallen leaves and accumulated litter of several years, thus +destroying the material with which trees enrich their own soil. The +soil becomes exposed, evaporation is greater, and more of the rain +and melted snow runs off the surface. The roots may also be exposed +and burned. The vitality of the trees is weakened and their rate of +growth decreased. Don't burn leaves or waste growth: it is dangerous +and they are valuable for mulch and for manure. +</P> + +<P> +It has been found in the prairie region that through the protection +afforded by the most efficient grove windbreaks, the yield in farm +crops is increased to the extent of a crop as large as could be +grown on a strip three times as wide as the height of the trees. +</P> + +<P> +At present the following states maintain nurseries and distribute +young trees either free or practically at cost to planters within +the state: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Maryland, +Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, North Dakota, and Kansas. +</P> + +<P> +The names of nurseries which handle stock of certain trees and their +quoted prices for all the more important species can be secured from +the Forest Service, Washington, D. C. +</P> + +<P> +Whether your wood lot pays a profit or not, like the profit from the +rest of your land, depends largely on how it is taxed. The higher it +is taxed the harder it is to make it pay. In most states timberland +is assessed on the basis of its value, timber and land together. +Woodland assessed on this basis is overtaxed as compared with land +assessed on the basis of what it produces each year. The value of +plowland for farm purposes is established by what it will earn. If +the owner can make $10 an acre a year over all expenses by growing +say wheat, corn, cotton or alfalfa on it, his land will have a value +of perhaps $150 an acre. If it took two years to grow a crop, the +land would be worth only half as much. Its owner in that case would +kick vigorously if he could not get his assessment lowered. He would +kick still more vigorously if he had to pay a tax also on the value +of the standing crop, after having to pay too much on the land. "The +Lord loveth a cheerful kicker." +</P> + +<P> +With woodland the case is still worse. Each year the owner may have +to pay a tax on the merchantable crops of many past years. It is as +though the owner of plowland had to pay a tax on the value of his +field crops twice a week throughout the growing season. When a +full-grown tree is cut down or burned up in a forest fire, it may +have been taxed 40 or 50 times over. Each year the land on which it +grew has been valued not on the basis of its earning power, but on +the basis of what it would bring if sold, timber and all. A tax +levied on the income-earning value of the land would be much more +equitable. +</P> + +<P> +Certain states have applied this principle by legislation under +which land to be used for growing timber can be classified so that +the timber can be taxed separately from the land. The land there is +taxed annually on its value, without timber. The tax on the timber +is not paid until the crop is harvested. It is therefore a tax on +the yield. In New York this yield tax is 5 per cent of the value of +the crop harvested; Michigan 5 per cent of it; Massachusetts 6 per +cent; and Vermont, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania 10 per cent, with +different provisions for forests already established. +</P> + +<P> +Such a method is much better than that adopted by a number of states +which exempt, under certain conditions, reforested or reforesting +lands for a term of years, or allow rebates or bounties on such +lands. +</P> + +<P> +The profit of a growing forest crop will depend largely on relief +from excessive taxation. It is unthrifty public policy to discourage +putting waste land to work. ("The Farm Woodlot Problem," by Herbert +A. Smith, Editor Forest Service—from Yearbook of Department of +Agriculture for 1914.) +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SOME PRACTICAL EXPERIMENTS +</H3> + +<P> +The Department of Agriculture at Washington, also Cornell University +and various other schools publish special studies and monographs of +different branches. For some a small charge is made, but they are +mostly distributed free. Many of them are very valuable. The United +States Department's pamphlet on the Diseases of the Violet is a +notable example. The average person does not know how these can be +obtained or even that they exist. +</P> + +<P> +The Department's Year Books are most interesting reading, and both +its Professors and the state colleges will answer particular +questions of citizens. +</P> + +<P> +These and the various United States and State Experiment Station +publications will serve instead of most books (except this one), if +properly filed, indexed, and crossindexed so that you can readily +turn to all the information on a given subject—on bugs, for +instance, before the insects have harvested your crop. +</P> + +<P> +I am trying only to suggest things, not to advise, nor to induce my +readers to try to do anything that they don't like or have no +capacity for. It is difficult to make people understand that. +</P> + +<P> +One reader of this book, a dear creature, wrote her experience for a +Crafts magazine. She got the acres, built her house, and raised one +fine crop of—swans? nuts grafted on wild trees? partridge berries? +No—three tons of hay! +</P> + +<P> +She called it "Three Acres and Starving"; I called it "Three +Acres and Stupidity." She didn't eat the hay, and the Editor +wouldn't publish my reply. +</P> + +<P> +Everybody raises hay and potatoes; so don't you raise any unless for +your own use. +</P> + +<P> +Potatoes are a laborious crop, requiring constant care, manuring, +cutting the seed eyes (on which there is much uncertain lore), +hilling up or down according to drainage and rainfall, spraying with +Pyrox or dusting with Paris green, and, neither least nor last, bug +hunting. +</P> + +<P> +The seed is expensive, but for your own use you may plant from +whatever seed, otherwise wasted, may grow on the potato vine, on the +tops of the plants. The crop will be small potatoes and all kinds of +varieties, which won't sell in the market but which make each dinner +a surprise party. You may strike a new and improved strain, though +there are over a thousand varieties of potato listed already. New +creations of merit bring good returns, and 'tis the enterprising +experimenter that reaps the honor and the harvest, and he is worthy +of his reward. +</P> + +<P> +To select the most productive plants and breed again from these is, +however, a more promising profit plan. Even then don't plant the +tubers unless you will take the pains to soak the seed potatoes in +scab preventer. If you won't, likely you will raise mostly scab, and +the spores thereof will spoil your ground for potatoes for years. +</P> + +<P> +It costs little in money to make it—half a pint of formalin to +fifteen gallons of water. Not guessed but measured gallons. Then +soak for an hour and a half by the Ingersoll. Don't reckon that one +little hour or a few will do just as well. With one hour they will +be under-done and spotty, with three over-done and weakly. +</P> + +<P> +There is lots to be discovered yet about "the spuds." Sawdust is an +excellent mulch for them, as for small fruits. When you store any +seeds to plant, put carbolic moth balls with them. It checks insects +and mice and helps to protect the planted seeds from birds. +</P> + +<P> +In a general way, with potatoes and with other things that you want +good and plenty, get specific directions and follow them. Most +people won't read directions; more can't follow them. Those people +have their knives out for "book farmers and professors," but you +can't improve on experience and experiment by the light of laziness +or of nature. +</P> + +<P> +A delicate jelly is made out of the red outer pulp of rose berries. +It would be romantic to develop a Rose fruit from those seed pods, +as the peach was developed from the almond. We have invented +stranger fruits than that, such as the Logan-berry and the pomato. +</P> + +<P> +But there is better chance for profit in doing the old things +better, especially when the experiment costs little or nothing. +</P> + +<P> +You can have a strawberry garden on your roof or even on a balcony. +This need not be costly. Clinch all the nails on the inside of a +stout barrel. Bore half a dozen two-inch holes in the bottom, or put +in a layer of stones, for drainage. Bore a row of eight holes about +eight inches from the bottom of the barrel and about eight inches +apart. Eight inches above this bore a second row of holes +"staggered," and a third eight inches above those. Pile several old +tomato cans with perforated bottoms one on the other in the center +of the barrel: these should be the height of the barrel and placed +upright in its middle. This is the conductor down which water should +be poured at intervals before the soil gets quite dry. Fill the +barrel with soil made of one half loam and one half well-rotted +manure. Be sure the manure is not fresh. A little bone meal is a +good addition. +</P> + +<P> +Now plant the first row of strawberry plants ("ever-bearing" are +best, though they don't ever-bear). Put each plant inside, spread +the roots, and pull the leaves of each out through one of the holes. +Press the soil down firmly around each root. Repeat the process for +the other two rows; fill the barrel and set say six plants on the +top. That will give you thirty plants, which should grow ten to +twenty-five quarts of fine berries, or more. The illustration makes +the holes twelve inches apart—for big leafy plants. +</P> + +<P> +If there are any more, those will be you. Anyhow, you will know a +lot about strawberries at the end of the season. Other things can be +grown in the same way. +</P> + +<P> +Better than growing vegetables, or where dry land can't be obtained, +is to raise some crop like water cress that usually comes from a +distance. +</P> + +<P> +Often an otherwise poor season will help a specialty. One year wet +weather jumped the price of mint and it sold at double prices. Hot, +dry weather is required to make it produce its best. +</P> + +<P> +Most of the mint produced in this country for peppermint oil is +grown in Michigan. More than 4000 acres are reported from a single +county. Mint oil is worth about $3.50 a pound and costs about a +dollar to produce. Nice bright dried leaves sell for about 15 cent +a pound. +</P> + +<P> +The production of mint is sometimes as high as fifty pounds of oil +to the acre. The bulk of it is grown on marshlands, which a few +years ago were nowhere worth more than a few dollars an acre. The +mint is sent to the manufacturers, where it is purified and made +into flavoring extract or used in chewing gum, etc. +</P> + +<P> +Why should we, with our infinite variety of climates, soils, and +labor, import from England the coarser varieties of seeds of the +cabbage family, savoy, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, or kale? We owe +England enough already for the seed of Liberty we got from her. +California now supplies some seed for onions, carrots, parsnips, and +a few others. The finest cauliflower comes mostly from Denmark now. +</P> + +<P> +Turnip seed, too, mangel-wurzel and swedes, onion, pea, bean, +carrot, parsnip, radish, and beet seeds could be grown here by the +same skill, care, and training as they are grown abroad. +</P> + +<P> +An interesting method of forcing plants by the use of hot water +baths is described in <I>La Nature</I> (Paris), by Henri Coupin. The +process is much simpler than others now in use and may be employed +by any one who has a small greenhouse, no expert treatment being +necessary. Says Mr. Coupin: +</P> + +<P> +"Most trees in our countries undergo a period of rest, during which +all growth appears to be suspended. Branches do not enlarge and the +buds on them remain as they are. They do not arouse from their +torpor until spring, first, because they then find the conditions +necessary for their development, and again, because, during the +period of rest, chemical changes have taken place in them. These are +indispensable, because if they did not occur, the trees, even in the +most favorable conditions, would not open their buds. For example, +plant branches that have quite recently dropped their leaves, in a +warm greenhouse. They will not bud; but make the same experiment at +the end of several months and the buds will appear. +</P> + +<P> +"There are several ways of shortening this period of rest, some of +which are rather odd. The best known is the process of +etherification, which has been so much discussed recently, and which +consists in placing the plants to be forced in the vapor of ether or +chloroform for twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Afterwards when +placed in a hothouse, the branches begin to develop almost +immediately. +</P> + +<P> +"A very ingenious botanist, Hans Molisch, professor in the +University of Prague, has devised a method of forcing, simpler still +and quite as effective. It consists in plunging the branches into +warm water during a time that varies with the species. The best +method is to plunge the plants in a reservoir of warm water, head +downward, without moistening the roots, which would injure them. +After a certain time, the plants are withdrawn, turned right side up +with care, and placed in a greenhouse, where they develop at once. +</P> + +<P> +"The duration of the warm bath should be nine to twelve hours at +most. The best temperature is 30 degree to 35 degree [86 degree to +95 degree F] . . . That is to say, in the majority of cases, one may +simply employ the water available in hothouses, which is just at the +proper temperature. The process is thus at the disposal of all +gardeners. +</P> + +<P> +"It should be said that the good effects of the hot baths are +confined to the parts actually immersed and do not extend to the +whole plant. Thus, on the same stem we may see developing only the +branches that have been treated with the bath, while the others +remain torpid. This is easy to verify with the lilac or the willow. +</P> + +<P> +"If Lobner is to be believed, we may substitute for the water bath +one of steam. He has obtained good results with the lily of the +valley. The thing is possible, but the method used by Molisch is +more practical. +</P> + +<P> +"How shall we explain the good effect of warm water on branches in a +resting state? We are absolutely ignorant of its mechanism, as we +are also in the case of etherification. But if we knew everything, +science would be no longer amusing!"—Condensed, from <I>THE LITERARY +DIGEST.</I> +</P> + +<P> +There are many new uses for water: It will not be long before every +truck and every commercial flower garden will have overhead +irrigation. This is merely gas pipes ("seconds" rejected for blow +holes or porosity are usually used) supported on posts say six feet +above the ground. They are usually placed parallel about fifty feet +apart, which will make four to the acre square, and have a single +row of holes and a handle on each pipe, so that the spray can be +turned in either direction; with a high-water pressure, often +supplied by gravity, they may be farther apart with larger holes. +</P> + +<P> +These not only have saved us from fear of drought, but they supply +the moisture in the natural manner and at the right time and +increase fertility to an astonishing degree. +</P> + +<P> +When you take a shower bath yourself, that is overhead irrigation. +</P> + +<P> +The gasoline, kerosene, or heavy oil one man farm tractor, so made +that it can be used to plow, to climb a side hill, to run a saw or a +pump, is the coming factor in garden and farm advance. Huge fortune +awaits the first manufacturer who will standardize it, cheapen it, +and specialize on it. The horse is the greatest care and the +greatest risk on the little farm. He costs more than a tractor +would, he is eating his head off half the time, he can't he worked +overtime without injury, not even as much as a man can be; all too +soon he dies, more missed than any member of the family. +</P> + +<P> +When this is popularized the "Three Acres" can well be extended to +five. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SOME EXPERIMENTAL FOODS +</H3> + +<P> +FIFTY-EIGHT years ago Abraham Lincoln said "Population must increase +rapidly, more rapidly than in former times, and ere long the most +valuable of all arts will be the art of deriving subsistence from +the smallest area of soil. No community whose every member possesses +this art can ever be the victim of oppression in any of its forms. +Such community will alike be independent of crowned kings, money +kings, and land kings." +</P> + +<P> +The future, it seems, has many strange dishes in store for the +American stomach. Whether you are rich or one of the plain people +that have to work, whether the idea of new fantastic food appeals to +your palate or to your pocketbook, you will be attracted by the +array of foreign viands with curious names which have already been +successfully introduced and are now beginning to be marketed in this +country. Mr. William N. Taft, in the Technical World Magazine, +presents the following wild menu for the dinner table: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Jujube Soup<BR> + Brisket of Antelope<BR> + Boiled Petsai<BR> + Dasheen au Gratin<BR> + Creamed Udo<BR> + Soy Bean and Lichee Nut Salad<BR> + Yang Taw Pie<BR> + Mangoes<BR> + Kaki<BR> + Sake.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +This, he assures us, is not the bill of fare of a Chinese eating +house, nor yet of a Japanese restaurant, it is the daily meal of an +American family two decades hence, if the Department of Agriculture +succeeds in its attempt to introduce a large number of new foods to +this country for the dual purpose of supplying new dainties and +reducing the cost of living. Uncle Sam has determined to decrease +the price of food as much as possible, and, for this purpose, +delegated Dr. David S. Fairchild, Agricultural Explorer in charge of +the Foreign Plant Section of the Bureau of Plant Industry, in +particular, to see what can be done about it. +</P> + +<P> +More than 30,000 fruits and vegetables have been tested by Uncle +Sam's experts and, according to Dr. Fairchild, a goodly portion of +the foodstuffs which have been regarded as staples since the days of +the first settler are doomed. Consider for example "Jujube Soup!" +Mention that to the average person and he will answer: +</P> + +<P> +"But I thought the jujube was a fruit, like an apple. How can you +make soup of it?" The average person is right. The jujube is a +fruit—but a most remarkable one. +</P> + +<P> +"It is about the size and appearance of a crab apple, but contains +only a single seed. It grows on a spiny tree, long and bare of +trunk, with its foliage cropping out at the very top like a royal +palm of the tropics. The jujube itself has been used for years to +flavor candies and other confections. But the essence is very +expensive and comparatively rare, despite the profusion with which +the fruit grows in its native habitat. +</P> + +<P> +"Dr. Fairchild, however, imported several specimens for the +Department's gardens in California, where they are bearing +prolifically. The arid sands of the southwest, where nothing but +cactus and sage-brush formerly would grow, have been found to be +excellent soil for the jujube, and it is the hope of Uncle Sam's +food experts to see the entire Arizona and New Mexico deserts dotted +with jujube orchards, with income to their owners. The jujube is +delicious eaten raw, but it may be cooked in any manner in which +apples are prepared, used as a sauce or for pie, preserved or dried. +Finally, its juice may be used as a delicious and highly nutritive +fruit broth." +</P> + +<P> +Petsai, or, as the Chinese have it, Pe-tsai, is a substitute for the +cabbage. In appearance it is as different from cabbage as can be +imagined. It is tall and cylindrical and its leaves are narrow, +delicately curled, with frilled edges. The petsai can, however, be +grown on any soil where the ordinary cabbage could be cultivated and +in many sections where the native vegetable would languish. We are +told it is no uncommon thing for a petsai to reach sixty pounds in +weight. Department of Agriculture officials, however, advise that it +be plucked when about eight pounds in weight, its flavor being then +the most delicate and appealing. +</P> + +<P> +This new importation, Uncle Sam's experts hope, will cause a drop in +the price of dinners. Cabbage long ago ceased to be a cheap dish. +But petsai requires none of the care which has to be lavished on +cabbage and will thrive in almost any climate and any soil. +</P> + +<P> +The soy bean, once started, grows wild and yields several crops a +season. It can be prepared in a multitude of ways, from baking to a +delicious salad. According to Doctor Yamei Kin, the head of the +Women's Medical School near Pekin, milk can be made from it to cost +about six cents a quart and equal to cows' milk. It would be a +blessing if we could get rid of the sacred but unclean cow. One of +the state dairy inspectors told me, "We consider milk a filthy +product." +</P> + +<P> +It may be remembered that, only twenty years ago, almost all the +dates consumed here came from the oases of Arabia and the valley of +the Euphrates. To-day there are more than a hundred varieties +successfully produced in California and Arizona. The wonders of +today are the commonplaces of to-morrow, and there is no telling to +what apparently impossible lengths science will go to relieve people +of the burden they now bear in the price of food. It has scoured the +ends of the earth for new delicacies and now experts will do their +best to teach the people to use them. +</P> + +<P> +Have you ever heard of <I>"Whitloof"</I> or <I>"Belgian Chicory"</I> or have +you ever dined in one of the better restaurants of large city where +they have served during the winter months a salad composed of golden +blanched oblong leaves about 2 inches wide and 5 inches long, only +the outer edges showing a faint green? It is as delicate as the +perfume of roses, as crisp as young lettuce, as delicious as +asparagus, and as ornamental upon the table as the freshest fruit. +</P> + +<P> +In former years this salad had to be imported and you had to pay +dear for a portion of it, a good reason why so few people know it. A +Belgian farmer located near New York has grown many thousands of +these plants this past summer. +</P> + +<P> +How would you like to grow this dainty salad right in your living +room and cut several crops from a single planting lasting nearly +three months? Secure an 8-inch pot and plant in it 12 roots packed +in light sandy soil or pure sand. Invert another but empty 8-inch +pot over this to keep out the light, place in a heated room, water +daily, and in from three to four weeks you will find full-grown +crowns, beautifully blanched ready for cutting. Six of such crowns +make a large portion, sufficient for an entire family. +</P> + +<P> +In cutting, do not cut too close to the root, for another growth is +made directly after the cutting, which matures in from three to four +weeks, and still two other crops can be grown in this way, so that +from a single planting four full crops can be had. Considering, +then, that eight such treats can be had for the cost of a single +dozen roots, we can all now enjoy what was formerly a luxury. This +method is most interesting, for you can watch the daily progress of +the growth of the roots, fascinating to young and old, and with +three weekly plantings of a pot each this treat can be enjoyed twice +a week from the 1st of February until May. +</P> + +<P> +For those who wish to enjoy it more often or in larger quantities, +we suggest the following: +</P> + +<P> +Prepare a bed of soil 12 inches deep in your cellar in a dark place +where the temperature is always above freezing. Plant the roots as +close as their size will permit and cover the crowns with at least 3 +inches of soil. On top of this put straw so that when the crowns +come through the soil they will not strike the light. When ready to +cut, remove the soil as far back as the original root so that you +can intelligently cut the growth to produce the crops to follow. +</P> + +<P> +As a substitute for the potato of commerce the "Dasheen" long ago +passed the experimental stage. It has been served at a number of +banquets in Washington, Philadelphia, and New York. +</P> + +<P> +While the tops of potatoes are useless as food, the tops of the +dasheen make delicious greens, and tests indicate that good growers +can depend on a crop of from four hundred to four hundred and fifty +bushels per acre. +</P> + +<P> +The Udo is the plant intended by the Department of Agriculture as a +substitute for asparagus, a delicacy which it closely resembles. It +is more prolific than asparagus, grows in the same soil, and +requires less attention. +</P> + +<P> +Not only plants but animals are experimented with by Uncle Sam's +experts. Officials of the Bureau of Animal Industry claim that +before long we will partake of antelope steak. For the antelope has +been found to be particularly adapted to the more arid western +sections of the country. And beyond that the gastronomist of the +future will have to reckon with loin of hippopotamus! +</P> + +<P> +The lower valley of the Mississippi is admirably suited to these +huge beasts, the flesh of one of which equals a score of cattle. +African traveled epicures maintain that hippopotamus steak is as +tender and inviting as the choicest beef. "For those who like that +sort of thing, it is just the sort of thing they would like." +</P> + +<P> +It seems a bit remote to urge hippopotamus on us who do not yet know +enough to eat sharks, tortoises, painted turtles, or even English +sparrows. Anyhow the small gardener is more likely to succeed +raising pheasants than to muss with a hippopotamus, at least in the +suburbs. Pigs are more practical and make prettier pets. +</P> + +<P> +Our population bids fair to approximate two hundred million within +the next fifty years, and, because of the exigencies of business, an +increasing number of people will be engaged in non-food-producing +vocations. These people, however, are all consumers and must be fed +and clothed, and even now America offers the greatest market for the +produce of the farm that any farmer in any country has ever had in +all history. +</P> + +<P> +One of the coming ways of feeding them is the discovery and use of +new foods. As in other things, after the war, whether we live in a +better world or not, we shall live in an entirely different world, +new ways, strange thoughts, and other foods. For the most of the +following, <I>Business America</I> and <I>Current Opinion</I> are responsible. +</P> + +<P> +For the creation of new crop varieties or the improvement of those +now in use we must depend upon the practical scientists who are +engaged in plant breeding. The work of one of these, Professor +Buffum, has been accomplished in a region that is apparently sterile +and where plants grow only by coaxing through artificial moisture. +</P> + +<P> +His plant-breeding farms near Worland in the Big Horn Basin of +Northern Wyoming lie at an elevation of 4000 feet, in a region of +almost total natural aridity. +</P> + +<P> +After twenty years' work in Western agricultural colleges and +Government Experiment Stations, Professor Buffum chose his present +location because nowhere in the United States could he find +conditions of soil and climate that induce to such a remarkable +degree the breaking up of species, and mutation or "sporting" of +plants. +</P> + +<P> +When the modern plant breeder seeks to produce something new by +cross-fertilization a problem is encountered. For many years we were +ignorant of the principle upon which nature operated in these +hybrids or crosses. Finally a Bohemian priest named Mendel +discovered the law. The central principle is that when the seed +produced from a cross between two different species is planted, the +progeny breaks up into well-defined groups. A certain percentage of +the plants resemble one of the parents, a smaller percentage are +like the other parent, and the rest seem to be a blend of both +parents. These intermediates will not breed true to themselves, +however; if seed from them is planted the progeny will split up into +groups, showing the same percentages as the first generation to +which they belonged. This has been generally accepted by scientists. +</P> + +<P> +In many of his productions Professor Buffum apparently has set the +Mendelian law at defiance, for, by cross-fertilization, he has +evolved plants which breed true to themselves, and their progeny +does not break up into groups, according to the accepted theory. +They show specimens resembling each parent, with the third composed +of seemingly, but not really, blended specimens. +</P> + +<P> +These results are particularly vital in the development of plants +adapted by selection for semi-arid agriculture. The Professor +believes that the great areas of high plain country to be found from +Canada to Mexico can be made more productive through planting crop +varieties that have been bred to withstand the existing conditions +which produce meagre returns from the vast expanse of territory +under the present methods. +</P> + +<P> +In place of corn, which is difficult to mature even at moderate +elevations, Professor Buffum has introduced improved emmers and the +various hybrids resulting from crosses with other grains. +</P> + +<P> +Emmer itself is not a new grain, having been grown for centuries in +Russia and southern Europe, and it is believed to have been the corn +of Pliny, which he said was used by the Latins for several centuries +before they knew how to make bread. +</P> + +<P> +Several years ago emmer began receiving attention as a stock food. +The first planting of the grain at Worland resulted in some +exceptional "sports," seemingly of a different type, with coarse +straw and very large heads. With this as a basis, the seed was +replanted and subjected to many experiments to increase its drouth +and winter resisting qualities. Continued selections have shown, a +yield of from a third more to twice as much as corn, that it is +thirty per cent more valuable than oats for feeding horses, and that +for stock fattening it is equal to corn, pound for pound. It is the +most drouth-resistant and prolific of small grains, has been +successfully raised from Montana to Mexico, and is being planted in +Louisiana to replace oats because it is not affected by rust. +</P> + +<P> +Some of the yields recorded are enormous, varying from 40 to 104 +bushels per acre under dry farming, and as high as 152 bushels under +irrigation. +</P> + +<P> +One stalk of Turkey red wheat was noticed as differing in many ways +from all varieties, principally that the head was over eight inches +in length, whereas the ordinary Turkey red wheat commonly used in +the West has a head of only four or five inches. +</P> + +<P> +From this one stalk has been developed the Buffum No. 17 Winter +wheat. The heavy beards were eliminated and the grains or kernels in +each spikelet increased from the normal number of three to five, +seven, and even nine. The hardiness of the new variety, together +with its remarkably large head, means that when it is placed on the +market the farmers who sow it need not fear winter killing and will +have a splendid flouring grain, which will produce nearly double the +average crop per acre. +</P> + +<P> +It is said that if a single kernel could be added to each head of +wheat, the increase in annual production of this country would +amount to over fifteen million bushels. +</P> + +<P> +If fodder crops can be substituted for a part of the corn now used +for stock, it will be a great gain. +</P> + +<P> +In his alfalfa-breeding garden, Professor Buffum is raising over +seventy different kinds, gathered from all parts of the world, +showing that the plant is capable of wide variations. One hybrid has +been obtained by crossing sweet clover with alfalfa; the clover +grows wild in every state in the Union. +</P> + +<P> +There seems to be no limit to man's ingenuity and skill in plant +improvement. Perhaps sometime we will try it with our children. +</P> + +<P> +In thirty years an exceptional ear of dent corn, through continued +planting and careful selection each succeeding season, resulted in a +few days' shortening of the growing period and an increased +resistance to the cool nights of the higher elevation where it was +under improvement; to-day, this corn matures about the middle of +August at an altitude of 4000 feet, and has been yielding forty to +sixty bushels per acre. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DRIED TRUCK +</H3> + +<P> +As a war measure the surplus vegetables in many city markets have +been forced by the governments into large municipal drying plants. +Community driers have been established in the trucking regions and +even itinerant drying machines have been sent from farm to farm +drying the vegetables which otherwise would have gone to waste. +</P> + +<P> +The drying of vegetables may seem strange to the present generation, +but we are very young; to our grandmothers it was no novelty. Many +housewives even to-day prefer dried sweet corn to the canned, and +find also that dried pumpkin and squash are excellent for pie +making. Snap beans often are strung on threads and dried above the +stove. Cherries and raspberries still are dried on bits of bark for +use instead of raisins. +</P> + +<P> +This country is producing large quantities of perishable foods every +year, which should be saved for storage, canned, or properly dried. +Drying is not a panacea for the waste evil, nor should it take the +place of storing or canning to any considerable extent where proper +storage facilities are available or tin cans or glass jars can be +obtained cheap. +</P> + +<P> +For the farmer's wife the new methods of canning are probably better +than sun drying, which requires a somewhat longer time. But dried +material can be stored in receptacles which cannot be used for +canning. Then, too, canned fruit and vegetables freeze and cannot be +shipped as conveniently—in winter. Dried vegetables can be +compacted and shipped or stored with a minimum of risk. String them +up to the ceiling of the storeroom or attic. +</P> + +<P> +A few apples or sweet potatoes or peas or even a single turnip can +be dried and saved. Even when very small quantities are dried at a +time, a quantity sufficient for a meal will soon be secured. Small +lots of dried vegetables, such as cabbage, carrots, turnips, +potatoes, and onions, can be combined to advantage for soups and +stews. +</P> + +<P> +In general, most fruits or vegetables, to be dried quickly, must +first be shredded or cut into slices, because many are too large to +dry quickly, or have skins the purpose of which is to prevent drying +out. If the air applied at first is too hot, the cut surfaces of the +sliced fruits or vegetables become hard, or scorched, covering the +juicy interior so that it will not dry. Generally it is not +desirable that the temperature in drying should go above 140 deg to +150 deg F., and it is better to keep it well below this point. Insects +and insect eggs are killed by the heat. +</P> + +<P> +It is important to know the degree of heat in the drier, and this +cannot be determined accurately except by a thermometer. Inexpensive +oven thermometers can be found on the market, or an ordinary +chemical thermometer can be suspended in the drier. +</P> + +<P> +Drying of certain products can be completed in some driers within +two or three hours. When sufficiently done they should be so dry +that water cannot be pressed out of the freshly cut pieces, they +should not show any of the natural grain of the fruit on being +broken, and yet not be so dry as to snap or crackle. They should be +leathery and pliable. +</P> + +<P> +When freshly cut fruits or vegetables are spread out they +immediately begin to evaporate moisture into the air, and if in a +closed box will very soon saturate the air with moisture. This will +slow down the rate of drying and lead to the formation of molds. If +a current of dry air is blown over them continually, the water in +them will evaporate steadily until they are dry and crisp. Certain +products, especially raspberries, should not be dried hard, because +if too much moisture is removed from them they will not resume their +original form when soaked in water. +</P> + +<P> +The rotary hand slicer is adapted for use on a very wide range of +material. Don't slice your hand with it. +</P> + +<P> +From an eighth to a quarter of an inch is a fair thickness for most +of the common vegetables to be sliced. To secure fine quality, much +depends upon having the vegetables absolutely fresh, young, tender, +and perfectly clean; one decayed root may flavor several kettles of +soup if the slices from it are scattered through a batch of +material. High-grade "root" vegetables can only be made from peeled +roots. +</P> + +<P> +Blanching consists of plunging the vegetables into boiling water for +a short time. Use a wire basket or cheesecloth bag for this. After +blanching as many minutes as is needed, drain well and remove the +surface moisture from vegetables by placing them between two towels +or by exposing them to the sun and air for a short time. +</P> + +<P> +A mosquito net is thrown over the product to protect the slices from +flies and other insects. Fruits and vegetables, when dried in the +sun, generally are spread on large trays of uniform size which can +be stacked one on top of the other and protected from rain by covers +made of oilcloth, canvas, or roofing paper. +</P> + +<P> +A very cheap tray can be made of lath three fourths of an inch thick +and 2 inches wide, which form the sides and ends of a box, and +smoothed lath which is nailed on to form the bottom. As builders' +laths are 4 feet long, these lath trays are most economical of +material when made 4 feet in length. +</P> + +<P> +A cheap and very satisfactory drier for use over the kitchen stove +can be made by any handy man of small-mesh galvanized-wire netting +and laths or strips of wood about 1/2 inch thick and 2 inches wide. By +using two laths nailed together the framework can be stiffened and +larger trays made if desirable. This form can be suspended from the +ceiling over the kitchen range or over a clear burning oil, +gasoline, or gas stove, and it will utilize the hot air which rises +during the cooking hour. It can be raised out of the way or swung to +one side by a pulley or by a crane made of lath. When the stove is +required for cooking, the frame is lowered or swung back to utilize +the heat which otherwise would be wasted. Still another home drier +is the cookstove oven. Bits of food, left overs, especially sweet +corn, can be dried on plates in a very slow oven or on the back of +the cookstove and saved for winter use. +</P> + +<P> +Where the electric "juice" is not monopolized, an electric fan in +drying is economical, especially for those who already have a fan. +</P> + +<P> +Many sliced fruits placed in long trays 3 by 1 foot and stacked in +two tiers, end to end, before an electric fan can be dried within +twenty-four hours. Some require much less time. For instance, sliced +string beans and shredded sweet potatoes will dry before a fan +running at a moderate speed within a few hours. +</P> + +<P> +The dried fruit or vegetables must be protected from insects and +rodents, also from the outside moisture, and will keep best in a +cool, dry, well-ventilated place. In the more humid regions, +moisture-tight containers should be used. If a small amount of dried +product is put in each receptacle, just enough for one or two meals, +it will not be necessary to open a large container. +</P> + +<P> +Your American ingenuity and the American practice of reading will +show you a lot of ways of saving waste: for example, frozen potatoes +are not necessarily spoiled, we are told by Mr. de Ronsic, a writer +in the <I>Reveil Agricole</I>. They may be dried and then cooked as +usual. The <I>Revue Scientifique</I> (Paris), abstracting the article in +question, says: +</P> + +<P> +"The potatoes must be dried to prevent decomposition, which takes +place very rapidly after they have thawed out. . . ." The oven +should be heated as for baking bread. Then, when it has reached the +necessary temperature, which is easily recognized, the potatoes are +put in, cutting up the largest. They are spread out in a layer so +that evaporation may easily take place, the door of the oven being +left open. From time to time the mass is stirred up with a poker to +facilitate the evaporation. When the drying has gone far enough, the +potatoes having become hard as bits of wood, they are withdrawn to +make room for others. +</P> + +<P> +"Potatoes thus dried may be boiled with enough water to make a paste +similar to that which they would have furnished if mashed in the +ordinary manner, and which will answer very well, at least to feed +stock. The potatoes will be found to have lost none of their +nutritive value." +</P> + +<P> +Even if you haven't any acres—yet, there isn't any law against +drying in the city. Either in sales or in saving it will help to pay +for the country place later and the country place can be made to pay +it back again. +</P> + +<P> +Call your product say "Landers' Desiccated Beans" or "Glory's +Dehydrated Corn." They will sell better, they may even taste better, +trying to live up to the description. There's dollars in a name. +</P> + +<P> +As a preservative ice must not be neglected. The <I>Country Gentleman</I> +says: +</P> + +<P> +While the temperature is below the freezing point we should take +advantage of even short frosts to lay up ice for next summer. The +man without an ice pond need not be, without ice—he can freeze it +in pans outdoors. An ice plant of this sort will cost from fifteen +to twenty dollars. +</P> + +<P> +A double tank should be made of galvanized iron. The inner +compartment of this tank should be ten feet long, two feet wide, and +twelve inches deep. The top of the tank should be slightly wider +than the bottom. The inner tank should be divided into six +compartments by means of galvanized iron strips. The double tank +should be placed near the outdoor pump, or stream, where it can +easily be filled. +</P> + +<P> +Being exposed on all sides, the water will freeze in from one hour +to three hours. A bucket of hot water poured into the space between +the tanks will loosen the cakes of ice, each weighing 200 pounds. +Four tons of ice will last the average family a year. The cakes may +be packed away in the icehouse as they are frozen. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap26"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +HOME COLD-PACK CANNING +</H3> + +<P> +To save vegetables and fruits by canning is a patriotic duty. The +war makes the need for food conservation more imperative than at any +time in history. America is mainly responsible for the food supply +of the world. In this way the abundance of the summer may be made to +supply the needs of the winter. +</P> + +<P> +By the modern cold-pack method it is as easy to can vegetables as to +can fruits. Some authorities say it is easier. At any rate, it is +more useful. +</P> + +<P> +In the cold-pack method of canning, sterilization does away with the +danger of spoilage by fermentation or "working." Sterilization +consists in raising the temperature of the filled jar or can to a +germ-killing point and holding it there until bacterial life is +destroyed. +</P> + +<P> +The word "container" is used to designate either the tin can or the +glass jar. +</P> + +<P> +Single-period cold-pack canning, as distinguished from old-fashioned +preserving, offers a saving in time, labor, and expense, and +satisfactory results. As the foodstuffs are placed in the containers +before sterilization, they are cold and may be handled quickly and +easily. Then the sterilization period is frequently short. This is +time-saving. Finally, no rich preservatives, such as thick syrups or +heavily spiced solutions, are required. Fruits may be put up in thin +syrups. Vegetables require only salt for flavoring and water to fill +the container. +</P> + +<P> +Another advantage of this method is that it is practicable to put up +food in small quantities. It pays to put up even a single container. +Thus, when there is a small surplus of some garden crop, or +something left over from the order from the grocer's, one can take +the short time necessary to place this food in a container and store +it for future use. This is true household efficiency—the kind +which, if practiced on a national scale, will conserve our war food +supply and will, after the war, cut heavily into the high cost of +living. +</P> + +<P> +There are five principal methods of canning: (1) the cold-pack, +single-period method; (2) the intermittent, or fractional +sterilization method; (3) the cold-water method; (4) the open kettle +or hot-pack method; and (5) the vacuum-seal method. Of these the one +worked out on scientific lines by leading experts and used by many +commercial canners is so much the best method for home canning, +because of its simplicity and effectiveness, that it is recommended +by the National Emergency Food Commission and the details are +explained in their manual. +</P> + +<P> +The cold-water method can be used effectively in putting up rhubarb, +green gooseberries, and a few other sour berry fruits. The process +is simple. The fruit is first prepared and washed and then blanched, +and finally packed practically raw in containers, which are next +filled with cold water and then sealed. Some sour fruits packed in +this way will keep indefinitely. +</P> + +<P> +A serviceable outfit may be made of materials found in any +household. All that is necessary is a vessel to hold the jars or +cans—such as a wash boiler or a large tin pail. This should have a +tight-fitting cover. Provide a false bottom of wood or a wire rack +to allow for free circulation of water under the containers. +</P> + +<P> +While suburban gardeners with large surplus of vegetables find it +desirable to use tin cans, being more easily handled for commercial +purposes, most of us find glass jars the more satisfactory and +economical containers for canned vegetables and fruits. This is +especially true when there is a shortage of tin cans. All types of +jars that seal perfectly may be used. Use may be made of those to +which one is accustomed or which may be already on hand. The rubbers +must be sound but the glass jars may be used indefinitely. Glass +jars are adapted for use in any of the cold-pack canning outfits. Be +sure that no jar is defective. +</P> + +<P> +For use in the storing of products which are already sterilized, +such as jellies, jams, and preserves, and the bottling of fruit +juices, housewives may practice effective thrift by saving all jars +in which they receive dried beef, bacon, peanut butter, and other +products and bottles that have contained olives, catsup, and kindred +goods. +</P> + +<P> +Blanching is important with most vegetables and many fruits. It +consists of plunging them into boiling water for a short time. +Spinach and other greens should be blanched in steam. To do this, +place them in an ordinary steamer or suspend them in a tightly +closed vessel above an inch or two of boiling water. +</P> + +<P> +Blanching should be followed by the cold dip, plunging into cold +water after removal from the hot water. Cold dipping hardens the +pulp and preserves the original color, enhancing the appearance. +Blanching cleanses the articles and removes excess acids and strong +flavors and odors. It also causes shrinkage, so that a larger +quantity may be packed in a container. After blanching and cold +dipping, surface moisture should be removed by placing the +vegetables or fruits between two towels or by exposure to the sun. +</P> + +<P> +All this is so simple and the directions so easily followed that the +average 12-year-old may successfully can vegetables or fruits. The +steps and the precautions are: +</P> + +<P> +1. Select sound vegetables and fruits. (If possible can them the +same day they are picked.) Wash, clean, and prepare them. +</P> + +<P> +2. Have ready, on the stove, a can or pail of boiling water. +</P> + +<P> +3. Place the vegetables or fruits in cheesecloth, or in some other +porous receptacle—a wire basket is excellent—for dipping and +blanching them in the boiling water. +</P> + +<P> +4. Put them whole into the boiling water. The Commission gives a +time-table for blanching. After the water begins to boil, begin to +count the blanching time; this varies from one to twenty minutes, +according to the vegetable or fruit. +</P> + +<P> +5. When the blanching is complete, remove the vegetables or fruits +from the boiling water and plunge them a number of times into cold +water, to harden the pulp and check the flow of coloring matter. Do +not leave them in cold water. +</P> + +<P> +6. The containers must be thoroughly clean. It is not necessary to +sterilize them in steam or boiling water before filling them, as in +the cold-pack process both the insides of containers and the +contents are sterilized. The jars should be heated before being +filled, in order to avoid breakage. +</P> + +<P> +7. Pack the product into the containers, leaving about a quarter of +an inch of space at the top. +</P> + +<P> +8. With vegetables add one level teaspoonful of salt to each quart +container and fill with boiling water. With fruits use syrups. +</P> + +<P> +9. With glass jars always use a good rubber. Test the rubber by +stretching or turning inside out. Fit on the rubber and put the lid +in place. If the container has a screw top do not screw up as hard +as possible, but use only the thumb and little finger in tightening +it. This makes it possible for the steam to escape and prevents +breakage. If a glass top jar is used, snap the top bail only, +leaving the lower bail loose during sterilization. Tin cans should +be completely sealed. +</P> + +<P> +10. Place the filled and capped containers on the rack in the +sterilizer. If the homemade or commercial hot-water bath outfit is +used, enough water should be in the boiler to come at least one inch +above the tops of the containers, and the water, in boiling out, +should never be allowed to drop to the level of these tops. Begin to +count processing time when the water begins to boil. +</P> + +<P> +At the end of the sterilizing period remove the containers from the +sterilizer. Fasten covers on tightly at once, turn the containers +upside down to test for leakage, leave in this position until cold, +and then store in a cool, dry place. Be sure that no draft is +allowed to blow on glass jars, as it may cause breakage. +</P> + +<P> +11. If jars are to be stored where there is strong light, wrap them +in paper, preferably brown, as light will fade the color of products +canned in glass jars, and sometimes deteriorate the food value. +</P> + +<P> +That's the whole trick. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap27"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +RETAIL COOPERATION +</H3> + +<P> +COOPERATION in buying supplies at wholesale, in standardizing and +shipping crops, in keeping grain in elevators, and fruit and some +meats and poultry in cold storage has reached a high development +among the farmers largely in the Northwest, much ahead of us "city +folks." +</P> + +<P> +There are more than five thousand active Farmers' Cooperation +Associations in the United States. Minnesota alone has over six +hundred cooperative creameries, some of which have a laundry annex. +The associations have six hundred and sixty thousand members and do +a business of nearly a thousand dollars a year for each member. +These are the people that we call "hayseeds"; if we could plant some +more such "seeds," it would be a good job. But in cooperative retail +domestic supply we are far behind England and other countries, even +behind Russia. That is partly because our better retail business +methods leave less room for the savings. +</P> + +<P> +A simple and easy but important beginning of cooperation was where +each one took turns in delivering the milk and fetching supplies. +One farmer might do it all every day for a small charge. +</P> + +<P> +The new South is developing a great business in this line. When you +go to New Orleans look up the stores whose letter head reads: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + NELSON CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION, INC.<BR> + <I>Food Suppliers</I><BR> + OFFICE, 506 So. PETERS STREET. CREAMERY, ERATO ST.<BR> + WAREHOUSE, 511 SO. PETERS ST. BAKERY, ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE.<BR> + 61 RETAIL STORES<BR> + 4 MEAT MARKETS<BR> +</P> + +<P> +In August, 1917, N. O. Nelson of the above concern writes in answer +to my request: +</P> + +<P> +"It does not take 2500 words to tell all I know about Cooperation. I +trust the inclosed may be serviceable for your book, and shall feel +proud if it is. +</P> + +<P> +"I am doing my job here for two very practical reasons; first, the +immediate service of reducing the cost of living to say 15,000 +families, mostly poor; second, to introduce economy in retailing. +</P> + +<P> +"The readers of such a book as yours are well aware of the wasteful +ways of retailing goods. In every town and city there is a +multiplication of stores, advertising clerks, teams, and other +incidentals. +</P> + +<P> +"Likewise there is a lot of middle men and drummers, the buyers at +the producer's end, the wholesalers or middle men at the consumer's +end, with speculator and landowner at both ends. All of these have +to be supported by the system, and the dear consumer pays for it. +</P> + +<P> +"The Cooperative store system, which was started in England 73 +years ago, eliminates most of these waste expenses. The system has +kept spreading at an astonishing rate; in Great Britain there are +now 3 1/2 million members, and more than a billion of sales a year. +Other European countries are full of these stores. Many of the +retail stores have from twelve thousand to fifty thousand members; +their sales run into the millions. They are federated in a wholesale +agency which buys for them and manufactures on an extensive scale. +</P> + +<P> +"By the economies thus introduced they are able to save regularly +about 15%, besides paying interest on the capital employed, and +accumulating a liberal surplus. It is simply a question of people +getting together (all civilization is), contributing their own money +and their trade, and thus avoiding all the waste expenses. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a very democratic plan; anybody is welcome to join it; every +member has one vote and no more, they elect their directors, the +directors elect the managers, and the managers employ the clerks. +They sell at the market prices and every three or six months take +account of stock and rebate the profits in proportion to each +member's purchases, with half rate to non-members. +</P> + +<P> +"It appeals to the economical sense of the ordinary housekeeper, and +to the ethical sense of those who want no advantage of their +neighbor. It prevents some from getting unduly rich and it helps to +keep many from being unduly poor. +</P> + +<P> +"The same principle has spread into farmer's work, especially +Creameries. In Cooperative Creameries and Stores Russia has grown +faster in the last 15 years than any other country, having at last +reports over thirteen million members. This orderly getting together +for common social needs has much to do with the orderliness of the +Russian Revolution. +</P> + +<P> +"The United States has made large progress in producers' cooperative +associations, but not much in stores. +</P> + +<P> +"I have in New Orleans a system of 65 stores on a modified system; +it is a cooperative association but we sell at as low prices as can +be afforded, for cash in hand. The sales amount to about 2 1/2 +millions, the most of it in the winter. The Association owns a +Bakery, a Creamery, Condiment Factory; and Coffee Factory, and a +1550-acre plantation. We are able to undersell the market about 20%. +</P> + +<P> +"People anywhere can make a cooperative store if they take it +seriously. There should be about 200 members and $2000 in cash to +start with: then get an honest and intelligent manager; start with a +grocery, buy and sell for cash, either on the Rochdale plan of +selling at full market prices and dividing the profits periodically, +or on my plan of selling as cheaply as can be afforded. In either +plan it works out into producing a large part of the goods sold, +thus eliminating entirely the superfluous middleman. +</P> + +<P> +"Three acres and Liberty is the correct way of producing a living; +with the adjunct of a cooperative store to do the selling of the +surplus produced and the buying of goods needed, the small farmer is +free from all the waste and trammels of trade." +</P> + +<P> +Now what's the matter with your helping your county and country and +humanity by organizing those two hundred waiting buyers in your own +town? You can be the "honest and intelligent manager" at a decent +salary. If, later, the cooperators want another manager, why you can +easily organize another store. The best information on this subject +is the Cooperative News, Manchester, England; subscription two +dollars. +</P> + +<P> +Evidence is daily accumulating that the food and farm problem is not +so easy as many thought it to be a few months ago. This is made +clear when economists say: "The really important question in the +food problem is not distribution, it is production." It is +unfortunate that this statement should gain belief at this time, +when those who prey upon the producer are watching for any support +from whatever direction. +</P> + +<P> +Passing by the obvious fact that production must precede +distribution, notice that, with all the energy that has been devoted +to production of farm products by the government experts, it is +clear that not only is there a shortage, but that it has required +all kinds of inducements, from the President down, to get the +farmers to increase their output, the most potent of all being the +cry of patriotism. +</P> + +<P> +Some explain this by showing how land monopoly prevents men going +back to the farms. While this is perfectly true, it does not answer +the question why farmers now in possession of farms are not working +them near their capacity. +</P> + +<P> +The answer of the ordinary man to this is inefficiency on the part +of the farmer, and up to the present this idea has passed as +sufficient to account for the situation. The publicity given the +whole farm question during the past six months, however, has to a +large extent dispelled the inefficiency answer, as the farmer has +responded so completely to the call, and the amateurs are beginning +to realize that there is something in farming besides tickling the +earth with a feather. All the facts so far brought out show the +farmer abundantly able to produce all the foodstuffs needed, +provided he has a reasonable certainty that he will be able to +dispose of his produce at a price that will give him a fair return +for his labor. This being the case, it is easy to see that putting +more men back on farms would not remedy the condition we are now in; +but would rather increase the difficulty. +</P> + +<P> +The fact is, the two blades of grass theory has been exploded, the +increased production cry has been tried out, carried to its logical +conclusion, and found wanting, and the inefficiency explanation has +been proved a falsehood on its face. It is, therefore, obvious that +with a proper system of distribution, the entire question of +production will take care of itself; but just so long as the +producers find it unprofitable to produce food, just so long will +they have to figure carefully not to grow too much, or it would be +better for them had they grown nothing at all. +</P> + +<P> +The reason why we have such divergent ideas on this subject is that +so many people write about it who have had no experience in farming, +while on the other hand there are few farmers who can state the case +so the public can grasp the most obvious facts. +</P> + +<P> +Finally, it is a question of the government doing what it ought not +to have done and leaving undone those things it ought to have done. +It has granted to a few monopolies transportation and terminal +facilities which enable them to hold up deliveries and thus control +prices. The remedy lies in seeing that the government attend to its +own business, which is securing equality of opportunity for all, and +special privileges to none. +</P> + +<P> +It follows that cooperation should not stop either at production or +at distribution. It must embrace the source of both, nor even stop +at governmental plans of small holdings. +</P> + +<P> +As a business enterprise, combining philanthropy and percentage, +capital has an opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +Accordingly an option should be secured upon a large piece of land +not over forty miles from a large city, near a railroad station. The +transportation at first is not important, as the new commuters will +make a demand for it, and cheap autos will largely fill the gap; it +will improve rapidly. +</P> + +<P> +If possible it should have a lake or a fair stream on it for +irrigation and small water power; the soil should be examined by +experts, to see that it is suitable for trucking and market +gardening. +</P> + +<P> +The object should be to make a sort of vacant lot gardening plan on +a grand scale. Heretofore the trouble has been that we have been +unable to get land where there was any assurance that we could have +it again the second year, and that the limited amount of land makes +it impossible to give the men as much as they ought to have. They do +not need much land, because a man working at intensive culture with +only the rough plowing done for him cannot take good care of much +more than one acre of land. He will probably make as much money out +of one acre of land as he will out of two. Those who are willing to +work should be given one acre of land, with the assurance that they +can have it as long as they work it faithfully and comply with the +simple rules which we have found so effective in the Vacant Lot +Gardening work,—which are practically, that a man should attend to +business and not annoy his neighbors. No contract or lease should be +given the men, or indeed the women, for both work such gardens, as +they have been doing for the past twenty years in several large +cities, making at least a living upon the land and often a very +large return. +</P> + +<P> +There must be a competent superintendent, for everything depends +upon him, who would show the men what land they should use, what +they should put in, instruct them how to do it, and market their +products cooperatively. Experience in Philadelphia, and in some +score of other cities where they have established Vacant Lot +Gardens, shows that about ten per cent annually of the people prefer +to work for others, and consequently take places in the country +after they have learned to do market gardening. Some others, being +dissatisfied with so little land, and wanting to own their own +place, go off and buy land or lease it for themselves. This makes a +constant drain from the gardens, leaving openings for others who +will learn in time their trade; it is possible to make in this way a +steady drain out of the cities to the country, and what is better +still, an automatic drain. +</P> + +<P> +The land must be so near to a center of population that it may be +possible to take a gang of men down there in the morning, show them +what it is, and send back those who do not seem likely to make good, +or who are dissatisfied; and that when men get their gardens +successfully running, they may be able to bring their friends there +to see what they have done, and say to them, "Go thou and do +likewise." +</P> + +<P> +I have been at Trudeau, Saranac Lake, and at Stony Wold, the +consumptive sanitariums, and found there both by observation and by +testimony that to send back the convalescents to the bench or the +workshop from which they came is practically to repronounce upon +them the sentence of death from which the sanitarium has offered +them a reprieve. The only practical thing to do with such +convalescents, and with such persons who are not capable of their +ordinary avocations, is to get them in some way upon the land. There +is a large demand for persons who understand the new intensive +gardening, and places can be found for more than we can hope to +educate in that line. +</P> + +<P> +There should be buildings upon the land sufficient to bunk one +hundred to one hundred and fifty men; accommodations could be made +with the small timber for a considerable number. Many of these men +would need some help, but most of them would shift for themselves if +only they could get the opportunity to build upon the land and to +have a secure tenure of it. A mere tenant knows that it is bunkum +when he says "Our Country." +</P> + +<P> +It is perfectly practicable to sell about one half of the land in a +year or two, and have a thousand acres or more left free and clear, +which will cost the promoters nothing. Renting this out or selling +it will repay the whole cost, and probably bring a large profit +besides. +</P> + +<P> +This is no experiment, it is only to do the thing that we have been +doing under various conditions with various sorts of men in +different localities for the past twenty years in the Vacant Lot +Gardens: namely, to give men the opportunity of living upon and +cultivating land, putting up their own tents, shacks, or bungalows, +and giving them such instruction and such help as does not cost +anything more than the salary of the superintendent. There are +abundant men who can make good and shift for themselves under those +circumstances; the men who are available are single men, such men as +those for whom Mr. Hallimond, a clergyman working in the Bowery, has +been finding rural employment in the past ten years. Also many +families will come to us through the Vacant Lot Gardens and the +Little Land agitation. People such as these will increase the land +value, for every decent man carries around with him at least five +hundred dollars' worth of increase in land values which his presence +adds to somebody's holdings of land. The struggle to pocket this +increase accounts for much of the human drift from the field to the +factory. +</P> + +<P> +God made the country; man made the city—and the devil made the +suburbs, by the aid of the speculator. +</P> + +<P> +Alpha of the Plough says in the London <I>Star:</I> "I was walking with a +friend along the Spaniards-road the other evening talking on the +inexhaustible theme of these days, when he asked, 'What is the +biggest thing that has happened to this country as the outcome of +the war?' +</P> + +<P> +"'It is within two or three hundred yards from here,' I replied. +'Come this way and I'll show it to you.' +</P> + +<P> +"He seemed a little surprised, but accompanied me cheerfully enough +as I turned from the road and plunged through the gorse and the +trees towards Parliament Fields, until we came upon a large expanse +of allotments, carved out of the great playground, and alive with +figures, men, women, and children, some earthing up potatoes, some +weeding onion beds, some thinning out carrots, some merely walking +along the patches, and looking at the fruits of their labor +springing from the soil. 'There,' I said, 'is the most important +result of the war.' +</P> + +<P> +"He laughed, but not contemptuously. He knew what I meant, and I +think he more than half agreed. +</P> + +<P> +"And I think you will agree, too, if you will think what that +stretch of allotments means. It is the symptom of the most important +revival, the greatest spiritual awakening this country has seen for +generations. Wherever you go, that symptom meets you. Here in +Hampstead allotments are as plentiful as blackberries in autumn. A +friend of mine who lives in Beckenham tells me there are fifteen +hundred in his parish. In the neighborhood of London there must be +many thousands. In the country as a whole there must be hundreds of +thousands. If dear old Joseph Fels could revisit the glimpses of the +moon and see what is happening, see the vacant lots and waste spaces +bursting into onion beds and potato patches, what joy would be his! +He was the forerunner of the revival, the passionate pilgrim of the +Vacant Lot: but his hot gospel fell on deaf ears, and he died just +before the trumpet of war awakened the sleeper. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not suppose that the greatness of this thing that is happening +can be measured in terms of food. That is important, no doubt, but +it is not the most important thing. I am confident that it will add +more than anything else to the spiritual resources of the nation. It +is the beginning of a war on the disease that is blighting our +people. What is wrong with us? What is the root of our social and +spiritual ailment? Is it not the divorce of the people from the +soil? For generations the wholesome red blood of the country has +been sucked into the great towns, and we have built up a vast +machine of industry that has made slaves of us, shut out the light +of the fields from our lives, left our children to grow like weeds +in the slums, rootless and waterless, poisoned the healthy instincts +of nature implanted in us, and put in their place the rank growths +of the streets. Can you walk through a working-class district or a +Lancashire cotton town, with their huddle of airless streets, +without a feeling of despair coming over you at the sense of this +enormous perversion of life into the arid channels of death? Can you +take pride in an Empire on which the sun never sets when you think +of the courts in which, as Will Crooks says, the sun never rises? +</P> + +<P> +"And now the sun is going to rise. We have started a revolution that +will not end until the breath of the earth has come back to the soul +of the people. The tyranny of the machine is going to be broken. The +tyranny of the land monopoly is going to be lifted. Yes, you say, +but these people that I see working on the allotments are not the +people from the courts and the slums; but professional men, the +superior artisan, and so on. That is true. But the movement must get +hold of the <I>intelligenzia</I> first. The important thing is that the +breach in the prison is made; the fresh air is filtering in; the +idea is born—not still-born, mind you, but born a living thing. It +is a way of salvation that will not be lost, and that all will +travel. +</P> + +<P> +"We have found the land, and we are going back to possess it. Take a +man out of the street and put him in a garden, and you have made a +new creature of him. I have seen the miracle again and again. I know +a bus conductor, for example, outwardly the most ordinary of his +kind. But one night I mentioned allotments, touched the key of his +soul, and discovered that this man was going about his daily work +irradiated by the thought of his garden triumphs. He had got a new +purpose in life. He had got the spirit of the earth in his bones. It +is not only the humanizing influence of the garden, it is its +democratizing influence too. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "When Adam delved and Eve span<BR> + Where was then the gentleman?'<BR> +</P> + +<P> +You can get on terms with the lowliest if you will discuss gardens." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap28"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SUMMER COLONIES FOR CITY PEOPLE +</H3> + +<P> +(Condensed from the Annual Report of the U. S. Department of the +Interior of the Commissioner of Education. Vol. 2, now out of +print.) +</P> + +<P> +BERLIN has not been boastful of a new sociological feature which it +has developed within the last fifteen years, a feature so +revolutionary in its bearing upon education and upon the general +health of future generations, that it should be made known to the +world. As yet little has been said about this new agency. It may be +because it is not a governmental institution, but the result of +self-help and of the recognition of a plain necessity. It may be +assumed that if the summer colonies had been instituted by the +government for the great majority who are poor it would not have +succeeded so well as it has. +</P> + +<P> +The teachers, seeing that the horizon of their pupils was limited by +brick and mortar (for open park spaces are rare in Berlin), came to +the conclusion that only by giving their pupils opportunity to live +in the open air could they lay a sound foundation of knowledge of +natural objects and processes as a basis for school studies. The +teachers of themselves, however, could apply only palliative +remedies, such as having sent to them, from the botanical gardens, +thousands of specimens of plants, twigs, flowers, fruit, etc., for +nature study in the schoolroom; planting flower beds around the +schoolhouses; also, brief excursions into parks, and hanging up +before the class colored pictures of landscapes and rural scenery. +</P> + +<P> +While in many cases, especially in large cities, the necessity was +recognized of getting the children out of the great desert of brick +and mortar into the open air and into companionship with life in the +field, the garden, the brooks, and the woods, it had nowhere +resulted in a systematic effort to aid the children of an entire +city in that way until it was tried in Berlin. Of course it is well +understood, not only abroad, but in New York and in other large +cities of this country, that something must be done to alleviate the +want of space and fresh air, and so recreation piers and roof +gardens are provided, excursions of schools into parks are +undertaken, open-air playgrounds are instituted, and similar efforts +are made tending to mitigate the evil effects of city life; but all +these efforts are merely sporadic or temporary; they do not attack +the evil at the roots; moreover they are only drops in the bucket +when compared with that which is necessary. +</P> + +<P> +This tendency to cooperative and collective action has resulted in +this particular case in thousands of the children's <I>"Arbor +Gardens"</I> round about the city. It is an experience "en gros," one +of such dimensions that cavil ceases and admiration rises supreme. +</P> + +<P> +The German poor are very poor indeed, but parents were induced to +rent, at a price of 4 marks ($1) or about 20 cents a month from May +to October for the summer season, a patch of land in the suburbs of +Berlin unfit for farmland because cut up by railroad tracks and +newly laid-out streets. On one of these patches a family might erect +an arbor, or a small structure of boards with a wide veranda and a +corrugated iron roof, for housing themselves and children during the +summer months. The dwellings are of the most primitive kind and +rather flimsy; no permanent structure can be allowed, for at any +time the owner of the land may give notice to vacate for the purpose +of erecting a row of houses, railroad buildings, or other permanent +structures. The tenants themselves build fences of wire or plant +hedges to keep the different plots apart. On these patches the +children, under the guidance of teachers, parents, and appointed +guardians, began to sow flower seeds, plant shrubs, vines, and +trees, or raise kitchen vegetables, each group or family according +to its own desires and needs. Since the "arbors" are small they do +not decrease the arable land of the allotments much, and there is +still room left for swings, gymnastic apparatus, and similar +contrivances, as well as bare sandy spots for little tots to play +in. The various allotments are mostly uniform in size and are +reached by narrow three- or four-foot lanes, on which occasionally +are seen probationary officers or guardians who keep the peace and +settle cases of disturbance. +</P> + +<P> +The "arbor gardens" are established on every square rod of unused +land round about the city, on vacant lots, far out to the borders of +the well-trained woods and royal forests. Small tradesmen, laboring +men, civil officials of low degrees, etc., have found it profitable +to forsake their tenements in the city and move kith and kin into +those "arbor colonies." The tenements in Berlin are as bad as in our +own big cities, only better policed. +</P> + +<P> +Not all of these arbor gardens are occupied by families during the +night. Thousands return to their city homes evenings. Some parents, +unable to free themselves from toil in town, send their children +under guidance of servants, and spend only occasional Sundays and +holidays with them. +</P> + +<P> +The people, especially the children, getting some information +concerning the treatment of the crops from competent advisers in +school and out in the arbor colonies, derive great good from their +horticultural and floricultural work. Families who are aesthetically +inclined devote their space to flowers and trailing vines +exclusively; others, utilitarians from necessity, plant potatoes, +carrots, turnips, beets, beans, strawberries, and the like. The +feeling of ownership being strongly developed in the children in +seeing the results of their own labor, the crops are respected by +the neighbors and pilfering rarely occurs, except perhaps in a case +of great hunger. +</P> + +<P> +Several hundred or a thousand of such patches of land, or gardens, +situated in close proximity to each other, form an arbor colony, +which has a governor, or mayor, who is an unpaid city official. He +arranges the leasing of the land, collects the rents, and hands them +over to the gratified landowners who don't even have to collect +them. There is always a retired merchant or civil officer to fill +the office, to which is attached neither title, emolument, nor +special honor. He is assisted by a "colonial committee" of trustees +selected from the colonists, who act as justices of the peace, in +case disturbances should arise. If colonists prove frequent +disturbers of the peace or are found incapable of living quietly, +their leases are not renewed. Of course there are such cases, but +they are rare. +</P> + +<P> +Since the size of an "arbor garden" is from about two sixteenths to +three sixteenths of an acre, say two or three New York City Lots, +those forming a colony make a considerable community, in which the +authority of the committee, or board of trustees, is absolute, and +the few cases they have had to adjudicate have generally been caused +by nagging women. It is claimed in the press that these colonists +are literally without scandals, and that the life led by young and +old is a most peaceful and happy one. People who are hard at work +are not likely to be quarrelsome: good wholesome food, much exercise +in play and labor, and an abundance of fresh air and sunshine are +conducive to happiness, especially as the clothing may be of a +primitive kind, or need not conform to the dictates of fashion. +</P> + +<P> +A teacher remarked: "It is noticeable that since these school +children are engaged in lucrative work which does not go beyond +their strength, and since they see with their own eyes the results +of their labor, a sense of responsibility is engendered which has a +beneficial influence upon school work also. Respect for all kinds of +labor and a decrease in the destructiveness so often found among +boys are unmistakable effects of the arbor gardens. It is not easy +work which the children perform, for spade and rake require muscular +effort; but it is ennobling work, for it leads to self-respect, +self-dependence, and respect for others, as well as willingness to +aid others. The most beautiful sight is afforded when, on a certain +date agreed on by the members of a colony, a harvest festival is +held. Then flag raisings and illuminations and singing and music +make the day a memorable one." +</P> + +<P> +Most of the families had not the means to buy the lumber and +hardware to erect an "arbor," and yet they were the very ones to +whom the life in the open would be of the greatest benefit. Hence +philanthropy erected the structures. The Patriotic Woman's League of +the Red Cross built half of all the "arbors" of the colony found on +the "Jungfernheide." Many colonies reach into the woods, and +naturally are of a different character from those in the open, for +there tents are used instead of wooden structures. For protection +during the night watchmen pace up and down the lanes; this before +the war entailed a cost of 7 1/2 cents a month to each family. The +season lasts from May 1 to October 1. +</P> + +<P> +The school-going population meanwhile attend their schools, which +used to be reached by means of the elevated cars or surface tramways +for 2 1/2 cents and much cheaper if they have commuters' tickets. Many +schools are near enough to be reached on foot. The children do not +loiter on the way, but when school is out they hurry "home" to begin +work in the garden, or to sit down to a meal on the veranda, which +is relished far more than a meal in a city tenement house filled +with fetid air and wanting in light. Nearly every one of these +gardens has a flagpole, and at night a Japanese paper lantern with a +tallow dip in it illuminates the veranda. These, with flags by day, +make a festive appearance. The teachers find that city children who +spend the five months in the open air are well equipped with +elementary ideas in physical geography and astronomy. Their mental +equipment is better, indeed, in all fields of thought, their +physical health is improved, as well as their ethical motives and +conduct. +</P> + +<P> +To realize the full extent of these wholesale efforts (for put +children into close contact with nature and they will improve in all +directions), it is well to take a ride on the North belt line +(elevated steam railroad), the trains of which start from the +Friedrich's street depot and bring one back after a ride of an hour +and a half. Then one may do the same on the South belt line. On +these two trips one will see, not hundreds, but tens of thousands of +such "arbor gardens" full of happy women and children at work or +play. The men come out on the belt line when their work in town is +done. The writer was riding through the city on an open cab, and +seeing hardly any children on the streets and in the parks, he +asked, "How is it that we see no children out?" "Ah, sir," was the +reply, "if you will see the children of Berlin you must go out to +the arbor colonies outside of the city. There is where our children +are." Subsequent visits to these colony gardens showed that Berlin +is by no means a childless city. To judge from the multitudinous +arbors to be seen from the windows of the belt line cars there must +be 50,000 to 75,000 of them. As far as the eye reaches the +flagpoles, the orderly fences, and the little structures can be +seen; and since the city has 2,000,000 inhabitants, it is very +likely that an estimate made by a city official of several hundred +thousands of children thus living in the open air, is not excessive. +The most beautiful and best-arranged gardens are not found in the +vicinity of railroads, but several miles out toward the north and +the south of the city. Here, where the soil is better, fine crops +are raised. +</P> + +<P> +If we turn our eyes homeward and contemplate the many thousands of +small efforts made in this country toward the alleviation of city +children's misery, we can say truthfully that we in America are +perhaps fully alive to the necessity which has prompted the people +of Berlin to action; we only need to be reminded of Mayor Pingree's +potato patches on empty city lots, our children's outing camps, our +occasional children's excursions, and the like. Still, there is +nothing in this country to compare with the thousands of Berlin +"arbor gardens" and their singularly convincing force. Like a +circus, all this is supposed to be for the children, though it +usually seems to need about two grown people to escort each child. +The elders enjoy the gardens even more than the circus. +</P> + +<P> +The arbor gardens of Berlin should not be mistaken for the numerous +"forest schools" (Waldschulen) in Germany. These schools "in the +woods" are for sickly children, both physically crippled and +mentally weak. The pupils have their lessons in the open, and the +teachers live, play, and work with them; long recesses separate the +various lessons and a two-hour nap in the middle of the day out in +the open is on the time-table of every one of these schools. These +special open-air schools for weaklings and defectives are now found +in many parts of Germany, notably in Charlottenburg, Strassburg, and +the industrial regions of the Rhineland. +</P> + +<P> +The example of Berlin has been followed in other German cities, such +as Munich, notably in Dusseldorf on the Rhine, where the arbor +gardens are called "Schreber gardens" in honor of the man who +promoted their establishment. There is a large colony of such +gardens along the Hans-Sachs street, where Lima beans, peas, +lettuce, cucumbers, potatoes, and many other garden vegetables are +raised; even strawberries, raspberries, and fruit trees are found +here. But the city being more lavishly provided with parks and open +spaces than others of its size, the necessity for open-air life has +not made itself felt as forcibly as in Berlin. +</P> + +<P> +And think of the cleansing influence of all this. Light and air and +labor—these are the medicines not of the body only, but of the +soul. It is not ponderable things alone that are found in gardens, +but the great wonder of life, the peace of nature, the influences of +sunsets and seasons and of all the intangible things to which we can +give no name, not because they are small, but because they are +outside the compass of our speech. The God that dwells in gardens is +sufficient for all our needs—let the theologians say what they +will. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "'Not God! in gardens? When the eve is cool?<BR> + Nay, but I have a sign—<BR> + 'Tis very sure—God walks in mine.'"<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Three Acres and Liberty, by Bolton Hall + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE ACRES AND LIBERTY *** + +***** This file should be named 4509-h.htm or 4509-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/5/0/4509/ + +Produced by Steve Solomon and Charles Aldarondo. 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