Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1909-01-06
QUEER FARMS.
a Hot Water Market Garden Culti-
waited Near the Arctic Circle.

Ianana river, only lzb miles south
Of the Arctic Circle. 1t is owned and
managed by j. F. Karshnei;.
Karshner a few years ago was en-
gagged in hunting gold when he came
across something which astonished
him very much. 1t was a little stream
of hot water.
He traced the stream to spring,
which was likewise hot, and 1t pres
emily became obvious that quite a
considerable area was underlaid by
such springs.
Promptly deciding that this was a
discovery more profitable than a gold
mine Karshrer gave up prospecting.
obtained quantity of vegetable
seeds of various kinds, and, accord
ing to Suburban Life, started into
raise garden truck.
The temperature In that region
sometimes falls to 65 degrees below
zero in winter, but natural system
Of hot water heating, free Of cost.
was just the thing for truck garden
ing near the Arctic Circle, where
potatoes have market value OF 25
cents pound, and other vegetables
bring prices in proportion.
The Karshner farm occupies fiat
area with convenient slant toward
the south. Hot water, oozing out of
the ground, forms three small
streams which empty into the nearby
river.
The warm spring extends over
distance Of about mile, and, as the
owner says. "The heat In the ground
has to be felt to be believed" He
adds: 81 have never seen vegetables
grow as they do here. The place has
climate Of its own. Often there is
no frost when it Is freezing every
where else"
The hot water farmer has seventy
hens. He has also six fine pigs. His
crop Of potatoes this year, will be
Zoe tons. at $50 bushels to the acre.
Tobacco has made a great growth.
Tomatoes are a success. Squashes
Of several kinds are grown, some Of
them weighing as much as fifty three
pounds. Karshner gets 81 apiece for
his muskmelons, which are particu-
larly juicy.
This hot water market garden
must be wonder in its way, but 1t
is doubtful whether its owner de-
hol
Frank D. Howard. United States
Commissioner at Coldfoot, Alaska, 60
miles north of the Arctic Circle, who
in the raising Of potatoes and other
vegetables for market gets over the
difficulty Of the climate by starting
them in tin cans in the house. When
the weather becomes warm enough
he transplants them to the open.
Mr.. Howard's market garden is
the most successful to be found any
where north Of the Arctic Circle. He
protects his young cabbages from
frost on cold nights by covering them
with beer bottles, the bottoms and
necks of which have been knocked
off. In these Jackets" as he calls
them, they flourish, and by June 10,
when they have grown sufficiently to
fill the bottles, they are uncovered.
In the first week Of September they
are harvested.
Mr.. Howard grows potatoes and
celery very successfully. His lettuce
produces an abundant crop of large
and exceedingly fine heads, tender
and sweet.
Last year he sent to the agricultu-
raj station at Sitka, by registered
mail at surprisingly early date a
box containing cucumber, a stalk
of rhubarb, two potatoes and a car
rot. These were to show what he
could do in the truck gardening line.
Accompanying them was letter
which said apologetically:
II cannot send by mail an eight
pound head of cabbage or sixteen
pound turnip."
1t will thus be seen. that the busi-
ness Of market gardening in Alaska
though conducted under dicffiulties
is not unsuccessful. Some Of the
finest vegetables are grown on the
roofs Of houses, overlaid for the pur.
pose with a foot or so of earth.
In Central Florida pineapples are
largely grown nowadays under sheds
of latt' ). These sheds, elevated or
posts at ID height of about seven fee
from the ground usually, in some in
stances cover as much as ten acre.
of land. Their main object is to pro
tect the growing fruit against frost
though 1t Is claimed that pineapple.
raised under them are more delicate