The Opelousas courier., 1888-04-21
Truck Farming.
SENSIBLE VIEWS OF A"cR1rrc."

Most people engaged in extensive
truck farming overlook the vast amount
of work to be accomplished, the con-.
slant care needed for the young and
tender plants, and the thorough tillage
all must have to make the venture a
success. They are only the shining
dollars in imagination, sometimes be-
fore the seed arc planted, and even
when the plants are up and high in
weeds, they can sit and dream over the
probable yield Of their patches, growl
aboit the poor land and The lazy help,
and absolutely do nothing to better
either.
LII no one enterprise is perseverance
and ceaseless watching SO essential as
in truck farming. Useless it is to plant
the seed unless the ground be mellow
and ready to nourish the expanding life,
and still more useless to let the tiny,
helpless plants como up and then be
choked with weeds or shrivel, being
unable to draw sustenance from the
almost unbroken clods around.
Again, one should never work more
ground than they can attend to in per-
fiction it is a grand mistake so owing so
many seed to yield SO slim a harvest.
One acre beautifully tended gamers in
ten fold the profit of ten acres neglec-
ted. With the ground well prepared
the vegetables kept clean and support
ed when needed with uniformly cut
sticks Oh bush /; the fruit with their in
creased size aud frmness, will pay
handsomely for the care layished upon
thee.
The packing, too, has much to do
with success IN truck. The boxes should
be clean and neatly made, the vegeta-
BILE (matured sufficiently to be ripe on
their arrival at destiuation) must be
packed honestly. Tomatoes, especially,
should never be put in specked or de-
cayed, as such packing may condemn a
whole shipment. Potatoes sell better
sorted out before they are barreled
the large ones to themselves and the
small ones likewise. Some people vain
& imagine that to fill the bottom Of
the barrel with rich, large specimens,
the side and top also with selected po-
t~atoes, hat Chicagoans will buy with
out examining the contents. We know
a farmer who thought to get ahead of a
firm sup North" by arranging selected
esculents around the sides and ends Of
bis barrel and packing the little omar.
bles'' in the cefter he failed to fix them
sufficiently tight, however, and when
the shipment reached market, presto
the little fellows were peeping out at
the side liglGs while their larger com
panious had been tossed within, and the
whole brought but one dollar and
twenty-five cents per barrel.
Northern buyers pay good prGes fol
choice things but want inferior articles
at no price. Let us then make a record
for Osyka by gaining for it the pane Of
"the honest shippers We will gel
better prices for our produce if we seek
each thing in its perfection. Work the
vegetables and they will we'll repay
you with interest for time and money
invested in their production. Let YOU
peas fill out and mature before they are
packed; dampen them before sending
off, apd if possible, pick early in thu
morning anS late in the evening. Beans
must be dry when sent and if long KEEP
fresher if packed up and down in theil
boxes, as the air can circulate aroun(
them. Money is what we want for la
Dor but we must send merifto the mar
kG before we a exchange it for tht
shining dollars.
Don't grumble at the weather ant
growl over the Tabor, abuse the poor ole
ground that has had its strength drag
ged out long ago, talk about the poo
stand, and then quit, disguised. There
is no such word as fail; work and sing
sing and work, and thank the gooe
Lord If he brings the grass to tell yol
the land can yield a harvest. Work il
the morning 'Ehen the dew is dripping
into the ashirstSSSSsgahds and in the efsninl
when dropping Nature looks n lltiret
from the heated all day bath fl, , RS Oh
until the luscious vegetables .aresper
fected, pruning the useless leaves ana
petting the plants into more active
growth, guarding them from destroying
worms and bugs, assisting them if the
fall, watering them when they droon
and when your crop, in such afne con
dition, is shipped, you, who have glean
ed for months in the fields Of industry
will find your ploW point lifting tn,
golden pot of Success from the mellow
burrows of your truck farm. CRITIC.
Iron for Fruit frees.