TWENTY FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING. 231 



himself near by, with the aid of glass. That is surprising. The ground 

 is yet covered with snow and frozen hard. Mr. B has not yet been able 

 to plant any seeds. Mr. A will have the market to himself a long time 

 yet, before he has any competition from B. All he has to compete with 

 is the commercial drummer from the wholesale house in the larger city, 

 which does not amount to much, as the people will buy the fresh produce 

 at an advanced price before they will the imported. So, week after week, 

 Mr. A comes on regular days with his load of fresh, home-grown spring 

 vegetables. The dealers buy his produce at a good price. The people 

 keep using more and more, and Mr. A, knowing that as spring advances 

 he can sell a large quantity, has prepared himself for it, and brings in all 

 they want, taking care not to overstock the market. If he has a surplus 

 he ships it off and takes what he can get for it. 



But what of Mr. B? Where are his spring vegetables? It is now the 

 month of May and he has not yet begun to sell garden truck. He has 

 been very busy ever since warm weather came on; has plowed and 

 planted and worked hard to get early vegetables to market, but they don't 

 grow fast enough — too much cold weather, winds, and rain for the young 

 plants to thrive. However, he manages to get a few baskets of lettuce 

 and onions, toward the last of May, and takes them to market. He finds 

 that Mr. A has supplied the dealers for some time back, and that they are 

 slow to buy this out-door produce, which is much inferior to that grown 

 under glass. The consequence is, he is hardly able to get enough for it to 

 pay for the gathering and hauling to market, let alone the cost of grow- 

 ing. The people have been eating these vegetables that came from Mr. 

 A's garden for some time, and they are getting tired of them. Well, Mr. 

 A has something new by this time, young beets, and in a few days will 

 have new cabbages. With the aid of his glass his are several weeks 

 ahead of Mr. B's, which were planted in the open ground; and when the 

 latter brings his to market he will not realize nearly the price that Mr. 

 A has obtained. And so it works through the whole season. Nearly 

 all vegetables, by the aid of glass, may be forced ahead of the natural 

 season. 



Thus we see that glass is indispensable in the growing of garden vege- 

 tables for market. If the home gardener has no glass and relies wholly 

 upon the natural season for his market produce, the dealers in his town 

 will not wait for him, but will import the vegetables from other cities. 

 Mr. B and Mr. C, and all engaged in the business, come into town about 

 the same time with the same kind of produce, and the city lot is in with 

 the same, and down go the prices until it is hard work to get people to 

 buy at any price. 



Still, it would not do to put up more glass than the market would sup- 

 port, unless we are pretty sure of a place to ship to and realize paying 

 prices. Glass is costly, and the man who fits up a market garden with 

 hot-houses and hot-beds should be reasonably sure that he will have a 

 home market for his produce 'before he undertakes it. We think there 

 are many cities in this state where the business could be made to pay 

 well. About most of the large cities the business is already overdone. 

 Years ago there was big money in growing vegetables under glass, at 

 such places, but every year adds to the number of men in the business, 

 and the consequences are that garden vegetables, both early and late, 

 are sold very cheap. 



