War Gardens: A Pocket Guide for Home Vegetable Growers — John Shaqi
War Gardens: A Pocket Guide for Home Vegetable GrowersFree, Montague
History
War Gardens: A Pocket Guide for Home Vegetable Growers
Free, Montague
Vegetable gardening
A piece of land about three acres in extent was available for
cultivation in this case. It was fairly good land, but had served to
some extent as a dumping-ground for cellar excavations, and had a
considerable amount of rubbish of one kind and another deposited upon
it. The principal of an adjacent school decided that this land ought not
to remain idle, so he obtained permission from the owner to use it, and
then, with some other energetic people of the community, got together
and started to do things. The ground was first plowed and harrowed free
of charge by the city park department and the largest of the stones
removed. It was then decided that the plot should be fenced, in order to
keep out cats, dogs, small boys, and other undesirables, and to insure
that those who raised the crops should receive the benefit. Material,
consisting of two-by-four-inch posts eight feet long, chicken netting
five feet wide, and a strand of barbed wire to go around the top, was
bought for this purpose at a cost of about $112. The fence was erected
by volunteers in their spare time, and six padlocked gates provided, to
which each plot-holder had a key. Water-pipe was laid all over the area
so that the crops could be cared for in time of drought. The expense
incurred for the purchase of pipe and installation, together with that
of seeds, fertilizers, and the larger garden implements, was borne by
the association. The area was divided into fifty plots each 100 × 23½
feet. Each plot-holder was asked to keep an account of his expenses, and
also of the yields obtained. The results are interesting. The average
cost of each plot, including expenses incurred for fencing, seeds,
fertilizer, etc., was a little over $11; the value of the crops obtained
was around $34; giving an average profit of between $22 and $23.
When one considers the smallness of these plots, it must be admitted
that the results were worth while, and the whole adventure is very
encouraging to those who contemplate a similar enterprise. Of course no
allowance was made for the cost of labor involved in preparing and
caring for these plots; but to offset this one should remember that the
soil was not especially good, the workers not experienced, and then one
must take into account the large initial expense of fencing the land,
buying tools, etc. This year the expenses will be considerably less and
the yields ought to be greatly increased because of the improvement of
the soil through the cultivation of the preceding year.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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