Evening star., 1914-07-11

If I can hire good man. one who can
be depended uron to stay through the
season. l am going to try three acres
in garden next year. I'll start this year
getting the ground ready. planting Grim
son clover and COW peas in with my field
corn and potatoes. to be plowed under
in the spring for humus and nitrogene.
also plan to make start at getting
the three other available acres ready for
gardening in the future should next
years trial prove successful 1t is in
grass now. hut I'll have it plowea this
fall and planted to winter rye to be fol
lowed next year by legumes. in with n
crop of corn. proba bly,.
/ figure that with our one hhrse a good
man could care for three acres of gar
den. with what work the boys and l could
some one with a strong team break up
the ground in the snring Aside from
what basket trade | could build up
among acauaintances, I suppos. the only
practical plan would be to sell throus n
A commission house in Washington. Bill
and the Dayton wagon ought to he ade-
quate transportation to the trolley sta
ton. and there are two freight trains a
day to the city
Should the three acres show an encour-
aging profit l plan to get a six-nonth
leave of absence the year following. with
out actually giving UP my job. and make
try with the full six acres BY that
time the raspberrieS and Strawberries and
good bearing. and James chicken business
should have reached income-producing
dimensions. If Jane makes the success
she is counting on with her jelli"s and
preserves. that might he built M into
profitable side line. lane thinks an
other cow would pay. but if we are going
TO garden six acres of our eight acres
1t would mean buying all her feed. and
can't quite figure a profit in that.
don't know. of course, that l could
make go of it, but to paraphrase a
popular advertisement, "I'll not he happy
| until try it,
Possibilities in Popcorn.
I'm not certain but that Jim and Ned
have struck a lead in their popcorn that
may he worth following. They had ar
rangements made for the sale of their
output before the seed was in the ground
| and they certainly have prospects of a
fine crop Theirs Is the best-looking corn
on the place. and if the harvest comes up
10 present prospects they should realize
a net profit of not less than So. And
their patch Is not a large one. In this
estimate no account is taken of the labor
they nave expended: but, leaving the
labor out. it would figure profit of
| about $500 an acre. Six acres of popcorn
at 800 profit an acre would be 81, 500
Ihis would about do for me If it wasn't
for the if Here enters the old con-
tioNeISS OF one cash crop VS. dlVefSlfled
| crops. If l should devote my six acres
| of land and a summers work to popcorn
and the popcorn crop should prove fail
ure, there isn't any doubt about where
| would land.
The same if bobs up when it comes to
small fruits. The ground upon which
raspberries grow also may be used for
chicken runs That looks like playing
both ends against the middle. but the
IF is persistent Six acres of raspberries
would mean that during the ripening
season there would have to be an abun-
dance of help. for which there would be no
use at any other time of year. Whether
man is cultivating five acres or five
hundred. the secret of success lies in hav-
ing employment for his labor, whether it
is his own or is hired. the greatest pos
sible number of days in year.
Ned has made 500 from his rabbits.
and wants to turn the entire place into a
rabbit farm. He has it figured out that
we would make steen thousand dollars IA
year from the eight acres. The queer
part of it is that there is no way to com
bat his figures. But | haven't yet learned
where one would find a market for eight
acres of rabbits.