The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-01
TRUCK GROWERS ARE GETTING BUSY Great Need Among Local
 Gardeners ROTATION OF CROPS The Trouble Now Is That Everybody Plants at the Same Time and
 Market Is Glutted With
 the Staples
By WALTER HARPER

district are getting busy.
 The seed houses are doing land office business. while above the metallic aroma of furnace smoke and emory dust you can catch the smell of burning brush and fresh turned soil
 The growers of the Birmingham district furnish les sthan one-fifth of the gar den truck that is consumed in Birming- ham and the suburbs. Right now Bald win county and Cullman are supplying the local demand for sweet potatoes.
 Fancy prices are being paid for them and these more enterprising growers in Cullman and Baldwin are getting the profits The farmers of Jefferson county could and should help to supply this off season demand for one of the staple food products
 The same is true of many of the other products that are always in demand on the Birmingham market.
 While there is a perceptible improve ment in local trucking conditions by reas- on of new blood and more system in di- versifcation there is still much room for improvement. The growers of this dis trict should at least produce one-half of the foodstuffs consumed in the district.
 There are times, it is true. when the local market cannot take care of all the stuff that is offered for sale, and there is q temporary glut of certain products, but this Is the result of bad judgment on the part of the grower.
 l;es couraged when they find that just at the time their main crop is ready for the market there is a glut of just the prod ucts they have for sale. The stuff is perishable and has to be disposed of at a loss or IS wasted
 Now there is remedy for this condi- tion and the wise grower has been quick to adopt it.
 The remedy is in rotation and success sion of crops.
 When the ground begins to mellow and the sun gets warm in the spring all the planters rush for their seeds and plant everything at one time. The result Is that all of them have matured crops at the same time and all the stuff is rushed on the market. This of course causes a glut
 Careful succession of crops, that is, con tinuation of planting every 10 days or two weeks through the season, would not only avoid gluts with part of the crop, but would more generally distribute the sup ply of all products through the year.
 But there seems to be a race among planters to be first on the market with full crops. The result is that all come at once and prices go down.
 Discussing this condition yesterday, G.. B. McVay, vice president of the Amzi Golden Seed company, said: 'In this eli mate and on the soils of Jefferson county the intelligent gardener can have some sort of products for sale almost every month of the year.
 Cabbage, for instance, can be grown all seasons, You have to know how to se- feet your seed and then regulate the planting. The same is true of number of other products Most vegetables can be matured and made ready for the mar l<et at almost all times during the average spring, summer ana Tall. lnlS IS uOHS by succession and rotation of crops.
 "But instead of this plan it seems to be the custom for all growers to plant everything at one time, mature the crop at the same time, usually as early as possible, and then throw it all on the market at the same time. This method always caused a glut and prices are cheapened.
 q have seen this market glutted with a certain product for a few days or few weeks and then within just a few days whel, all the local supply is gone l have seen prices on those very products bound way up with those very products being shipped in from other sections.
 "The local growers very often com plain that it is a waste of time and money for them to try to supply the Birmingham market for the reason that when they have stuff for sale the market is glutted and prices go down. and that after they have sacrificed their stuff for starvation prices a demand returns and the prices are reasonable.
 "The planters themselves are to blame for this condition
 "If half the planters caught in a glut had delayed part of their crop 10 days or
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