The Mena weekly star., 1908-10-15
VEGETABLES FOR
 CANNING PURPOSES
Infant Industry, Which Can Be Made Immensely Profitable, Now En- gazing Attention of Farmers
 in State.

Paragould, Oct. 4.-That rais- ing vegetables for canning pur- poses is one of the infant indus tries of Arkansas which could be made immensely profitable to the farmers of the state is the opinion of Dr. Kitchens, president of the Paragould Canning Com pauy and manager of the factory which that company is now oper- ating at Paragould.
 In spite of the profits which have been made by those farmers who have devoted small part of their ground to raising vegeta bles for the local factory, the farmers are slow to embark jn the new work and the local factory has not been able to secure enough vegetables to permit it to run at more than one third of it's full capacity.
 The raislug u vese oles tor csnuing purposes IS practically an unknown business in Arkan sss. The canning factory 8, hi~ polnt is the onls one in thls sec. tion of be state aud t IS aid that there are proLaoiy nol more tban a dozen Tn the state which are devoted to the handling of vegetable There are number of cunning factories h the truit b IL of northwest Arkansa>, but factories which can vegetable s are scarce.
 As only tomatoes have heen handled here up to the present time more has been learned of the possibilities of raising that vegetable for canning purposes than any other. The farmers up to this time have been experi- menting with tomatoes and none has gone into the business ex- tensively. About twenty-five farmers, during the last season planted two or three acres each. Dr. Kitchens states that G. F.. Jenkins, one of these farmers planted an acre and quarter ia tomatoes, He secured over 300 bushels of tomatoes from this tract and received $77.70 for his crop at the canning factory. Many of the farmers who have been experimenting with the raising of tomatoes have paid little attention to their cultiva- tiou, but even without special at tention being paid to the crop it is claimed good yields have been obtained.
 Farmers Becoming Interested.
 The farmers in this vicinity have become interested in the subject now, however, and most of those who have been raising tomatoes as an experiment are arranging 10 increase the size of their tomato patch next year. Many of them will plant five or six acres which is about as much as an average farmer can han He in connection with hrs other crops. The raising of tomatoes demands no more time than is re- quired by any other crop. It is stated, but the gathering of the crop requires more attention, as the vines must be gone over every day.
 Large Profits Demonstrated. "The raising of tomatoes for the canning factory has been re garded by the farmers largely as an experiment so far" he de clared. But It has been demon strated that .arge profits are to he made from small tracts oi land devoted to that purpose, and the business has now gone beond tho experimental stage The conditions Tn the vicinit, of Paragould are not more favor
 able for truck farming thar many other poiuts in the state but there is no reason why a: great a success should not bs
 made here as at other points II
 neighboring states, where th' | farmers have made themselve Iindepen nde1t through the raising lof vegetables for canning purpos es. When the farmer begins t
 realize that he can raise some