The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-02-03
DEEP SEA TRUCK FARMING.
Many Vegetables Raised by Fishermen
and All of Them Nuisapces.

Many Vegetables Raised by Fishermen
and All of Them Nuisances.
We handle more garden truck in
our business than folks on shore would
imagine" said the skipper of a hali5ut
smack as he watched a barrow load of
stores from a South street chambers
rolled across the gangplank, and If
our fare was confined to canned stuff
we should be mighty grateful. Luckily,
we don't have to eat the fresh product,
or we wouldn't ever go home TO Har-
wichport any more.
Our little garden plot lies under
from four to 60 fathoms of salt water,
secus. from summer drought and I'M
timely 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 de-
stroy the whole plaguey plantation,
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 beauti-
full as the land sort Red and white
and luscious looking, they'll raise an
armful of purple swollen blotches in
two minutes after you touch 'em. Itch
and sting like hornets wounds and last
for days. Some of our men get touched
So Ddu IliSy 1ldNG " lay I'LL Aol q NSSh.
Can't say what their book names are,
but they belong to the half-animal,
half-vegetable crowd that the sea ane
mones train with.
Egg plants are pretty bad, but they
can be lodged generally or whacked Off
against the gunwale. They are agg-
shaped purple affairs with fine bristly
spines all over, and it's these tiny
prickers that stick in and break off to
i hoe ut 1,rr-
chins a young chap from Boston called
'em, but l don't travel much on what
he said. Hearts were his specially,
reckon, according to the way he sailed
around the Harwichport girls.
"Cucumbers are no pleasanter to
handle, but, being larger, can be more
readily avoided. They are long cylin-
drical 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 number hang
to a hook and come up as heavy as
lazy halibut. In thoughtless moment
the fisherman will yank the whole mess
in where it falls on his bare hands, and
then he is in for a fortnight of smart
ing sores.
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 ard
look very much like what the Boston
fellow called purple-heart sea urchins,
except that they are pointed like the
root of a turnip. They have the same
chestnut burr covering which make the
others so uncomfortable to take off. 1t
takes a good clip with knive or pail
ing dipper to knock one loose.
"Sea nettles belong to the jellytish
family. but they are not the sort of
jelly that nourishes an invalid. In one
way they might invigorate fellow, for
if he had a single ounce of feeling left
he'd cuss the whole dictionary through
Like the land nettle, this one, instead
of raising Jumps or single sores, Just
covers a whole hand with redness like
fever rash, and there will be million
stingarees in every square inch of ekia
AS these are floating pests one may get
stung swimming or washing out fish or
reaching over to lift in heavy catch
in dozens of ways. Why, I calculate
I've enlarged my vocabulary by some
three score cuss words just invented to
fit the stings of sea nettles. The col
lege men say they are 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 air.
"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 crooked root than any
thing else. The sting is only trifling,
but they are bad line snarlers, for 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 an
noyances. Everybody knows the big
brown and green streamers that drift
ashore after heavy storms. Well, those
that wash in are broken In two or three
lengths and were originally from 10 to
25 feet long. The green is tender and
will tear loose, but when fellow sets
fast on a brown leaf he's gone many
times, for the stuff is hard-rooted. 1t
as flexible and as strong as wel-cured
leather. Both sorts wrap round and
round the hooks, hiding the bait so that
no cod or halibut can possibly nose it
out.
Asparagus we have, too, a rare and
rather pretty vegetable. 1t is such a
curiosity that I took the last one l got
over to Dennis, where there's man
that has a regular museum in his
house. He called it by name the min
ute he set his eyes on it, and the name
alone would swamp dory, so I've nav-
er told the men. Asparagus is bad
enough. It's written down in my hat
band here. .C-i-d-a-r-i-s Clair
g-e-r-a'-cider is-well, it's too hard CT
der for me, and l strongly suspect the
man who got up the name wasn't bread
and milk fed, either.
Queer business. hey? There's my
brother-in-law working a garden patch
over Yarmouth way and mourns cause
he can't raise enough vegetables; here
l am mad because I raised too many"
New York Sun.