Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1905-10-13

long" or Short the length. of
course, referring to the leaves The
object of allowing the leaves to re-
main long is that it preserves the
flower. The farmer receives from 81
to $1.25 barrel for the long cut" and
and so cents more for the short
cut" though at certain times in the
season the short cut brings as much
as So a barrel.
New York Uses 5000 Barrels a Day.
The Long Island cauliflower is ship
ped as far west as Minneapolis and as
far south as New Orleans. and for the
past few years the market has been
steadily growing. The metropolis,
with it's millions of hungry mouths
food to devour. is only about 20 miles
away from this section by the Long
Island railroad. and affords an easy
market for all garden crops. The city
demands about 5000 barrels day,
in season. or about 100000 heads. The
hotels alone are great consumers: a
single hotel the Astor, requires 40
heads day.
1t was about 80 years ago that one
of the farmers in the district began
to cultivate cauliflower. He found a
ready market for it in the city. though
at that time it was little known as an
edible. The other farmers observed
that unusual prosperity was smiling
on their neishbor. and soon they be-
gan 70 plant cau1if1Ower, until at the
present time there are about 5000
acres of blue leaved fields every year.
This acreage would be greatly in
creased were it not for the fact that
cauliflower absorbs all the resources
of the soil and can not. as rule.
be grown with success in the same
field in successive years.
A few years ago most of the farm
ers formed themselves into a cauli-
flower association BY doing so they
found that they could ship their pro-
duct in car load lots and make a cor
responding saving in freight charges
Now they load the cars themselves
and their agents in New York see to
the unloading and all the railroad has
tc do is haul them. The association
also purchases farm supplies for it's
members in bulk. thereby making a
great saving. One illustration Of the
advantage of the association is in the
matter of seed. Caulifiower seed is
not produced in this country, save at
Puget sound. and the Long Island
farmers have paid as much as So an
the seed from Ehrfurt Germany, and
has succeeded in reducing the price,
in a few years, from $32 to $40 a
pound An ounce will produce about
1900 plants and the association pur-
chases about $50 pounds year.
Set Out by Machines.
The plants are set out by little
hand machines between July Is and
August L. Soon after the head" APP
pears. the long. blue leaves are tied
up about it. to keep it white and pre-
vent it from being sunburned, and
thus the caulifower stands, like
child with the humps. until it is cut
for shipment. The farmers begin to
ship soon after August sets in and
continue until Thanksgiving.
Investigation of the returns from
caulifower growing explains how the
farmers become Opulent enough to
own automobiles. August Levin, of
Batting Hollow. one of the caulif1ow-
err pioneers, last year had ~ acres
Of cauifower from which he realiz-
ed a net profit of $500 an acre. E. f.
Prince, another farmer, made $425
clear from an acre and quarter set
out in cauliflOWer-a sum cOnSlderab-
ly above the price of the land. These
are large returns. And of course the
farmers have other paying crops. The
potato acreage of the section is four
times the cauliflower acreage, and it
is the greatest potato district in the
country.