New-York tribune., 1901-08-25
HAPPY TRUCK FARMERS.
THEIR PROFITS WILL BE LARGE THIS
YEAR-HEALTH AND MONEY IN
THEIR CALLING.
THEIR CALLING.

in September Will make this the most proHldpie
season that Long Island truck farmers have
had in five years. If there is enough sun to !
rpen the tomato crop, to mature the big ears
late stalks and to make late potatoes
grow the trucksters will have a great deal for !
which to give thanks
Vegetable crops Long Island have not been !
above the average this year but big crop IS |
always necessary TO assure big profits The
crops in the West and in Northern New-York
have been very poor that prices are unusually
high. The Long Island garden truck farmer
is getting unheard of prices for almost every |
thing he raises. and it matters not to him that
the season is backward and the yield not as
large usual.
There have been farmers on Long Island ever
since New-York became NewYork. but they
were 'od-fashioned' farmers. They raised hay
and grain and perhaps a few potatoes. They
were satisfied with a little garden patch, just
enough to supply their own tables and not too
much for the women of the household TO look
after.
Twenty-Five or thirty years ago somebody sGw
that greater profit could be made by truck
farming. Fields that had always been planted
in grain were split up into garden patches On
a large scale. Most of the old d-fashiOned'
farmers held to old ideas until they We're bought
out by newcomers or became old enough 10 turn
their farms TO their sons, who spec lily be
truck farmers.
To-day there is hardly "old-fashoned
farmer the island. From the first lonely
truck farm around Jamaica the business OF rails
ing vegetables for the city markets has spread
far up the island as Hcksve. The farmers
in the central part Of the island and aroLn"
Garden City and Mneola raise potatoes. cab
hage and corn. with beans. peas ana carrots
side issues. Along the eastern shore the farmers
go in for caulihower, and their crop is fine IS
silk according to the markctmen. Hlcksvillc
marks the further boundary Of the territory &C.
cuIied by farmers who drive into the city with
their garden truck every day. There are farms
beyond but the farmers do not drive. Hicks
Vile farmers have all they can DO To cover the
thirty miles bctneen farm ana market and
those further away are forced 90 depend on the
railroads when they wish TO reach the city mart
! more enjoy able outing can hardly oe iu,I;-
inel than day a Long Island truck farm
II is not necessary % go outside the limits ~
the city 10 find one Any one ~ho has travelled
T. Bath Beach. Couey Island or either of the
Rochaways can hardly have failed 10 notice
broad acres in which garden truck is growing
From the strcetcars one can see men and uo-
men with hoes and raHes digging out the Wee is
between long, straight rows of vegetables. In
other places children are busy picking beans
ana peas or pulling long roasting ears from tall
green corn stalks
II ones imagination cannot conceive "a real
farm within the limits of th- largest city on
this continent, go a mile or so beyond the imag-
mary line The scene Is just the same but It
is the real country. and the cprntrymcn are
not complaining dbpIt having 20 pay city taxt1.
Go 10 Floral Park. a mile and a half beyond
the city limits, for instance. Shu, your eyes to
tho flower farms T"'ch suIroual the static.
and 90 far enough away from tn steel tracks
Of the railroad 50 that you no longer hear the
noisy putting of locomotives You Nili find many
equally refreshing.
1t is well to climb To the top of the windmill
nearly all Long Island farms have windniIIs
and gaze for while at the farm in it's en-
tirety. The color scheme is varied enough OF
course, green predominates but such "A variety
of greens, There are no two exactly alike Here
and there dark loan background shows
through the foliage Vivid yellow appears in
irregular splas hes-the squash Purple is not
lacking if the farm supports "A red cabbage
patch.
1t is not altogether still life picture. either.
Weeds grow Long Island they do else
Shere, and they have to be torn out. Vegetables
must be harvested well grain. and the
process is vastly more personal. Although pota-
toes no longer dug with hoe but uprootcd
by blowing q furrCW under the hills steam bean