“The lesson from Newton’s experience is this:  in order to sell, you must put your wares in attractive shape.  Who wishes to buy dirty radishes or droopy looking lettuce?  No one is willing to pay decent prices.  Putting materials in such condition that all the good points speak loudly at first, is one way to attract notice and sell later.  If you find you can sell by shipping your goods the same points hold true.

“Another way to make money is to raise young plants for sale.  Jack did this with his aster plants.  Lots of people wish their garden plants partly started.  They either do not have the interest, or else they have not the time for initial work.  Asters, stock, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, pepper, celery—­all of these may be started for market purposes.

“Suppose you have planted tomato seed.  You are bound to have more young plants than you wish.  Why not sell them?  Suppose Mrs. Jones always buys hers.  Then go to her and ask if she will not buy of you.  She may not believe you can be a very good gardener, so she hesitates.  Well, then just ask her if you cannot bring your little plants around for her to see when the time comes.  Get to work in your best style.  Transplant in little paper cups or strawberry baskets.  Then the setting out of the plants will be very easy and quite a scientific performance.  I think you will sell to Mrs. Jones all right.

“If you really intend to go into this early market side then you should certainly have a coldframe.  You could not blame your mother if she refused to have the kitchen littered up with old tin cans and boxes all the spring.  Do not be a nuisance at home just to make money.

[Illustration: 

Photograph by W.H.  Jenkins

Myron Transplanting his Long-rooted Strawberry Plants.

Photograph by Helen W. Cooke

Katherine Transplanting Her Flowers by a Method of Lifting.]

“I know a little girl who raised aster and stock plants, also young vegetable plants.  She had a coldframe.  In the spring, when people were starting their gardens and wondering where they should go for plants, she fixed up an attractive basket filled with her plants.  She asked no exorbitant price, but a fair one for a little girl’s good work.  One year she bought herself a dressing table from her garden earnings.  I think that well worth while.  Don’t you?

“Another way to make money from your garden is to sell your seed.  I do not think any of you will be at all likely to try to rival the seed houses.  But I am sure that you can supply certain seeds for your own fathers and mothers.

“Such seed as those of radish, lettuce and turnip you would not save.  It is better to buy them.  But surely you can make some pretty good selections for seed corn.  I believe you can manage beans, peas, melons, pumpkins, potatoes and squash.  Then we have, I believe, learned from the school flower garden how to select seed.  Nasturtium seed may always be saved, dried and put into its own envelope.  This will be found to be true, that seeds saved from our own flower garden often do not give satisfactory results as time goes on.  The plants and flowers after a few seasons seem to spindle out.  In the large seed gardens the varieties of flowers raised are either many or cross-pollination is carried on.