Evening star., 1895-06-15
EARLY TRUCK FOR MARKET.
Raising Spring Vegetables in Sand.
Soils Along the SeashOrc.

SOILS Along the SeushOFc.
Many luxuries are commonly to be had
nowadays which even the rich were not
able to procure a generation ago. This re-
mark applies particularly to eatables.
SPRING vegetables, for example. may now
be enjoyed during more than half the year.
People are no longer content to have them
in the season when they mature in their
own immediate locality. The,same is true
of fruits.
Until within a few years tomatoes were
not expected in the market of this city un-
til the local crop ripened in July. During
the winter and spring canned tomatoes
were extensively and almost exclusively
used. Now, however, the Florida crop of
fresh tomatoes begins to arrive here early
in January, juicy and luscious, only
twenty-six to thrty-six hours being re-
quired for transportation.
These early tomatoes sell readily for 80
to T5 cents a dozen at the same time that
Florida oranges are bringing u to 30 cents
a dozen, and while canned tomatoes are
selling for 10 to IL cents three-pound can.
This is followed by successive crops from
Georgia, the Carolnas, Virginia and Mary
land. The season for fresh tomatoes in
this market thus extends over fully nine
months of the year. The same is true of
other vegetables There is great and in
creasing demand for this early. garden
truck, which is put on the market now in
better condition and at lower cost than
ever before. 81 -s,
In old times. says Milton Whitney. in the
forthcoming year book of the Department
of Agriculture, fruits and vegetables gen.
orally, were grown in gardens and as part
of the regular farm crops, as we'll as in
market gardens within a few miles of the
larger towns and cities. In recent years,
however, the raising of such products for
early markets has developed into a dis
tinct and special branch of agriculture, be-
ing greatly aided by improved transporta-
ton facilities. Incidentally, certain regions
previously supposed to be worthless for
farming purposes have been brought under
very profitable cultivation-most notably a
narrow strip of light and sandy soil ex
tending along the Atlantic shore for a dis
tance of about 1880 miles from Massachu-
setts to Florida, bordering the coast, bays
and rivers This land few years ago was
hardly worth 81 an acre; at present it is
valued at 500 to $500 an acre.
This strip is the great truck-producing
area of the eastern United States, yielding
vast quantities of early spring vegetables
every year. The season advances north
ward along it at the rate of about thirteen
miles a day. OF course, the lands near a
railroad are worth several times as much
as similar tracts two or three miles away,
on account of the difficulty and expense
CT transporting the tender and bulky crop
and the damage done in handling and haul
ing. Lands near water are much more
valuable, not only by reason of better fa-
cilities for transportation. but also because
the vegetables grown upon them do not
sun cr nearly SO Inucl from frost. crops a
quarter of mile inland may be destroyed
by frost, while those adjacent to the water
are not affected. The total area devoted
to truck farming in the United States in
1889. exclusive of market gardens, was
534, 40 acres. OF this 61 per cent was To-
Gated along the Atlantic seaboard.
To produce this truck an intense system
of cultivation is practiced. and the expense
Of making the crop is very great. The
necessary working capital for a small
farm of this kind is reckoned at from
$4,000 to $4,000. The risks are as great
and the enterprises as heavy as in ordinary
commercial or Industrial lines. 0ompeti-
ton is so sharp and the margin of profit
has become so small, that there is a ten
depcy among the larger planters to form
combinations which make 1t more and
more difficult for small truckers to sue
ceed. The truckers associations have
great power and influence. Three or four
Of the large planters around Norfolk. by
putting their potato crops suddenly upon
the New York market can depress the
price to such a small margin of profit that
the minor dealers cannot afford to sell
The price of potatoes in New York has
been known to fall 81 barrel in the course
of day. 1t is stated that the difference
of a cent 4 barrel on spinach in the freight
rates from Norfolk to New York reduces
the price below the actual cost of produc-
ton