Lower coast gazette., 1914-04-11
SATURDAY, APRIL II, 1914.
AIesson in Truck Gardening.

ondly of the fact that the Lower Coast has bet
ter lettuce crops than any other district IN the
southern states. 1t is very fortunate for us that
our earnest, hard working truck gardeners will
be able to get exceptional prices for their grow
ing crops of lettuce as they have experienced
serious disappointments during recent years
with this and with practically every other crop
that they have been endeavoring to raise.
These considerations bring US back to the Of
ten expressed statement that a certain divcrsi-
fcation CT horticultural as well as Of agricul-
tQral products should be practiced. In these
modern days It would seem to be the, height of
folly for sugar planters not to endeavor to pro-
duce all the corn and all Of the hay that would
be needed on the plantations for home use. Yet
many sugar planters even during very recent
years have failed to secure the desired supply
end of course have. suffered mora severely on
that account. ..*: .@->'%s-
The Lower Coast truck gardeners have the
opportunity of specializing on quite a number Of.
crops and in this way securing at the same time
a certain Investigation. As far as we have OBJ
selYed it has seemed to us this season that our
truck gardeners are going perhaps too exten-
sivaly into lettuce and a few weeks hence may
be Suffering from the excessive supply then ap-
pearing in the markets of the country. The Gu
cumber crop has been productive Of much reve-
nue. on the Lower Coast during past, years and
as far as we know there is NO reason why it
should not be counted on as one of the leading
crops in any standard diversifcation.
The gardeners near the city, who with their
gasoline trucks and easy. tran.it, carry their
products directly into the wholesale markets of
the city, taapea# up minor crops, not ordinarily
produced in the larger way that is common. fur
ther down the river. Spinach, radishes and
other minor crops are. always in greater or less
demand, but do not attract the attention Of our
market gardeners, who carry on their work on
a comparatively large sscale::T II y I
The Irpdaehonsof cabbages has. been gone
INTO more this year than usual and the common
opinion in the past was that the cabbage crop
could always be made comparatively ;proftable.
Irish potatoes are frequently very profitable, if
brought out early in the season, but as has re-
Gently been the case, they are ct times destroyed
by frost and hence very disappointing in their
results. When successfully grown on a large
scale Irish potatoes generally bring such low
prices as to be then unremunerative. The cli-
mate does not seem TO be adapted to the pro-
duction of Irish potatoes as much as to other
crops. Red beans have always been a ~favorite
article Of food in nusiana and have generally
brought very hirh prices but we believe the
red bean industry has not been ppftably work
ed up perhaps for some climatic cause. Out
on the California coast in q much drier climate
than. ours, the production Of lima beans lis an
immense industry and great bean farms turn
'out thousands of hundred pound sacks Of these
lima beans. which arr. then sold all oyer the.
United States. The small white navy bean that
Boston has made Immortality its SYonidness for
them, could seemingly be ssde. : standard crop
here, as well as is done elsewhere = { =
Surely Indian corn, both Of the sweet yarie-
ties and f'the standard corn, both white. and
yellow, can be successfully produced Il in Southern
Louisiana in large way IS . vegetable crop,
and yet not as much attention has been given to
these coern crops as they deserve and we believe
that it.Wauld be one Of the, MOST easily. secured.
directions for the diversified horticulture which
we should endeavor to follow.
Nearly every one of these crops is liable to
some disease or climatic attack that 30 Injuries it
rs to make a serious loss and where one is large
" or exclusively engaged ID the production Of
such q crop it may become ruinous. Warm
weather is presumed to lead lettuce to run up to
seed and not to make the good, hard, solid heads
that are always 50 much desired and that we
get in some seasons. The cucumber. crop is liza
bic to a certain blight that spreads just as scar
let fever would spread in a thickly settled To-
calhy where the children are constantly exposed
to it. Irish potatoes are frequently scabby,
owing to defective seed or to a lack Of care in
preparing the potatoes for planting. Years ago
an immense amount Of cabbage culture was. in
troduced on the Story plantation some ten miles
below New Orleans and there thstscrop atsthat
time had q tendency to run up to seed and be-
come very Improbable.
We believe that it would be among the best
work that our experiment stations could do to
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