The Florida agriculturist., 1907-08-14

what his soil requires. This one must
know to be a successful farmer, lruit
grower or vegetable farmer. Mr.
Shearer says the secret Of farming
is to know chow, when and what to
plant, and to how, when and what to
fertilize with.'
What does Mr. Shearer raise on
those two acres that bring such large
returns? A good deal, indeed. From
seven thouand to eight thousand heads
of lettuce; from thirty thousand tc
ing, according to the supply of seed
onions on hand early n the spring. This
year he has some thirty thousand
onions, which he punched and sold
at five cents a bunch, having from
eight to ten onions on a bunch. From
a small space of ground, IS by &c
feet, 600 square feet, upon which Mr..
Shearer had soWn pound of onion
seed, with the exception of a few
quarts of onion sets, all the small
onions were raised to set the thirty
thousand onion plants. This one
pound of seed, after the onions were
sold in punches, brought in a return
Of $I4o, leaving enough small onions
to become sets in the fall for spring
planting for another thirty thousand
lot He raised red beets for some
two thousand punches, which are sold
at five cents a bunch, as has five
hundred roots of asparagus These
are all raised for the early summer
market, which is soon followed by a
second crop, consisting of six thou
sand heads of endive, for which he
receives five cents head. the same
price for the lettuce, an equal num-
Der of late lettuce. the fruit from six
hundred tomato vines, twelve thou
sand celery stalks, which are sold at
prices ranging from two to five cents
a stalk, as to size and quality.
The fall crop is mostly celery, as
he takes takes great pride in his celery
plants, and annually raises from $4,000
to 100000 celery plants. The crop
this year will probably reach the high
water mark, and will go above those
figures. In quantities he gets rs cents
hundred for all those he does not
intend to transplant himself, and in
small quantities he gets S cents doz-
en-. Celery plant raising, says Mr..
Shearer, is quite tedious, as the little
plants need a good deal of moisture.
Often the patches are covered with
bags to keep the moisture in the
ground for ten days, when the bags
are removed and the celery begins
to peep through the soil They will
mature if they have some rain. His
first celery plants are ready to sell
early in June.
Where Mr.. Shearer intends to plant
celery he grows oats and clover in
the spring. In the middle Of June
he mOWs the clover patch and uses
the crop for litter and feed. He then
cultivates the patch several times Mr.
Shearer never uses a plough on his
tWoacre farm. He says in p1oughing
the rich top soil is turned down and
placed out of the reach of the roots
of the surface feeding plants. He says
from experience he has learned that
shallow cultivation produces "some-
thing" which becomes available for the
feeding of these plants After each
rain, from the middle Of July to the
middle Of August, he keeps on plant
ing celery. manuring the patch we'll
and applying bone meal, nitrate OF
soda and muriate of potash. He prac-
tices level cultivation and does not
plant his celery plants in burrows, but
simply in rows, making the patch as
level as possible, placing the plants
thirteen inches apart in the rows, and
the rows an equal distance from each
other. On $50 square feet he usually
raises $4,000 celery plants. His first
celery is ready in SEPTEMBER, and he