The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-12-19
PROFITABLE TRUCK FARMING

The following from the Texas Truck
Farmer is applicable in large measure
to conditions in this and adjoining
States:
When you hear q man or a paper
trying to prove by facts, figures and
other available material constructed
for the purpose, that truck farming
won't pay, you can safely 60 him 16 to
1 that he simply don't want il to pay,
that he is ''agin it" from start to finish,
that he worships at the shrine Of Eve.
cent cotton and the usual spring crop
mortgage. Some OF our newspaper
friends don't seem to want the truck
farmsrs to succeed. They will walk
sixteen miles TO get an interview with
some sorehead who has raised ''too
much melon" and allow q profit state
ment on tomatoes or onions as big as
q car door to go unnoticed. This, to
as, seems unfair, and while we care
but little about it, we merely call the
attention OF our readers to it to show
the thing up in its true light. We say
openly that truck farming, as carried
on in Texas, is the most profitable
farming to day, and can prove it by as
responsible a set Of men a. ever
breathed. There were some failures,
there will continue to be failures just
as long as people continue to work,
but, oh but, has there been any fail
ures in the cotton business in the last
ten years. Let's see-how many men
in Texas in the year Of our Lord 1899
will lack from one to one hundred dol.
lars paying their stinted store account
with cotton3 How many little bare
feet will there be in Texas to tell the
horrors Of too much cotton to q No
vember norther3 How many little
hoods will there be on Christmas morn
that will peep out from the cover and
find that the chimney has been stopped
up with five cent cotton, preventing
Santa Claus from filing their little
stockinge9 How many aching hearts
will there be that day, caused from
low cotton and low spiritsG How many
old, half starved, spawned, hide bound
mules and horses are there in Texas to,
day that haven't had half enough to
eat in two months because the ''user'
knew he would have to go in October.
Poor things il they had the ''gay so"
diversification would at least go to the
living at home point, whether they
raised for shipment or not. How many
fortunes have been made this ear on
cotton7 We know q man who had
four acres of onions and made nearly
5000 on them. How much per acre
will this great king cotton net9 We
know a man who made over $500 on
one acre Of tomatoes. 1t takes twelve
months in the year to make cotton
crop and three to four to raise truck,
80 you have three to one the advantage
in time. You can raise cotton to swap
for cash only-you can feed fruit and
vegetabl bles to stock, eat them your
selves, or credit your neighbor who
raises cotton only, for them. So we
have a big advantage in that Wsy, but
the greatest is yet to be mentioned-We
can't mortgage truck patch-thst is,
it can't be mortgaged like the cotton
crop, and this gives our truck farmers
the happy thought and privilege of
paying cash and living at home. All,
there is a big thing in behind cotton
and truck-when a man plants cotton
he has to go in debt for supplies, he
gives a mortgage and then the man
who furnishes the supplies is not afraid
of anyoD els competition got him.
TooVTTNUED on PAGRa1