River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1891-10-01
TRUCK FARMING FACTS.
uaufis. hnf frnm Cold New England.

Early Cucumbers Don't Come from Ber-
nuda. hut from Cold New England.
''If could only get corner on the
truck farms of this country" said a
marketman with turn for statistics.
Il wouldn't trade Jobs with Vanderbilt
or Gould if they'd roll both their jobs
into one. What do you think the truck
farmers pulled out of US dealers here
and there about the country and carried
home with them last year? Only lit
tie over seventy-six millions and half,
that's all, Out of this they had to pay
their help. of course, which cost 'em
something like 50. 500. 900, for they hire
2l7,00 men. to say nothing of the 10,
600 women and 5000 boys that help
out with the work. And their seeds
knocked about 81, 500, 900 more out of
the proceeds. and they had to put up
tribe of sl0,000.0 900 for fer
tilizers. But after taking Ill that
out they had a good round $50, 000, 900
left to put away in the sock for a rainy
day. Yes; you give me corner on the
truck farms of this country and you can
have all that Gould and Vanderbilt
make, if you want it.
Speaking about truck farming-and.
by the way, there are over 500, 900 acres
of good land in the country that don't
do anything else but raise garden and
field truck for market, with a capital
invested of over 500, 600. 600, and call
on 10000 horses and pules. and about
$4,000, 600 worth of implements to help
do the work-where do you suppose all
of those nice. bright green, plump and
tempting cucumbers you see in the big
restaurants and the swell fruit-store
windows in the spring. before the snow
is gone, and for which you have to put
down a good SO cents before you can
get cne-where do you suppose they
come from? ! knew you'd say Berma-
da, or some other place down south.
But you're way off. These early cucum-
bers come from a climate about as
near like Bermuda as California
is like Minnesota Those cucumbers
come from New England. from the cold
and storm-tossed coasts of Maine and
Massachusetts. and even from New
Hampshire. The growers of cucumbers
in New England get more out of an
acre of land than the growers of any
other crop in this or any other coun-
try. They think nothing of netting
So. 900 for an acre of cucumbers, but
hey only have 272 acres that they grow
them on. OF course you will under
stand that these cucumbers are not
grown out doors. They are the prod
ucts of the greenhouses. and New Eng
land is the only truck-growing district
where the raising of cucumbe in this
way has been made a successful and
standard branch of the business. In
other parts of the country the cucum-
Der crop averages a net profit of from
S26 to $3.50 an acre, the latter figure be-
ing made in Texas. Arkansas. Missouri
and Kansas; but we never get any of
their cucumbers here. New England
heads all other vegetable grow
ing districts in returns for all of her
truck products. the least she makes be-
ing 500 an acre on watermelons, which
is $50 more an acre than the highest
price southern watermelon growers re-
ceive for their crop. As a matter of
fact, the southern watermelon grower
thinks he is doing -ery well if he can
get net price of $3.50 carload for his
crop, and car will hold the yield of
three acres. New England gets nearly
500 more an acre for her celery crop
than the crack Michigan celery growers
get for theirs. In the matter of toma-
toes New England finds no difficulty in
selling her crop for $500 on acre, the
next highest price being paid to New
Jersey and Long Island, whose tomato
farmers get an average of s165 an acre
for their crop. But it is curious that
cold New England should lead the coun-
try on early vegetables, isn't it?"-N.
Y. Sun.