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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



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A "CORNER" REALLY AND SEEMINGLY OF ALL THE CUCUMBERS IN THE STATE. 



look at ; when you once acquire the 

 taste you cannot get enough. " 



"I have a theory," said Mr. Thurton, 

 "that the taste is growing much as it 

 had to do with tomatoes. In these 

 days a hundred crates of tomatoes 

 every time we go to market will not 

 satisfy the demand. I would carry 

 more to-day if I had the boxes. But 

 I am going to take rather more than a 

 hundred, and shall get all the empty 

 boxes that I can find at the various 

 markets. When it is tomato time it 

 is tomato time, and the demand is so 

 great that it is apt to block other 

 things. 



"But," said he, pointing to a luxuri- 

 ant clump of eggplants, "in a good 

 season they yield fairly well, and we 

 need never fear that we shall not sell 

 all that can be produced." 



Later while I was at the packing 

 house I noted that twice the telephone 

 said, "Give us more of those eggplants 

 if you possibly can," and back to the 

 field went the men until they had 

 gathered every available one. I sug- 

 gested that he should paint some of 

 the yellow young squashes, and jug- 

 gle them off on the market. 



"I could not by any possibility get a 

 half barrel more of those eggplants, 

 but I should be glad to take an order 

 for two carloads of summer squashes 

 and deliver them to-morrow." 



To gather two carloads from that 

 field would have been a simple matter. 



When we come to sweet corn I will 

 not attempt to tell how many acres 

 nor how many ears because the figures 

 would be so astounding that they 

 would be beyond comprehension and 

 have no meaning. 



"I never dreamed," I said, "that one 

 market gardener in the suburbs of 

 Stamford raised things on a scale so 

 enormous. But please tell me, ap- 

 proximately, what is the value of an 

 average load of vegetables such as you 

 send out." 



"It is impossible to answer that 

 question. When I take cabbages the 

 value is nowhere near so great as it 

 would be with celery or eggplants." 



"Admitted, but then you can get 

 near enough to it to strike an aver- 

 age. 



"I guess from fifty to sixty dollars a 

 load would be a fair estimate." 



"And how many loads everv market 

 day?" 



"From three to four," he said 



"And how many market days?" 



"Three — Mondays, Wednesdays and 

 Fridays." 



"It requires but little mental arith- 

 metic to show that you deliver from 

 one hundred and fifty to two hundred 

 dollars' worth every time, and that the 

 three trips together average about five 

 hundred dollars a week, and yet there 

 are people who say that the local mar- 

 ket does not amount to much. But," F 

 asked, "are you always sure that you 



