Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1904-01-14
TRUCKING BUSINESS.
How 1t Is Carried ON In Southern
Connecticut.

Conaccticut.
! Onions, potatoes and Strawberries
are the principal trucking crops grown
by farmers near the Long Island
shore between Bridgeport and Stam-
ford, Conn. The first two crops are
marketed chiefly in New York city,
while strawberries are sold in Bridge
port, Stamford and other markets.
Nearly every farmer grows a few
acres of these crops, some of them de-
voting 4 fourth to half of their culti-
waited area to them. Hay is also
grown extensively and meets with
ready sale at profitable prices, as high
as S25 being paid the past spring and
early summer for prime timothy.
Nearness to New York makes tho
fertilizer problem easily solved. for
stable manure can be obtained at all
seasons of the year. Price of this va
ries from 40 cents to 81 per ton in
New York city, depending upon the
season and the demand, and freights
are a matter Of so cents more. Before
the new rates were put into effect July
l freight on manure from New York
was GO cents per ton. This stable ma
nure is from grain fed horses and con-
tains but little straw, but it usually
has an abundance of grass and weed
seeds. The usual application is car
load to the acre, somewhere between
twenty and thirty tons. When possible
ii Is put on the ground In the fall and
plowed in to q depth of six to eight
inches.
Large quantities of commercial fer
tilizers are also used here, high grade
goods being the favorites. The best
farmers apply one ton Of fertilizer per
acre no matter what the crop. The
bulk of the fertilizer is sown broadcast
after plowing and narrowed in, al
though with corn and potatoes few
hundred pounds are frequently put into
the drill.
Early planting of potatoes and on
ions is favored by most of the growers.
Both of these crops do best when
terminating in cool soil. Early plant
ing also allows of early maturity and
harvesting. as it is essential that the
onions be put in during good weather.
Potatoes are harvested before the
heavy rush of northern and western
stock reaches the market and brings
down prices. The strawberry acreage
with each farmer is light, from one to
three acres being the rule. Spring
planting is the rule. Other truck crops
are grown in a small way, such as
asparagus, rhubarb, sweet corn, melons
and cabbage, but these usually for local
market.
In the onion growing district around
Southport, where in the towns of West
port and Fairfield about 1000 acres
of onions are grown annually, other
crops are frequently worked In. The
onions are rotated with hay and pota-
toes and seldom planted more than one
or two years in succession on the same
piece of land. The ground Is given
very thorough preparation and heavy
application of manure or fertilizer,
from twenty-five to thirty tons per acre
of New York stable manure or one ton
of high grade commercial fertilizer be-
Ing applied to this crop. Naturally the
after crops get considerable benefit OF
such liberal application.
II perchance the onion crop should
be n partial failure, yet the stand not
thin enough to warrant plowing mp. n
crop Of carrots is often put in.-Ameri-
can Agriculturist.