Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1897-04-29

Of the north. All of them are handled
as delicately and tenderly as babies
Some are put up with great care and
with considerable artistic effect. II
may make a difference between a good
profit and heavy loss If the vegetables
are packed neatly or carelessly 1t is
not SO much a matter of getting them
into market in good condition as it is
to get them before the purchaser in an
attractive appearance.
At one time the profits We're very
good, and a number of truck growers
are still making handsome incomes
from their gardens. Major Ryals. ex-
mayor of Savannah, and also former
member of the Georgia legislature, has
made quite fortune from his truck
farms He frequently makes 5000
clear from an acre in vegetables. The
season at Savannah is very favorable.
The major can get three crops in a
year from the same land. His income,
is said ranges from $4,000 to $40, 900
net a year from his vegetables.
Shortly after the war a French gard
ener named Goblet came to Charleston
and began raising truck He made
money He was the first to try aspara-
gus, getting his plants from France
He met with wonderful success. He
brought from France two skilled gar
deners named Jounnette, who suc-
ceeded him in the vegetable business,
and have enlarged the gardens left by
Goblet These Jounnette brothers now
own the largest asparagus garden in
Jhe ward-250 acres-devoted entirely
to the culture OF this one vegetable.
AS the profits ON asparagus have been,
and probably viii be for some years,
quite satisfactory, they have made for
tunes.
The planting Of asparagus is not aly
he most profitable. but it is also the
most interesting. Of the trucker0ps.
The seed is planted one winter and .bo
roots ire set out the following year.
The -hird year the sprouts or
grass, as the growers call it, can be
cut for marketing, The roots are put
in the bottom oe a trench twelve to
eighteen inches deep As they grow
the earth is drawn about them until
the trench is made a bed, or ridge, ten
to fourteen inches high. The sprouts
grow rapidly with the first warm
weather They come out in a single
night. If frost is threatened double
plow is run on top of the bed and a
thin layer Of earth is thrown over the
tender sprouts. This protects them
for a night, and they push their heads
through The earth by the following
day
These sprouts are cut every morning.
4 knife made especially for the pur-
pose is used to cut, or rather snap, off
the sprouts at their junction with the
root. The labora-e pick up the sprouts
which are selected, carefully clipped
at the heavy ends to make them even,
put into neat packages, tied up with
ribbon, and shipped.
The first year an acre will yield
about $50 to SIS of sprouts. This yield
Increases until the third year
when yield of $3.50 to $500
an acre is obtained. The crop is then
certain for eight years. After that the
roots get TOO near the surface, and the
field is plowed up and rcplanted.
1t has been thought that the seed de
teriorates in this country, and new
supply is frequently brought from
France. This is to be doubted, how
ever, and a number Of planters are us
ing native seed with excellent results.
The truck business has been of vast
benefit to the south. 1t has made mil
| lions of acres, and has enabled hun
dreds of families along the coast to re-
cover fortunes lost during the war. ii
! has become a new industry and a
source Of revenue to the southern peo-
pie that can hardly be estimated in
| it's great volume.-New York Times.