Mrs. J—— G—— says: “By the death of my husband I was left alone with three children, Wilhelm fifteen, Gertrude thirteen, and Egbert ten. I had no means, though, fortunately, my little place in the suburban town of T—— was free of debt. It consisted of a neat house and three acres of land. Having a fondness for plants, I cultivated them in curious ways, while keeping my little family together by taking in sewing. One day a lady who was spending the summer in T—— called and inquired what I would take for a pea vine which was growing in a tumbler of water. I was surprised, as I had not thought of making merchandise of my plant pets. She purchased a number of pretty little odd things of vegetable life with which I had amused myself, and suggested that I might earn something by cultivating rare forms of plants. It was a new idea to me. I had not thought there was any money in what had been to me only a pastime, but I increased the number of my plant curiosities, and the lady and her friends bought them all.
“Then my friend said to me, ‘Why don’t you keep a Home Store? You have so much taste I think you would do nicely?’ ‘And pray what is a Home Store?’ I inquired. ‘Oh, it’s a store where the things are all made at home.’ ‘But I have no capital.’ ‘You need no capital. See, the things are all made at home. Begin with a few tea dishes.’ So I bought a ham, sliced it thin, and laid some sprigs of parsley around it. I also made some artificial honey from a recipe in an old cook book. With the money I thus earned, I had my window enlarged into a show-window, and put in a variety of vegetables from my garden, taking care they should be strictly fresh every day. I had such success that, at the suggestion of my lady patron, I began to make a great many other things—pastry, preserves, sweetmeats, and toilet articles. I also purchased one hundred fowls, and served my customers with fresh eggs. My trade grew so that I decided to have a real store, and so, at an expense of about $50, I had my two front rooms made into one and fitted up with shelves and counters. I purchased a cow and a pig on credit, and also two or three hives of bees. The people seemed to appreciate my fresh eggs, milk, butter and honey, and I soon paid all my debts and branched out in several other directions in the way of homemade goods. Hitherto, my three children had afforded me all the help I needed, but now I found it necessary to employ a cheap male laborer to look after my garden, orchard, cow, pig, and poultry, as well as to assist in making some of my goods. I made a great variety of things as new suggestions came to me almost daily, and also, as my customers called for them, I bought what I could not well make myself. Now, after three years’ experience, I think I have the most profitable store of its size that can be found anywhere. Here is my account for last year:
| ARTICLES. | COST. | SALES. | PROFITS. | |
| Household plants | Seeds | $ .90 | $15.25 | $14.35 |
| Table dishes | Meats, etc. | 12.59 | 36.94 | 24.35 |
| Pastry | Materials | 53.36 | 166.05 | 112.69 |
| Nuts and candy | " | 61.66 | 379.22 | 317.56 |
| Preserves, etc | " | 12.10 | 49.75 | 37.65 |
| Toilet articles | " | 9.05 | 19.05 | 10.00 |
| Varnishes and soaps | " | 3.18 | 15.50 | 12.32 |
| Soft drinks | " | 5.15 | 31.55 | 26.40 |
| Vegetables | Seeds | 2.50 | 37.27 | 34.77 |
| School supplies | Materials | 3.70 | 13.71 | 10.01 |
| Christmas presents | " | 5.25 | 48.13 | 42.88 |
| Eggs, honey and the dairy | Keeping stock | 75.50 | 217.00 | 141.50 |
| Miscellaneous articles | Materials | 55.05 | 291.15 | 236.10 |
| Goods bought | Price paid | 473.02 | 551.10 | 78.08 |
| $773.01 | $1,871.67 | $1,098.66 |
“Deduct from the above the wages of laborer at $20 per month, $240, and I have left $858.66 as net profit for my year’s work. The fruit for the preserves and pies was raised on the place, and I was under no expense for tin and paper boxes, these being collected from the houses of my friends. It will be seen that nearly one-third of the sales of my ‘Home Store’ were of purchased goods on which the profit were only 15 per cent., but so large was the profit on the homemade goods that the total sales were at the gratifying advance of 80 per cent. Besides, I have had the living of my family and hired help. The expense for meats not furnished on the place, and for groceries not kept in the store, together with that for clothes, taxes, and sundries, was $316.05. Thus, I have paid all my expenses, and saved $540 for a rainy day. Pretty good, don’t you think, for a woman, and a novice at that? Of course, I have worked hard, sometimes as many as fifteen hours a day, but I have enjoyed it, and think I am on the way to a snug little fortune. Others with more talents, and under more favorable circumstances, I have no doubt could do much better.
“The secrets of my success, if you ask me, are: First, the trading instinct, or the knowing what, where, and when to buy. (I never let myself get out of a stock article). Second, courtesy to all—to the little barefoot colored boy just the same as to the grand madam. Third, economy, both in my family expenses, buying only what I need, and in my store, using in other ways that which will not sell in the original form, throwing nothing away unless it is spoiled and even that giving, as a last resort, to my pig and poultry; and fourth, hard work, making and selling with my own hands everything I can, and carefully superintending everything I cannot.”
CHAPTER VI.
MONEY IN THE HOME ACRE.
Money at Home—What a Single Acre Will Do—Gold in the Soil—How a Dike Made a Klondike—$1,000 at Your Back Door—Nickels in Pickles! Livings in Pickings!—A Fortune in a Fat Slice of Earth—A Great (Grate) Way to Make Money.
There are multitudes of people who have a single acre of ground which could be made to yield much profit if they knew how to handle it. Others have an half or a quarter of an acre; not enough, perhaps, to give them a support, but which would add very materially to their income if properly cultivated. In this chapter we tell you what to do with the “home acre,” with examples of what others have done with it.
149. Money in Pears.—Do you know that one acre of the best yielding pear trees will bring more profit than a five-hundred acre farm without a twentieth of the care or capital?