ive 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.

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.

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.

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.

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