Part 2 (1/2)

=As to Marketing.=--A point of prime importance for all producers to remember is that price is largely a matter of taste and fancy. If the consumer can be attracted by the good appearance of vegetables or fruit, a sale is certain to be made. It will pay handsomely to keep at home all medium or second-quality stuff, offering nothing but the best for sale.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Reproduction of a Photograph taken in Dock Street Wholesale Market, Philadelphia.]

In the great wholesale and retail markets of Philadelphia, New York and Boston good stuff always moves quickly at fair prices, while poor stuff begs for buyers at rates yielding no profit to anybody. The wholesaler is frequently blamed for failure to obtain good prices when the fault is really with the producer, and is chargeable to poor stuff or poor packing.

There is a good business opening everywhere for truckers who will s.h.i.+p only first-cla.s.s stuff in new packages. Such produce reaches what is known as the fancy trade, and there is more than a living in it for enterprising growers.

Truckers who rush their stuff to market in an unwashed, unsorted condition, in old or unclean baskets or boxes, may make expenses out of the business, but they will never do much more. There is a premium on quality and appearance.

CHAPTER III.

VEGETABLES SUITED TO FARM CULTURE EVERYWHERE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Loading the Market Wagon.]

In this chapter are grouped a number of vegetables of easy culture. They may be grown with success almost anywhere. Some of them are produced by market gardeners, but by reason of the amount of ground which they occupy they are more particularly adapted to horse culture by farmers.

The chapter will treat briefly of asparagus, beans, beets, cabbage, carrots, sweet corn, horseradish, parsnip, potato, pumpkin and squash, salsify, tomato, turnip, etc.

ASPARAGUS.

Asparagus demands a deep, rich, well-drained soil. Its culture is profitable, and it yields ready cash at an early season of the year, when other sales are limited. The cutting term covers six weeks, beginning (at Philadelphia) in the middle or latter part of April.

Cutting must here cease in June, in order to give the roots ample time to regain strength and make vigorous tops. The gross product per acre, near Philadelphia, expressed in money, is, perhaps, $200 at this time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Donald's Elmira.]

In selecting a situation for a bed, a warm spot should be chosen, having a deep and mellow soil, and with good natural or artificial drainage. A small area is better than a large one, as being more likely to receive sufficient manure; and it is desirable that the land should have been tilled for a year or two before the planting of the roots, and a heavy coat of manure incorporated with the soil--the more manure the better.

=Roots.=--The roots are set in early spring, in deep trenches, 5 or 6 feet apart, made with a plow. If the plow be run both ways and the loose dirt shovelled out, it is quite easy to reach a depth of 15 or more inches. It is not material whether strong one-year-old roots or two-year-old roots be used.

=Varieties.=--As to varieties, it is almost as much a matter of culture as of name; still, there are better and worse kinds. Asparagus varies in color from purple to green, and even to white. There are certain so-called mammoth sorts, whose shoots are larger, but less numerous than the old-fas.h.i.+oned kinds. There is a slight difference in flavor, also, but the preference of the local market must determine the farmer in making a choice of roots. If a green ”gra.s.s” be preferred, that kind can be had from seedsmen; but, no matter how carefully the roots may be grown, there will be some slight variations in the color of the shoots, for asparagus does not always come true from seed. Market gardeners usually sort their asparagus shoots at bunching time; always for size, and sometimes for color, especially when supplying a fancy trade.

As a rule, it is wise to select a variety that will produce a good number of large-sized shoots, such as Donald's Elmira or Barr's Mammoth, and trust to manure and culture for the best results. Quality of shoots depends on quick growth, and size depends somewhat on distance of the root under ground. The deeper the asparagus root under the surface, the larger in diameter will be the shoot, provided the plants are not crowded; a fact of which gardeners often take advantage by heaping soil up over the crowns of the plants during the growing season.

ASPARAGUS.--Donald's Elmira is one of the best for the North.

Palmetto is the asparagus generally grown in the South. For descriptions, see ”Johnson & Stokes' Garden and Farm Manual.”

=Setting out.=--The young roots should be set carefully, crowns up, at intervals of 1-1/2 to 2 feet, in the deep furrows or trenches heretofore mentioned. A few inches of manure can be put in the bottom, covering slightly with soil and about 6 inches of soil put upon them.

The s.p.a.ces between the rows may be cultivated during the first year, and some quick crop grown there. The working of this crop will gradually fill up the furrows about the stems of the young asparagus, which, during the first year, is quite small and insignificant in appearance. By fall, the furrows will be entirely filled and the surface of the patch level. The asparagus slug, the larva of the well-known beetle, may be kept down by occasionally dusting with slacked lime containing Paris green. The following year the asparagus will show up to some advantage, but should not be cut. The third year (second after planting) will yield some marketable shoots; but cutting should not continue more than two or three weeks. The fourth year the bed may be said to be in full bearing.

=Treatment.=--The spring treatment of an asparagus bed in profit begins with a light plowing parallel with the rows, great care being observed to use a wheel on the plow so that not more than a few inches of soil may be turned, lest the crowns be cut and injured. The bed then lies until the cutting season is well advanced, when the plow may be again used.

The first plowing was merely to break the surface of the ground and turn under the winter coat of manure, leaving the land level. The second plowing (if given) is to be toward the rows, for the purpose of throwing them further under the surface, so as to get larger shoots as warm weather advances.

Another plowing, very shallow, followed by harrow or cultivator, should be given at the end of the cutting season, in June, to destroy all weeds and to encourage summer growth of the asparagus.

The patch should be kept clear of weeds during the summer, and growth encouraged by cultivation. In the late autumn the tops are mowed off and burned, as there seems to be no economic way of composting them, for, if moved to the compost heap or barnyard, they will seed the whole farm with asparagus. There should be a good coat of manure for winter protection, to be turned under in early spring, as already mentioned.