In almost all localities there will be families who have no garden, but who would make liberal use of vegetables if they were easily procurable. There is a chance for boys and girls to earn an "honest penny." If it is found that there is likely to be more in the home garden than the family can make use of, canvass the neighborhood for customers for the probable surplus. It will be found an easy matter to dispose of it. I know several amateur child gardeners who secure enough in this way to pay for all the seed they need. Some of them have regular customers each season, and gardening begins to look to them like a profitable occupation. I don't know that they will become professional gardeners, but they will be learning something as well as earning something while they are fitting themselves for whatever occupation in life they may decide on, and what they learn in the garden will be of benefit in after-life in more ways than one.
Don't neglect to save everything that can be made use of for fertilizing purposes. In many a home the "suds" of washing-day are disposed of as worthless. If applied to growing things in the garden they will often prove as beneficial as the application of a fertilizer that costs quite a little sum of money. Especially is this the case if the season happens to be a dry one. If there does not seem to be a need of more moisture in the soil on wash-day, save the soapy water against a time of need. It will be sure to "come handy" during the season.
Some families are so unfortunate as to have no cellar. Few vegetables can be kept well, or for a great length of time, in ordinary rooms, unless something is done to modify the conditions usually existing there. If a large box is filled with dry sand, potatoes, parsnips, salsify, beets, and carrots can be buried in it and made to retain their freshness for an indefinite period. Of course this storage-box should be kept as far as possible from artificial heat, and no dampness should be allowed to come in contact with it, as sand absorbs moisture almost as readily as a sponge, and the satisfactory keeping of the vegetables named depends upon dryness more than anything else. The lower the temperature of the place in which vegetables are stored the better, provided it never gets below the freezing-point. Where boxes of sand are used, slight freezings are not likely to seriously injure vegetables, as the sand extracts the frost so gradually that but little harm is done. But hard freezing must be guarded against or premature decay will result.