The price of land in this country is steadily rising. All the best farm land is being taken up. The cost of food is advancing. It will never again be as cheap as it has been in the past. The time has come when we must economize. We can not longer afford to carry those neglected garden plots and waste spaces about our houses. They must produce food for the people who own them. We must be our own producers. We must study plants and animals. These represent food and wealth, and it is simply an untruth to say it will not pay to raise them. If your garden costs more than the retail price of food in your neighborhood the fault is your own. There is something the matter with your soil or your seeds, or your method of culture. Think of the profit of raising lettuce at $2,000 an acre, and yet that is the return that an acre will produce if paid for at the retail price. Moreover, the lettuce would be removed from the ground in ample time for another crop, likewise bringing a profit. Of course, if your land is worth five dollars a foot, the interest on one foot would be more than the value of the single lettuce plant you could raise upon it. In such a case you had better sell out and buy cheaper land. For the majority of homes where there is a garden the land is cheap enough to produce more or less of the food needed in the house, and there is no reason whatever why it may not be raised at a handsome profit.
The Chautauqua University recognizes the importance of this matter. Its aim is to help, to guide, and to instruct, and it is now, through the liberality of its friends, able to help, guide and instruct all who wish to learn something of the art of producing food and saving money. It sees hundreds of boys and girls totally ignorant of these common things. It sees young people wondering what they shall do, perplexed and worried over this question of earning a living, and discouraged at the high cost of living, when a part of their living is going to waste beneath their feet. The Chautauqua Town and Country Club was formed to help those who wish to help themselves. It aims to show by simple lessons how to raise plants of all kinds, how to care for animals, how to take care of your garden so that it will be a source of pleasure and profit. Half a thousand people have already joined the club and are now at work in good earnest. Should you wish to know more about it, write to Miss K. F. Kimball, Plainfield, N. J.
All this is meant for you.
What are you going to do about it?
GEOGRAPHY OF THE HEAVENS FOR JULY.
BY PROF. M. B. GOFF,
Western University of Pennsylvania.