The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1885-08-01

that It wasn't very good year for cabbagss,
either. Suppose, now, bis little farm had
been in wheat and corn last year' He would
scarcely have got enough from it to pay his
taxes and bury himself with. A Maryland
farmer plants 100 acres in cantelope melons,
and clears 5000 year.
There is swamp near Kalamazoo, Mich.
that is heavy and mucky. That is to say,
there was a swamp. To-day it is rousing
great celery field. Five thousand tons OF
celery stalks year are shipped out Of this
swamp that was and S15O,0O0 are shipped
back to Kalamazoo in return. The lucky
fellows who take in this money are just
common farmers like the rest Of lis. Mr..
Henderson mentions yet another case. A
farmer in Pennsylvania lived near village
Of 1900 inhabitants. He had patch of
land in sweet corn and Strawberries. Mar
keted in the village alone it rendered him
back money at the rate of S115 to the acre.
Wasn't that better than thirteen bushels Of
wheat at seventy cents a bushel!
To 60 into small fruit and vegetable gar
dening successfully, one should be tolerably
near a market. Driving your teams three
or four miles up a steep hill or over horrible
country roads will tend to take off the profits
The best soil for gardening is dark, rather
sandy ground. A clayey soil is not so good
either for vegetables or fruits, though for
fruits it may be greatly improved by mix
ing it with sand, leaf mold or muck and
some lime
For the best garden soil, manure TO the
amount of seventyfive tons an acre should
be used. The outlay will be repaid.
Here is paragraph clipped from an ad-
dress by Mr.. Henderson:
with proper attention think there is
every inducement for many farmers to add
this profitable branch to their farm opera
tions. The kind ofgarden products that would
be most profitable would be, Think, in small
fruits, Strawberries, raspberries, black berries
and grapes. In vegetables, asparagus, beans
peas, beets, cabbage, caulihower, celery,
sweet corn cucumbers, melons radish, spin
ach, squash, tomato and turnip. Much will
depend on the locality what is best to grow.
If grown to ship from southern point to a
northern one, then such vegetables as asrar-
agus, where there is a great deal OF value in
proportion to bulk is the most advantageous
to grow
Asparagus is a vegetable on which inn
mense profits are made. 1t returns $500 to
York. Grown in the south AMI shipped
north early in the season it will pay three or
four times as much as that, and has done so.
In fruit culture, high quality of the product
should be especially aimed at.
Discouraged farmers, you who break your
backs and stiffen your joints over field crops
that either fail or bring such low prices that
you fear you will so to the poorhouse, sup
pose you reorganize. Start out anew Add
market and small fruit gardening to your
resources Go into it small at first. Learn
year by year what is in demand and what
will grow best in your locality. There
never was difficulty that there was not a
way out Of it. Small fruit and vegetable
culture will certainly prove the way ont of
poverty and anxiety to many worthy ag-
riculturist who now can scarcely make both
ends meet.