The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-15
DEEP-sEA TRUCK FARMING.
Many Vegetables Raised by Fisher
men and All of Them Nuisances.

/ New York Sun.
I'VE handle more garden truck in our bus
| mess than folks on shore would imagine"
! said the skipper of a halibut smack as he
] watched a barrow load of stores from
! South-street chambers rolled across the
gangplank, land if our fare was confined
to canned stuff we should be mighty CRATE
full. Luckily, we don't have to eat the fresh
product or we wouldn't ever go home 10
HarWichpOrt any more.
Our little garden plot lies under from
four to sixty fathoms of salt water, secure
from summer drought and untimely frosts.
| The chickens never scratch up the new
planted seeds and the pigs can't root up
anything. We'd pay EN- both good wages If
they'd destroy the whole plaguey planta-
tion, though Strawberries are the worst Of
all, and being lightly rooted will pull off on
the hook every time you rub over the patch.
They grow thick on the best halibut ground,
too, and are as beautiful as the land sort.
Red and white and misunderstanding, they'll
raise an armful of purple, swollen botches
in two minutes after you touch EN-. lteh
and sting like hornets wounds ana last Tor
days. Some of our men get touched so bad
they have to lay off for week Can't say
what their book names are, but they belong
to the half-animal half-vegetable crowd
that the sea anemones train with
Egg plants are pretty bad, but they can
be lodged generally or whacked off against
the gunwale. They are egg-shaped purple
affairs with fine bristly Spines all over, and
it's these tiny prickers that stick in and
break off to make bad testers. Purple-heart
sea urchins a young chap from Boston called
'em, but 1 don't travel much on what he
said. Hearts were his speciality, / reckon,
according to the way he sailed around the
Harwichport girls.
but, being larger, can be more readily
avoided. They are long cylindrical fellows,
notified and with blunt spines. A number OF
tough, rubbery feelers hang out from the
larger end and the sides are richly fringed
on the lower part. Sometimes a number
hang to hook and come up as heavy as a
lazy halibut. In a thoughtleSs moment the
fisherman will yank the whole mess in where
it falls on his bare. hands, and then he Is
", for fOrf1a icyl1t of sF1oaI 4fi
Pumpkins are like 'em, only larger and
less Venomous. They are bright yellow,
streaked with darker bands, just like the
winter squashes, on shore. Often we catch
one so heavy that it breaks off the barb
of the hook.
'Turnips are purple and white and look
very much like what the Boston fellow
called purple heart sea urchns, except that
they are pointed like the root of turnip
They have the same chestnut burr cover
ing which make the others so uncomfortable
to take off off,, It takes a good, clip with with
Sea nettles belong to the jellyfsh family,
but they are not the sort of jelly that nour-
invigorate a fellow, for If he had a single
ounce Of feeling left he'd cuss the whole die
tionary through Like the land nettle this
one, instead of raising Jumps or single sores,
just covers a whole hand with a redness
like fever rash, and there will be MIL
lion stingarees in every square inch OF skin.
As these are floating pests one may get
stung swimming or washing cut fish or
reaching over to lift in a heavy catch-n
~ y L
larged my vocabulary by some three-scOre
cuss words Just invented TO fit the stingS
of sea nettles. The college men say they re
phOsphorescent at night, and they certainly
are, but when they fasten on a real live
Cape Colder in broad daylight there's real
sulphur and birthstone breaks loose on the
"Burdocks are nasty both in looks and to
touch. In fact, they're a nuisance on shore
and sea- though the name is the only point OF
resemblance. They are more like a crooked
root than anything lese. The sting Is o4y
trif1ing, but they are bad line snarlers, Tor
they turn and tumble like circus men as soon
as they make fast to hook.
- Lemons are light yellow and oval They
make a bad blister when they strike, though
thanks be to Providence that is not often.
Lettuce is not the least of our annoy
ances. Everybody knows the big brown ana
green stTeamers that drift ashore after
are broken in two or three lengths and were
originally from ten to twenty-five feet long.
The green is tender and will tear loose, put
when fellow gets fast on brown le5i
he's gone many times, for the stuff is hard
rooted 1t is as flexible and as strong as
weIl-cured leather. BOtn sorts wrap around
and around the hooks, hiding the bait 50
that no cod or halibut can possibly nose IL
Asparagus we have. too, rare and
rather pretty vegetable. 1t is such cuflo1l-
ty that / took the last one l got over 10
Dennis, where there's man who has req
uar museum in his house. He called IT py
name the minute he set eyes on it, and the
name alone would swamp a dory so We
never told the men. Asparagus is bad
enough It's written down in my hatbdnd
here C-i-d-a-r-i-s C-l-a-i-r-g-e Terra --clQeI
is-well, it's too hard cider for me, ana l
strongly suspect the man who got up the
name wasn't bread and milk fed, either.
Queer business, hey? There's my bIQln-
er-in-law working a garden patch over Var
enough vegetables; here / am mad because
/ raise too many"