the very slightest rise of ground, not a foot above the water all
around, which could better be left in grading the paddies to proper
level.

How closely the ground itself may be crowded with plants is seen in
Fig. 16, where a young peach orchard, whose tree tops were six feet
through, planted in rows twenty-two feet apart, had also ten rows of
cabbage, two rows of large windsor beans and a row of garden peas.
Thirteen rows of vegetables in 22 feet, all luxuriant and strong,
and note the judgment shown in placing the tallest plants, needing
the most sun, in the center between the trees.

But these old people, used to crowding and to being crowded, and
long ago capable of making four blades of grass grow where Nature
grew but one, have also learned how to double the acreage where a
crop needs more elbow than it does standing room, as seen in Fig.
17. This man's garden had an area of but 63 by 68 feet and two
square rods of this was held sacred to the family grave mound, and
yet his statement of yields, number of crops and prices made his
earning $100 a year on less than one-tenth of an acre.

His crop of cucumbers on less than .06 of an acre would bring him
$20. He had already sold $5 worth of greens and a second crop would
follow the cucumbers. He had just irrigated his garden from an
adjoining canal, using a foot-power pump, and stated that until it
rained he would repeat the watering once per week. It was his wife
who stood in the garden and, although wearing trousers, her dress
showed full regard for modesty.

But crowding crops more closely in the field not only requires