t 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.

"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."

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.

Where the land is favorably situated a fortune may be made in
cultivation of a few acres--with brains.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Here is the experience of one who "got a man":

"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
pr