"
I have before me now one of the roseate advertisements, which we so
often see in the newspapers, telling how fortunes can be made by
investing a few dollars in a tropical plantation in Mexico.
It gives what are supposed to be startling yields per acre, and yet
the returns, which must necessarily be taken with considerable
allowance, are only from $580 to $1087 per acre on various
plantations.
There are market gardeners and nurserymen near New York City who are
making their acres produce better returns than this. It is not
necessary to go off into the tropical wilderness seeking a fortune
which is usually a gold brick that some fellow is trying to sell
you, when as good results can be secured right at home.
Market gardeners in and near Philadelphia pay $25 to $50 an acre and
upwards rent for land, and work from five to forty acres. This is as
much as similar land in many parts of the country could be bought
for. But it is not a high rent when they are right at the
market--one man makes the round trip in two and one half
hours--manure costs them nothing--for years they have been using the
excavations from the old style privy wells, which has been hauled to
their farm and deposited where they wished it, free.
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