Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-01-25
Profit In the Garden,
We are in receipt of the following note of

enquiry
"Though clergyman In active work, gener-
ally read your department II have to leave the
rest In the paper have just brought from the
office you intimate that garden Of an acre can
be made to yield profit OF two hundred dollars.
According to that, my garden OF half an acre
ought to yield one hundred. 1t is light sandy
soil Can you tell me how to clear even fifty dol
lars from it? What can be raised, and how is it
done2'
The article referred to by our friend was
addressed to those who make business of
farming and gardening. For an amateur,
and especially for professional man en-
gagged in his profession, to make gardening
profitable is a different thing. Not that it
cannot be done, but that other engagements
having the priority it is not so likely to be
done. There is no real diff ii,ulty for a gar
dener who understands his business to make
one or even two thousand dollars year from
thousands of instances. We were speaking
of farmers boys, when we mentioned the
modest profit of 5000, as being within their
reach. Any one who will buy and study
Henderson's Gardening for Profit" or his
"Practical Horticulture" can learn how
family may be supported handsomely from
the products Of an acre of land.
We were the pioneer in farm gardening
and fruit culture on "Indian Point" but
now there is number of our neighbors who
are making small gardens pay more money
than they formerly got from pretty large
farms. We have one minister in the neigh
borhood who is doing finely, and would do
better if he had any certainty of tenure that
would Justify him in making permanent
plantations, or planning for more than a
single season. We have one lawyer who
gets good deal of money from small plat
of land. He is fond of horticulture, and his
daughter equally SO, and they get their profit
chiefly from strawberries and currants.
Unless one is in or near a village where
celery can be sold, and the soil is fit
for that crop "a very light, dry soil is not),
the most feasible annual crop to make 5000
from an acre by is onions. Another crop,
which takes two seasons, is strawberries.
Still another is currants, which require
about four years to get start on. All these
things require "know how" and for those
who don't have that, and wish 10 begin gar
dening, we advise the immediate purchase
of Henderson's books mentioned above, and
of Fuller's Small Fruit Culturist; and also
subscription to some good horticultural
monthly, such as "The Garden" issued by
b. X. Bliss & Sons of New York. or Vick's
Monthly, published at Rochester, New York.
And we also advise the beginner to visit
every successful garden accessible to him,
and get advice from the gardener on points
where he finds diffi,ulty,-and they will be
many. Gardening is business, trade,
and cannot be picked up in minute. Yet
if one has love for it it is easily learned,
though much of the learning comes through
failure; and one lacking courage, persever-
auce and common sense will be likely to
abandon it before it becomes profitable.
Our correspondent lives in a town (Nor-
wich, Vermont,) where we believe there are
some good gardeners, who could afford him
valuable information. Without knowing
his exact situation, our own advice would be
of little use. But onions and Strawberries
are what we think would probably be his
"best holt for profit on his half-acre. II
he goes into onions, he should send to j. j
II. Gregory of Marblehead, Massachusetts
for his pamphlet of instructions on onion
growing (price twenty-five cents) Let him
study it carefully, and we especially counsel
him in practice not to leave out the hard
est parts, thinking it will :" do Just as WE'LL
Four hundred bushels of onions to the acre
is small crop. Some of our neighbors dc
much better than that. Onions are almost
legal tender for one dollar bushel. Two
hundred dollars will buy the manure and
pay for the work on an acre. But the
grower must keep his eyes open tight" al
the little boy said, and not let the weeds OF
the worms get ahead of him. He must have
the best seed, and get it in at the earliest pos
sible instant in the spring. Eternal vigi
lance is the price of onions. The first croI
is always the poorest. BY rights, the lanC
ought TO be manured and plowed in the fall
, yet this is not absolutely necessary.
As to strawberries, we advise beginne
not to fool with new and untried sorts, how
ever highly recommended in the advertise
ments. Set Wilson's Albany for your crop
, and buy the new kinds by the half dozel
plants, II at all. Wherever Strawberries cal
be sold at twelve and one-half cents quar-
there is pretty fair expectation of nettinI
at least 5000 per acre. after you have learne'
> how to grow them. Currants pay quite a
+ well, and the Red Dutch is the best variety
To make garden profitable there must b
no economy in manure. No matter hoy
. much you put on, the last load pays the best