The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-09-05

the clearing process, or the inverted stump of
one that has been broken off. The boat moves
with surprising smoothness and celebrity.
Navigation thus being established, it was an
easy matter to take top soil from the land outside
and transfer it to the floor of the cave. Com
paratively little soil was required for the grow
ing of such crops as the farmer found possible
underground. For the mushroom fields the chief
need was a thick bed of manure, which was
topped by an inch or so of soil after the mush-
room spawn had been planted and had begun
to sprout.
The rhubarb required soil enriched by manure.
This plant being an outdoor vegetable, according
to all prior agricultural experience, Farmer
Smiths experiments in growing it in the dark
were at first the subject of some derisfon from
the real Top-o-the-Ozar farmer. But as time
wore on and it was discovered that rhubarb
thrived and grew amazingly in the cave, this
derision changed to congratulation, and in some
instances to envy, for the outdoor vegetable
growers, who lacked underground fields, learned
that Mr.. Smith was beating them to the market.
The rhubarb is first planted outside. When the
roots get a fair start, they are taken up and
transplanted in the cave. The rapidity of the
plants growth in the cave is remarkable. Mr..
Smith does not advance any scientific reason why
rhubarb thrives so well in the dark, but he says
he can almost "see it grow" when he poles his
boat into the cavern and surveys his crops by
the light of his oil lamps.
81 found" he said, that rhubarb stalks grew
about an inch a day. I picked out individual
stalks and kept tab on them, finding that in 81
days a stalk had grown % inches. The plant is
firm and juicy, Of a more attractive pinkness
than when grown outside, and the fiber is more
tender"
On surface farms rhubarb requires cultivation
to keep down the weeds and let in moisture
about the roots. In the cave this is not neces-
sary, as there are no weeds and the native mois-
ture is sufficient to give growth. There is no
sun heat to bake the soil and thus make frequent
blowing or hoeing necessary. Drouth never az
fects the crop.
Dry seasons, that stunt vegetable growth on
the surface, have no terrors for Farmer Smith,
since always there is the anne degree of mois-
ture in the cave. Backward seasons, due to
continued cold weather, or too much rain, like
wise are not taken into consideration. That even
temperature of go degrees, regardless of outside
weather conditions, gives cave farming freedom
from the ills that affect plants exposed to cold,
heat, wind and rain.
Celery is another vegetable with which Mr..
Smith has experimental successfully. The cave
is used for bleaching the celery, which is trans
planted after being grown on surface ground.
The celery stalks are set several inches apart,
and they take root in the cave soil, but are not
banked up as on outside ground. Banking is
made unnecessary because of the lack of light
and sun heat. The stalks bleach beautifully and
evenly, and they have a superior tenderness
which the epicurian teeth welcome.
Before civilization came, bears used Fishers
cave for their alternating refuge. The marks Of
their claws are still visible in the ochre side walls
of the cave and their winter beds have been
turned into mushroom beds. The mushroom
spawn comes in bricks. which are broken into
bits and thus introduced into the manure, which
lies in long ridges. The fiber spreads until It
knits together from each lump. and the whole
bed becomes a mushroom unit, which in a few
weeks produces thousands of the little hooded
fungi. From one mulching a bed continues to
produce for two or three months.
u never found any trouble in getting q market
for my mushrooms" said Mr.. Smith. They sell