Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1891-05-14
Aberdeen Herald.
May :, 1891
Thursday,
Truck Farming.

T!ae United States census office has re-
Gently issu, some highly Interesting
statistics ol tpck farming in the United
States. as distinguished ilom market gar
,leuing, which is conducted SO near to
the local u,akst That the farmer depends
on his own team iog transportation. The
average truck a,rm is situated u great
distance iYom The market in which its
produce Is disposed OF. lis new leatue
introduced within the last few years, eX-
cep, the little which used 10 be possible
by canal Il is the modern railroad that
has rendered possible truck farming. and
this partly accounts for the fact OF its
negleet in previous census compilations.
Not thar there was no truck farming in
1880. but tue volume Of il was vastly less
than now,
1t is estimated that upward OF $780,
O0n. 900 is Invested in the industry in the
United States, the annual production be-
ing three quarters of this amount, OF
$40, 500 900. rcaliSed from 53i, 4i0 acres
vi land. In the work are engaged
2l6.-65 mon, a,a6i women and li,S14
children, who are aided by 75,S6S horses
and mules, and use nearly S9,00o,0o0
worth of agricultural implements. The
industry is carried ON in nearly all the
states, but the principal districts are a
narrow belt on the South Atlantic coast
and along the Mississippi Valley. The
more fertile soils are chosen, labor and
railroad do the rest. The big cities are
the best customers of the truck farmer,
the wants of the people in the smaller
centers OF population being to large ex-
tent supplied from the immediate neigh
iorhood, and they take less per capita Of
that grown in other climates than their
own.
The merchants OF Chicago draw hither
the fruits Of Georgia, Florida, West India
Islands and Central America, the peaches
and berries of Illinois and Michigan, In
diana, Ohio and Missouri, apples, grapes
and pears from California, and cranber-
ries from the marshes OF Wisconsin. And
the range OF their distributive work is
almost equally wide.
Few people have a correct idea of the
effect this business has on transportation.
In the season Tor most OF the fruits
special trains run each dav from the pro-
duclng districts to this city, the peaches
and strawberries load down the boats
which ply regularly between Chicago and
the ports ON the opposite shore OF Lake
Michigan. and hundreds OF persons are
employed here in the work OF receiving,
besides the thousands who End employ
ment in handling the material at other
points while il is lcing collecteS and dis
trihutea after having been raised by an
army Il Workers. And, as previously
stated, all this is o! modern origin. The
vast increase to human comfort permitted
by the enjoyment OF the products OF other
consumer, and the concomitant benefit
TO the many who in this direction minis
Yer 10 the supply o. what may be called
necessary lnxuTies to their fellow Great
ares, Is the outgroNth OF the present gen.
GRAFTON, which, by making railroad trans
poratation far-reaching, speedy and cheap,
has permitted the Interchange OF COM
modities on scale that wonld never
have been dreamed OF by the people OF
fifty years ago.-Chicagc Tribune.