Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1914-09-03
SHOPKEEPER
TlLLS THE SOIL
Systematic Work in Truck Raising
Clears $500 a Year for Iowan.
SUCCESS IN IOWA is PROVEN
Iowa Man Found Filling the Soil His
Shortest Route to Get the Capital
Ills Family Needed.

si'S EdHltiy NccQSus
| Albert D. Maxon has discovered
prescription for oyer-worked shop
j Keepers who find less in the till at the
end OF the year than at the begin
uins.
! Like the DOCTORS prescription. it
may not work in every individual
case but Mr.. Maxon has taken annual
doses for five years and he declares
ne would not go back to his former
business if he had the chance.
Mr.. MaNon's prescription is sim
pie one. There is no patent on it, The
ingredients are diligence, grit and
perseverance. Taking these together
with desire to succeed any man who
Is eklns out u bare existence for him.
sell and family can come to Iowa and
laVe on the lat of the land And the
fat OF the rich Iowa soil is not to be
sco,ned
TO get down to facts Mr.. MaSon.s
prescription for the poverty stricken
merchant is to get into truck farm.
ing.
MIR. Maxon has lived in Iowa almost
IS years: Ever since he started
housekeeping" as Mr. Maxon puts 1t.
by hard work at different trades and
occupations he saved enough money
TO embark in the grocery business in
small way. To use his own words:
u did plenty of business, but at the
end OF the Year someone else had the
money"
family of five, arriving in sue
cession at the Maxon home, aided in
keeping the family finances at lowest
ebb. Debts began to pile up.
The balances on the grocery ledger
grew heavier and heavier on the
wrong side. 1t was then that Albert
MaNon brought himself suddenly.
Right about face" and made a quick
tec.sion for better or for worse.
Tables Are Turned.
Five years ago the family moved to
a small truck farm. The results have
been hundreds of dollars of debts con.
tracted in the grocery business paid
oft, comfortable living for his family
Of five, the children kept in the city
schools. and $500 year on the profit
side of the ledger at the end Of each
season.
Would you go back into the gro
gerry again was asked OF Mr. Max
on as he stopped over hotbed care
fully scattering a package Of tomato
seeds.
No, decidedly not" he replied.
Why ! would rather be planting these
seeds"
AS MIR. Maxon is not farmer by
birth or training, and knew little of
gardening before he made the venture,
1t is interesting to study his methods.
Tomatoes he says, are his best paying
crop. However, he doesn't carry all
his eggs in one basket and also raises
cabbages, potatoes, parsnips, carrots,
heets, onions, radishes, lettuce, egg
plants, peppers and other garden truck
which is demanded in the local
market.
His Methods.
Tomatoes and cabbages are sown in
hotbeds and later transplanted to the
fertile fields. The cabbage seeds are
sown about the middle Of February,
transpanted March Is, and go into
the ground April LIST. EARLY and late
varieties of tomatoes are sown in hot
beds March list, transplanted April LIST.
and are set in the field May 2Oth
From less than an acre Of tomatoes,
not tied up, but grown in fields parti-
ally filled with weeds to protect the
ripening fruit from the hot sun, Mr..
Maxon has cleared $500 year. Each
Jay during the marketing season this
disciple of agriculture drives to the
:ity with a load of vegetables which
averages him net sum of $35 in
lew hours. All Of the truck is sold to
dealers, none is retailed or hawked
about.
Mr.. Maxon tells Of peculiar season
three years ago, when all the market
gardeners We're fooled into setting to-
matoes earlier than usual by the
spring-like weather. A few days later
frost leved the plants to the ground.
Luckily Mr.. MaXon had been unable
to transplant his crop, although he ad-
mits he was crazy" to do So After
the frost he put out his plants and
his crop was so much in demand on
account of the shortage in the local
markets that he took 10 or Is bushels
q day to the city, selling them at $3.50
and $500 a bushel. I * was an un-
expected Godsend to the new market
gardener.
Help for the Maxon market garden
is easily secured among the school
toys. If school is in session he takes
q load of youngsters out to the garden
ON Saturday, carrying them to work
and home again in large lumber.
wagon The boys carry their own