The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-10-03
Truck Farming In
New England
(Ry George French

(By George French.)
Not very long ago man went
from city to q, farm in the western
part of Massachusetts, There was a
peach orchard on the farm which the
owner expected would yield him a
good income, as it was just coming
to bearing age when he took the
farm. But there were but few
peaches-not enough to pay. The
farmer asked an Amherst Aggy pro-
lessor to visit him and tell why his
peach trees did not bear. The pro-
lessor came, looked about to note the
probable origin of the soil, took some
of it in his hand. let it run through
his fingers, noted the moisture, tex
ture, etc, and said to Mr.. Farmer:
''Pul1 these peach trees up and
plant onions
From peaches to onions! The far
mer was shocked, and said SO. He
even said some things not compli-
mentary to agricultural colleges. The
soil expert grinned and remarked
that the farmer could ignore his ad-
vice, but went on to explain just why
peaches would never be q, profitable
crop, and just why onions would. The
farmer was only half convinced, but
he pulled up one-quarter of his peach
trees-nice, new, thrifty-looking trees
and put in onions. The first Jear
a Boston commission man pail tho
farmer more than $1,000 for the on
ions that grew on the quarter of the
peach orchard.
This is a typical story of what the
land of New England yields for the
men who know how to work 1t, or
are willing to take good advice about
| it.
A book might be written detailing
the successes that have been made in
New England by truck farmers, so
called. The men who raise garden
1
the markets of the smaller New Eng
land cities, are not farmers. They
are truck specialists. Many of them
1 know nothing about farming, and lit
tie about land. They know how to
apply fertilizers, labor, and special
knowledge to their problem of hitting
the market with timely supplies of
whatever they are engaged in grow
ing. They do not rely upon the nat
ural qualities of the land they work,
upon the weather, nor in any degree
upon the experience of FARMERS or the
traditions that control the methods
and work of the average farmer.
Market demands fix the time for
planting, glass assures the growth of
their plants, fertilizers insure the
| time of harvest and the size of the
crop, methods of working it and wa
| tering it keep the soil at it's task to
such good purpose that it is not an
element of chance.
Truck gardening is, therefore more
Of a matter of business, likely to be
no more profitable in Massachusetts
! than in Virginia only as the Massa-
chusetts man may be more capable
than the Virginia man, or vice versa
modified by the freight conditions,
and to some extent by the climate as
a general and fixed proposition. In
| the Norfolk truck region they can
raise more stuff and at different times
| of the year, with out the help of glass
/ than they can in Massachusetts; but
the Norfolk product must be shipped
a long way by slow freight before it
can be served on the Boston tables
while the truck raised in Arlington
may be served the day after it is ta-
ken from the ground, at the longest.
| 1t can be served at dinner on the
very day it is picked and packed. It
can be put on the Boston market at a
transportation cost but little more
than the Boston truckage amounts to
for the southern product. On the
/ other hand, the labor cost for the
| Norfolk truck is less, the ground cost
is less, and Nature supplies there a
greater proportion of the necessary
heat. So there you are. The New
Highlander has a good lead, because
he can serve his truck to his custom
ers fresh out of the ground
| Twenty years ago two Danish
brothers began a trucking farm in
ICOnnecIIcuC- NOW the IdnO USED
the truck gardens is worth $1,000 an
acre. That tells the story as graph
cally any elaborate history, any
tables of figures. Off of Is acres one
! of these men (they now operate sep
arate farns9 sells $12, 1000 worth of
produce every year-asparagus, spin
! ach, radishes, onions, lettuce, rhu-
barb, ka1e, kohlrabi peppers. tona-
toes. peas, eggplant, cabbage, and the
other usual garden products. This
man has two sons and a daughter.
They all work-father, mother,
daughter and both sons. They make
good because they work with their
heads as we'll as with their hands.
A typical market gardener lives In