There are no secrets, Mr. Shearer says, about his method of farming.  A study of conditions, the application of common-sense methods and untiring energy, he asserts, will enable others to do what he has done, but that most men would kill themselves with the work.

In an agricultural exchange a small farmer tells that he makes a living and saves some money from a ten-acre farm.  Before he was through paying for his land, which cost $100 an acre, building his house, fences, and outbuildings, he went in debt $1300, having about the same amount to start with.  He is near a good market, and in five years has paid off the debt, and has been getting ahead ever since.  He raises poultry and small fruits, and says that it is a good combination, as most of the work with poultry comes in winter, while he can do nothing out of doors.  He maintains that a ten-acre farm rightly managed will bring a good living, including the comforts and some of the luxuries of life, and says:  “This I have fully demonstrated, and what I have done others may do.”

Maxwell’s Talisman says: 

“E.  J. O’Brien of Citronelle, Alabama, received $170 clear from an acre of cucumbers shipped to the St. Louis market.  He was two weeks late in getting them on the market.  He says those two weeks would have meant nearly double the net returns.  He does not consider this an extraordinary return and hopes to do better next year.”

“Professor Thomas Shaw writes of a plot of ordinary ground in Minnesota comprising the nineteenth part of an acre, which for years kept a family of six matured persons abundantly supplied with vegetables all the year, with the exception of potatoes, celery, and cabbage.  In addition, much was given away, more especially of the early varieties, and in many instances much was thrown away.”

“In the market-gardens of Florida we see such crops as 445 to 600 bushels of onions per acre, 400 bushels of tomatoes, 700 bushels of sweet potatoes; which testify to a high development of culture.”

We select from Bailey’s “Principles of Vegetable Gardening” the following general estimates: 

Beets—­Average crop is 300-400 bushels per acre.

Carrots—­Good crop is 200-300 bushels per acre.

Cabbage—­8000 heads per acre.

Potatoes—­The yield of potatoes averages about 75 bushels per acre, but with forethought and good tillage and some fertilizer the yield should run from 200 to 300 bushels, and occasionally yields will much exceed the latter figure.

Rhubarb—­From 2 to 5 stalks are tied in a bunch for market, and an acre should produce 3000 dozen bunches.

Salsify—­Good crop 200-300 bushels per acre.

Onions—­A good crop of onions is 300-400 bushels to the acre, but 600-800 are secured under the very best conditions.

The price per ton for horseradish varies from ten to fifty dollars, and from two to four tons should be raised on an acre, the latter quantity when the ground is deep and rich and when the plants do not suffer for moisture.