The morning call., 1893-04-09
TRUCk-EARMING.

The development Of truck-farming bids
fair to revolutionize agriculture. Accord
ing to the last census 240,C00 people, men,
women and children, raised stuff which
sold for S76,5l7, l55 on 534 $40 acres of land
The great bulk of this land lay adjacent to
cities, but some of it produced crops for
consumption nj considerable distance and
formed part of the regular agricultural
area. Sixty or seventy years ago, before
the beginning Of the railroad era. the cities
of New \ ork. Phiadelp hia ard Boston re-
lied upon their own suburbs for their green
truck. quarter of n century later rail-
roads brought truck to market from New
Jersey. Long Island and Delaware and laid
it down as cheaply and earlier than the
suburban product. More recently truck
raised in Florida. Louisiana and California
has made its appearance in the Eastern
markets ard has enjoyed a monopoly of
them for days or weeks. Taking Chicago
as type Of the consuming center and Santa
Clara Valley as d type of the Producing
area the former can be supplied with spring
vegetables from the latter more than a
month sooner than it would he if it had to
rely on the gardens in the Mississippi Val
ley.
Where the California k-farmer under
stands his business. knows what fertilizers
to use for each particular vegetable and
looks out for insects and frosts, lie can raise
the finer kinds of truck. such as green peas.
string beans, asparagus tomatoes. new
potatoes and egg plant, early in March,
whereas in illinois ii is May before the
native product appears on the stalls. Here
are six weeks at least during which the
Pacific Coast producer has nothing to fear
IN the way Of competition except the rivalry
Of the Gulf States, whose systems of trans
pOrtation are imperfeetiy deveioi ed and
where industry partRkes of the lethargy n-
duced by southern climate. His mon
opoiy is very nearly assured. 1t is fortune
lying at his feet waiting 10 he picked up.
Considerable money is made at the pres
ept time by the shipment OF cabbages TO the
East. But the cabbage is a cheap vegetable,
which barely pays the cost Of transporta-
ton. 1t is 10 high-prieed truek-the
primeurs-that our gardeners ought TO
direct their attention. Early in March men
of wealth in New York will pay any price
that is asked for green peas and asparagus
grown in the open air and not under glass.
With little care We can supply both. If
we did. TancherS who find il difficult to
make both ends meet by growing wheat and
barley would realize fortunes. In this, as
in all other pursuits. success would depend
on knowledge and tbOroughness. The
traveller through Europe is struck with the
rewards which intelligent UNDERSTANDING
yields. The famous novelist, George
Meredith, finding that he was not growing
rich by writing books, devoted portion OF
| his genius to raising early vegetables, and
| made himself Independent in a short while.
| \ ice, on the Mediterranean, was till lately
poor little town dependent for its existence
on what it could make out Of visiting
! strangers. It was discovered that it could
raise the finest roses and lilies OF the valley
almost throughout the winter. The Paris
florists turned the discovery 10 account. and
now they get tile bulk of their flowers from
Nice. When a Partisan orders an opera
bouquet his order is transmitted to Nice
by telegraph, and his flowers are at his
home in twenty-four hours. Thus the Nice
gardeners have become opulent.
What is being done in Europe can be done
here. There is no reason why California
should not supply the East with early vege-
tables, as it supplies the Eastern cities with
early fruit. But the business must be sys-
| tematized and conducted on business prin-
! ciples. We must learn by experience what
dangers 10 avoid, what risks to guard
against. In the first sh pments Of green
fruit To the Atlantic cities, as much money
was lost as was made. Now, there is no
reason why any grower who ships good fruit
carefully packed should fail to make money.
The shipment of green fruit to London last
year is understood 10 have netted loss
That was not because London will not con-
| sumo California green fruit ar price which
will remunerate the grower; it was because
| some element in the business had been
| neglected. So. now, shipments of early
| vegeta bles to Chicago may result in a recla-
nation, where some precantion has been
| overlooked; but after experience has edu-
Gated shippers, they ought never to lose