The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1915-02-19
WRITES OF VISIT ..'
To TRUCK FARM
Story From Indiana Paper Tells
About Farm Of Hartford
Lady's Father.


father of Mrs. II. E. Mischke, of
Hartford, and is one of the most
successful truck farmers in In
diana.
Last Sunday afternoon 1t was our
pleasure to spend several hours with
Mr.. and Mrs. AL. Smith on their
truck farm" and apiary, one-half
mile west of the city.
Upon arriving at the farm we
found Mr.. and Mrs. Smith, assisted by
their son, Arch. "hiving" a swarm
of his Italian bees. This work looks
very dangerous to one who is not
trained i'm the handling of bees. yet
Mr.. Smith and his wife go about the
work as il it were play, and very
seldom receive a sting" At this
time of the year the bees are very
nervous aud are constantly leaving
their homes. caused from being ov-
ercrowded with brownies. The drOne
bees are the lazy ones of the hive
and eat the honey made by the
workers.
Mr.. Smith never worries about the
bees "swarming" while he is attend
ing to his usual vocation in the city.
as Mrs. Smith is as well informed in
this line of work as is her husband,
although they have $50 hives to look
after. During the shipping season
they ship honey to all adjoining cit
les as well as St. Louis and Chi
cagO.
From the apiary We were escorted
to the peach orchard. Here we were
agreeably surprised. Peaches and
more peaches, there were about
twenty-five trees all of different va
rieties and sizes. The trees are
two and three years old, and they
were literally covered with the fin
est fruit we ever saw. This years
crop has been exceedingly fine, and
Mr.. Smith has sold number Of
bushels at $3.50 and $500.
From the peach orchard we were
then taken to the vineyard. Here
we found three or four different va
rieties of grapes, and the vines were
loaded to full capacity. They were
not the little dried up kind, but
punches that measured from six to
eight inches in length. One variety
in particular that took our eye and
also our taste was variety that
grows about the size of an ordinary
pea the bunch about two inches long
and grapes as sweet as sugar. These
grapes are also marketed but do not
bring enough money. selling from
Y to cents per pound.
The plum orchard was next visited
where seven different varieties, and
the same condition existed there as
at the other places. One plum tree
in particular person could hardly
distinguish whether the fruit was
growing on the tree or whether it
was just a pyramid manufactured
by human hands. the tree being SO
heavily laden.
other parts of this farm is COM
posed of raspberries, strawberries,
gooseberries, blueberries. currants.
black berries, rhubarb, potatoes on
ions. etc. In fact there is not a
single spot on the entire five acres
that does not produce some sweet
and lucious fruit or vegetable.
We were then taken to large
building and given peep at the on
ions, that had been harvested off Of
one-quarter acre of ground. Our
readers will remember several weeks
ago we made mention of the fact
that there was in the neighborhood
of four hundred bushels raised off
this ground. After seeing all of the
onions that were stored away. We do
not hesitate in saying that there is
surely some money in onions. This
particular kind is sold for $3.50 to
$500 per bushel.
We were then shown the grated
tree. mention of which was also
made several weeks ago. At this
time all fruit has been gathered, and
there only remains a few peaches
on the tree.
Five years ago Mr. Smith
purchased this five acres of ground
at very small cost. At that time
there were no improvements on the
same. To-day he has a beautiful
home all necessary outbuilding that
are needed, as well as a fine Jersey
COW, bunch of fatening hogs and
several good head of horses. In
fact. he is excellently equipped for
this sort Of a life and is making it
a paying investment.
After a short rest and eating Just
a few more of those fine peaches.
we left Mr.. and Mrs Smith waving
US good bye and insisting that we