S74 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



their crop, knowing from past experience that all tlic tomatoes they 

 can grow will be wanted in the open market. It is probable that in 

 the future, farmers will not seek to contract for their crop, pre- 

 ferring to depend upon the open market for better returns and 

 fain r treatment than they even secured under a contract. 



Many farmers experience a measure of independence in the fact 

 that they can speedily provide themselves with facilities for can- 

 ning their own crop on the farm. They have witnessed enough of 

 the work in the factory to make a success of packing tomatoes, and 

 at a good profit too. This practice, hovv^ever, cannot be commended. 

 Many losses have been sustained where farmers have canned their 

 own crops, particularly if a limited acreage is available for the ex- 

 periment. It is a good business to grow crops for the canner; it is 

 another good business to properly and economically pack these 

 crops, and each business is distinct from the other. 



The growing of crops for the factory has enough uncertainty 

 about it to give it the zest of speculation. This has been made man- 

 ifest in the recent experience with tomatoes. The chances of 

 drouth, early autumn frosts, blight and similar adversities greatly 

 affect the yield of fruit per acre. The yield is also influenced largely 

 by the richness and adaptability of the soil to the tomatoes. There- 

 fore, owing to conditions which mav and those which mav not be 

 controlled by the farmer, the income per acre has varied from $10.00 

 to .$250.00. This makes it possible to lose heavily or make hand- 

 somely in growing tomatoes. 



The methods employed in growing crops for the canning factory 

 are essentially the same as those practiced by the market gardener 

 and the fruit grower. The preparation of the land must be thor- 

 ough, the application of fertilizers should be heavy and the con- 

 stant tilling of the soil with cultivators and hoes, during the growing 

 season, is never to be neglected by the man who labors to reap 

 a good return. This is not a time nor place to discuss the prac- 

 tices of tomato culture, strawberry culture or any special crop, 

 but we may sliice the fact that the canning industry has greatly 

 modified the gardeners method of growing peas. When peas were 

 first grown extensively for canning purposes, the picking of the 

 pods was an exceedingly expensive task. Anyone who has ever 

 tried to fill a bushel basket with pods from the vines will fully 

 realize the nature of the work and understand why a regular army 

 of men and women v^^as needed to pick the peas. Another force of 

 laborers was needed to carefully remove the tender peas from the 

 pods. Since the invention of some remarkable machines, all this 

 tedious and expensive labor is performed by a most marvelous 

 device — the Chisholm-Scott pea-viner. This machine is placed at 

 the factory, and the pea vines are mowed in the fiield and hauled to 



