The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1885-12-19
ON A SMALL PATCH.
Truck Farming . Paying Industry Whss
Everything Is Properly Managed.

Truck Ffrmfng . raging Industry vines
Everything Is Properly Managed.
My land is a sandy loan with a por.
Gus subsoil. / consider such soil better
adapted to vegetables than any other;
it w~ithstands drouth and is not flooded
in rainy weather. l am near to market,
and have a population Of n hundred
thousand within six miles drive, and
all my marketing is done in the city
with less than half that population, and
I scarcely cover %one-fourth of the mar.
ketablc territory for lack of crops to
supply the demand. There is a brisk
competition, but the conditions are IA
vorable for good business in my line.
l have eight acres and raise from them
enough to maintain a family of six per-
sons. l keep four cows on the place
the year round; as l have no pasture
for them they are tied in the barn the
year through. l make manur from
the COWS to keep the land up, but buy
some in case of shortage. Commercial
fertilizers are of no use on my soil as
compared with the horse or COW man.
ure.
For help I keep two young men the
year through and hire extra help in the
busy summer season. One of the boys,
as I call them, goes to market five days
in the week and gets up his load in the
afternoon for the next day. The other
cares for the cows and works the farm
and tends the greenhouse, hot-beds,
etc., in the winter. Sometimes | have
one horse and sometimes two. There
is work enough in the summer for two
horses. l began business in a small
way by retailing the milk, butter and
vegetables; going two days in the week
to market; but with time and Experience
have been able to increase my crops,
and nov sell only vegetables and fruit
which grow on the place. | use the
greenhouse for early and for winter
crops Of such things as sell best in
winter, and have some plants to sell in
the spring. The hot-beds are used for
early lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers,
peppers, cabbage, etc. In the green.
house l have parsley, watercress, dam
delion, radish and early plants OF veg.
etables like celery, caulilower, savoy
and red cabbage, leeks, eggplant, cele'
raice and kohl-rabi.
l have a winter house where l keep
the late vegetables far into the winter:
celery, caulifower, corn salad, endive,
satisfy, radish; and where also | store
dandelion, horseradish, spinach and
kale. In this way l have an early and
a late season; and make money from
those who want to have vegetables very
early or very late for the season. sell
the milk from the four lows every day
at the door, having dropped the milb
and butter from the vegetable wagon,
as they do not carry well together. The
garden crops 7 raised in great variety
and usually two crops from the land.
have to buy some fodder for the cows,
as I do not raise all they will eat as yet,
but l think it possible to feed them of
the four acres devoted to them, but in
practice l have not accomplished the
feat. That is something in reserve fol-
future effort. l have not yet reached
the possibilities of my eight acres, and
am constantly learning something. In
my opinion it requires more skill and
business capacity to carry on a small
garden successfully than a large farm.
To any one desiring to begin life on
a few acres let me say that one will
surely fail unless able to give the mind
to details and to make the most out of
a little; to work without waste and
loss. 1t is better to begin out of debt
and then things will run smoother.
Manure is a prime necessity andi it must
be cheap and not too far off; the animal
manures are best forthe garden. Glass
is a necessity; | have nine hundred
square feet and want more; with this
amount one-third more space than the
glass will w can be safely planted;
all who have managed hotbeds and
cold-frames know this to be practicable.
A good market neal at hand enables
the producer to market his crops cheap
~ and at the right time, fresh and in
good condition. On a small place sell
your goods direct to the consumer. and
what you lose in time you will more
than save in commissions to middle
men. Wholesale only the surplus.
Begin at the bottom and work up; that
is the best way.-W. II. Bull, IN N z.
Tribune.