Part 2 (1/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 13.--Splitting Backbone of Hogs.]
Most of the hogs which enter the great meat-packing cities are raised in the corn belt.
The sheep need much pasturage, and so the largest flocks are found in the Western and Southwestern states. A single herder may take care of several thousand sheep. His faithful companions and helpers are intelligent shepherd dogs. After a great flock of sheep has fed on an area, hardly a green thing is left. The people in the part of the West where there is little rainfall, object to the pasturing of sheep around the head waters of streams, because when the vegetation is removed the water runs off too quickly.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 14.--Curing Pork in Salt.]
In the evening our friends watched the men, women, and children march out of the ”yards.” They were told that not less than thirty-five thousand persons were employed in the various establishments. There is but one city in Colorado which contains so many people.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 15.--Chopping Sausage Meat.]
As they sat at breakfast next morning, Ramon wondered how many of the people of Chicago were eating steaks from cattle which he had seen on his father's ranch. The thought was a new one to him. His trip had shown him that the cattlemen who lived and worked on those far-away plains were doing their part in supplying people all over our country with meat. Their lonely life, with all of its disadvantages, now had a new meaning for him, and he went back to his Western home content with it, yet very glad to have had this glimpse of another side of life.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 16.--Packing Poultry.]
MARKET GARDENING
Think of the immense quant.i.ties of fruits and vegetables that are used daily on the tables of a great city such as New York or Chicago. As we travel up and down the streets of any great city, we see rows of buildings, sometimes built in solid blocks and sometimes a little distance apart. Some have trees and small lawns in front of them; others are without even this touch of nature. Nowhere, except in the outskirts, do we find gardens.
_These people depend upon others to furnish them with their vegetable food._
Now let us make some excursions into the region surrounding one of these cities. For miles and miles we see on every hand _truck farms_ or _market gardens_. The main business of those who live in these districts is to furnish food for the people of the city, so that the latter may devote their time to their various occupations.
We see growing potatoes, cabbages, tomatoes, beans, peas, squashes, turnips, onions, sweet corn, celery, melons, and many other things.
Usually all of these will be found in one garden, but sometimes the farmer raises only a few kinds, or perhaps but one.
Market gardening is very common in Germany, Holland, Italy, China, and in other densely populated countries. Therefore we often find people who have come from these countries to America engaged in this business.
Chinese gardeners are seldom seen in the East, but on the Pacific coast they raise most of the vegetables used in the cities and towns.
In the early spring, before the ground is warm enough to make seeds grow, the gardener starts his plants in ”hotbeds.” These are long wooden boxes, or frames, without bottoms, covered with gla.s.s. They are usually placed on the south side of some building or high fence. The gla.s.s covers allow the warm suns.h.i.+ne to enter the ”beds” freely, but they prevent the rapid escape of the heat. You see now why they are called ”hotbeds.” They are like small greenhouses.
A little later in the spring the fields are thoroughly cultivated and the plants transplanted. Of course only the vegetables desired for the early market are started in this way. What advantage is there in having the vegetables ready for the market very early in the season?
Vegetable farming is not easy work, although it is a pleasure to see things grow day by day as you care for them, and as nature supplies her suns.h.i.+ne and her rain. The fields must be cultivated almost constantly, to keep the soil loose, as well as to remove the weeds. Much of the weeding has to be done by hand, which is tedious work.
We want our vegetables fresh every morning; and as the truck farms are at some distance from the city, the farmer must load up his wagon the night before. Of course much produce is sent to the cities on trains, but where farmers live near enough to deliver it themselves, their crops are more profitable to them. Why?
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 17.--A Market Scene.]
Everything is put in readiness before dark; and while others are still in bed, the farmer mounts his wagon to start toward the sleeping city. I have often ridden ten or fifteen miles on such a load before the stars faded away.
It is a novel experience. At first the night seems strangely still, but soon you are able to distinguish many voices coming from various places.
The frogs croak from the ponds by the roadside; crickets and locusts send their shrill notes from gra.s.s and tree; a night owl startles you by his dismal hoot; the lamps of the fireflies gleam, then disappear only to s.h.i.+ne out again a little farther on.