Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-12-23
g5ailu Kennebn 3nurnaI.
Points in Market Gardening.

Points in Market Gardening.
Following up the report by our specia
correspondent on the market garden bust
ness near Boston. as given last week b.
our special correspondent, we call atten
ton, "by way OF application old Parsor
Dale used to say. to few points which
need to be taken into account by farmers
in Maine. should they decide to 90 int
the business.
l. In the first place it is necessary tt
have good market, as one OF the prime
pre- requisites, such market as IS 10 Dc
found near the growing, thriving city OIL
manufacturing town, where as genera
thing the bulk of the population are wage
workers, and when the leading citizens
do rot have gardens attached to
their residences. In the vicinity OF such
towns are the best locations to start in the
business of market gardening.
/. Next, in regard to cultivation, 1t
NAV be said that to a certain degree, the
business has got to be learned by farmers
engaging in it, There are many little
niceties and wrinkles" to it, which are
worth a good deal, and which one has to
acquire alone by experience. The soil
needs to be light, friable, deep loan.
The cultivation must be clean and thor
ough. The fertilization must be heavy /;
the manure put on without stint, and well
incorporated into the soil. Next, advan-
taoe must be taken of succession Of crops,
80 that on the same plot OF land two, pos
siblv three crops may be taken off in
season. An abundance OF water
needs to be had so that in time
of drought, artificial watering may be re
sorted to to insure maturity of crops.
There must be no failure from lack of
water. One other point must be enforced
Do not attempt to 90 over too large a
surface-the great bane of ordinary field
agriculture in Maine. The market
gardener must narrow up his fields, and
use the intensive methods of culture, in
fertilizing, crop growing, and all the
details of management.
3. The wants or demands of the market
which the farmer intends to command,
must be carefully studied. This is a point
OF great importance, and one upon which
success largely depends. Different
markets require different crops. That is
to say-while many towns and cities in
Maine demand celery, and spinach and
dandelions, others would not. Green peas
and early potatoes of choice varieties,
both being placed in the market the last
of June, are among the most profitable
crops tor good, substantial village mar
kets in Maine; and farmer would be
foolish who would attempt to make money
growing spinach or tomatoes for market
that demanded green peas, early potatoes
and onons-unless he wished &c" educate
the people up to an appreciation of these
things, so he could sell them. But it is
surprising how the market demands for a
particular thing increase. Celery is a
crop that represents this change in mar
ket demands Mr. Rawsor, the great
market gardener in Arlington, near Bos-
ton, grows thirty acres of it, and hundreds
of other market gardeners near that city
r.,o,,- from, ,po IN f;fiaop ocrao noI vot : no
demand is not met Even in our city OF
Augusta. the celery for market is grown
in Massachusetts. and indeed much of il
comes from Michigan, where 1t brings the
farmers who grow it $500 to $500 an acre
Mr.. Samuel b. Fuller, a young farmer on
Northern Avenue two or three miles from
this city is coming to be quite a celery
grower on a small scale, and some of the
best lunches we have seen in our mar
ket were from his trenches. He is sue
ceedng well. and what he has done here
in the way of growing this crop, can be
be done by other farmers for other cities
and towns in Maine.
4. The possibilities of an acre or even
a half acre. for market garden purposes,
don't begin to be realized. Sweet corn,
which is one of the best cash crops we
have in Maine pays. with only field cul-
ture ,Ffrom $50 to 500 per acre on an av-
erage. not mentioning the exceptionally
large crops. But under the conditions we
have mentioned above, the following
crops. grown for market by intensive cul-
ture, pay according to the figures given :
green peas, 800 per acre, with a
second crop of squash on the same land
celery. $3.50; spinach $500, early cab
bages, $500; onions, $500; lettuce, $500
early potatoes, $500. These prices are
not fancy or fictitious; they are what may
be realized by any intelligent grower, for
the crops named, for any good market in
Maine. Our own farmers should grow
their crops for our own markets-and not
let the pay and profits 60 to farmers in
other states. And they will do it before
very long,
We have more to say on this subject ere
long.