The Indianapolis journal., 1896-07-26
SHIPPING GARDEN TRUCK
Fresh Flowers and Vegetables Sent
Across the Country I'm Fast Trains.

AHcsu TiOWcrS anu vegetables sent
Across the Country I'm Fast Trains.
Boston Transcript.
All the world knows that the Americans
are great travellers, but it is not likely that
many OF our people. even, know that our
garden truck is following the example
Oh Its owners and skipping across the con-
tiirent faster than the express passenger
trains. Yet. this is so. and il is part of the
development of business and the natural
growth of the demands of luXury and
necessity. Very likely the inventor of the
Westinghouse brake did not realize that he
was to have n direct effect upon the bust
ness of the express companies. But he
has. How? Why. in this way. BY the in
PRODUCTION OF this brake, so an experienced
express manager says, tho railroads. In
been able to handle their freight trains
much more quickly than formerly That
means that they compete with the express
their business which they used TO get be-
cause they dispatched their goods quicker
than the freight ears would carry them
But this gap in the express business has
been moro than filed. right along by the
development of new business. Very likely
II would have been a poser TO the railroads
10 tell where the express companies were TO
make uD for what they took away from
them. just as il might have been poser TO
tell how capital could be forthcoming for
the development of the bicycle business.
but the demand brought forth the capital
I from somewhere. and the express compa-
neS have not lost money by the comceu-
to do and their business is growing all the
time.
One of the new Developments of the busi-
ness of the express companies is their Won
derful transportation OF fruits and vege-
tables TO very long distances, sometimes
entirely across the continent. This new
business, bringing hundreds of tons OF
produce every week to the people of one
city alone. which otherwise they would go
without. shows how we are laying the en-
tire continent under contribution for our
command for appetite and health than our
fathers dreamed of enjoying. One day late-
ly, for instance. has brought TO this city
three carloads of red raspberries from the
Hudson valley and nearly ten tons of ripe
currants as an ordinary matter of course.
Some of the features OF this business are
exceedingly interesting and surprising. For
instance, take the matter Of lettuce. There
is a certain kind known Boston lettuce,
raised by the market gardeners in Airing
ton and Belmont which heads up like a
cabbage in way which the cultivators
have not yet persuaded other varieties of
lettuce to follow. This is raised right
through the winter in hotbeds heated by
steam, and there is said to be other
place where 1t can be grown as ii can here.
Every day during the winter this lettuce
packed in boxes and barrels. is sent by fast
express trains from Boston to the large
cities. even TO Chicago and st. Louis. What
starts from here at 3 O'Clock in the after
noon Is on sale in the markets in Buffalo
by 6 o'clock the next morning, and the
early-rsing housewife who makes the pur-
| chase very likely does not realize that this
toothsOma edible has Travelled a long Way
Tor her especial delectaton. Many bushels
of this lettuce are sent out every day dur
ing the winter. 1t is a luxury. for the price
Is not low enough for every poor family TO
nave II. They must wait for the slower
operations of mother earth in their own
locality.
Last winter there was the development
of a new trade. Heretofore the supply OF
early cucumbers has begun to pour In from
the. distant South. New Orleans being the
shipping point. and the goods reaching the
he
sippi valley and Chicago. But the Boston
marketmen. carrying out their steam hot
cucumbers, and large quantities of them
were shipped to the West before the sun
s9 sa egesmbeT large
In all this early fruit and vegetable busi-
ness is that the early crops bring fancy
soon and as the the rarity hSme is s1ppv an s
sspeaking kin Of the red raspberries which We're
daIe thcse which are raised in our own
suburbs. and the farmers at our very
most drug by the time they are ready
to bring them TO market. So these winter
grown cucumbers go West and satisfy
! the aching void. and by the time the Sa-
vannail cucumbers are ready for market
! the Northern unreasonable ones have
beaten them out of their novelty. and they
great rariety OF course homegrown Gu
| cumbers, however early, are very cheap
by the time the gardens have had sun and
rain enough to fit them for market.
Our rhubarb. on the other hand, comes
| freshest and best from the South travel
| Ing by way of Chicago. Doubtless this is
because the roots must stay in the ground
| the year around and il is impossible TO get
several crops from the same patch Hence
outdoor culture continues and the South
| has a monopoly for the present. But there
! is nothing new in the very earliest North
ern rhubarb by the time its anxious cu-
tNator can get 1t to his customers, for
| they have been using this spring medicine
! for weeks already and he may get what
he can for his stuff. They have had a
! good taste of it and are not hungry for
| any more.
The culture of the grape illustrates the
! same condition also. There is a coarse
New York State grape. which ripens in the
! sun considerably earliesr than the finest
grapes grown in New England. These
! grapes are rushed into the market Peo-
pie get the grape flavor Their appetite
| is stated. The novelty soon wears of. BY
the time the luscious clusters of native
| arrivals. are fit for eating, the palates OF
the grape-eaters have already had their
with grape money and the prices for the
| superior fruit are always lower than for
| the inferior. but earlier.
Something of the same wonderful extent
of business is recorded in regard to flowers.
| Boston-cut roses are known and appre-
ciated far into the interior. 1t may not
| natter the pride of Chicago and st. Louis
| florists, but their Boston brethren take or
! ders right away from them. IL a wealthy
| woman in either OF these cities gives a
| notable reception and wants the roses of
| the finest qualities. she orders them from
| Boston. Specifications given of such
| occurrences. The order is telegra phed here
The roses are cut and carefully packed
| and on the second day they grace the
| hostesSS table in ST. Louis. TO the wonder
! n1ent of her guests Near Boston there are
many acres under glass in one establish
ment which fills orders from many distant
customers Hardly day pa sses in the
| winter but that roses are expressed from
Boston TO the large Western cities.
Now, all this is possible only by the
growing perfection of the express service
! There are no passenger trains which run as
/ fast as the fastest expresses. There is one
! train. with no baggage or passenger cars
which covers the distance from Boston to
| Chicago in twenty-six and one-half hours
Or from o'clock one night to $50 the fol-
lowing night. Once only has an order of
live Holsters been carried from the At
lantic coast to the Pacific for they do not
have these appetizing shell fish out there
and the particular customer in
this case was very set that he would
for once. at least. have what he wanted.
The packing was carefully made in broken
Ice and the trip was ended to the satisfac-
ton of the epicure, but TO the death of the
Holsters who were broiled alive at the end
OF their fast ride. 1t is not an infrequent
thing. however, for live Holsters to be car
ried as far as Denver. California fruit
comes East in the same quick despatch.
Cherries make the journey of three thou
sand miles from Los Angeles to Chicago by
fast freight and arriVp in excellent l.