

BEN BERTELS 

 "So we started to grow asparagus." 



y^T F \'OU mention tli.it there is a 



l/i farm problem in the presence 

 \^ of Ben C. Bertels of St. Cl.iir 

 county, he'll likely nod his head most 

 vigorously and agree with you. But 

 he won't be thinking about the same 

 thing you are thinking about. 



For Ben has a farm problem and a 

 very serious one. It doesn't have any- 

 thing to do with acreage adjustment, 

 the protective tariff, how to make two 

 blades grow where one grew before, 

 or what to do about gr.isshoppers. 



His farm problem is how to stop a 

 neighboring industrial plant from 

 blowing acid fumes all over his sweet 

 corn, peas, onions and spinach. 



Bertels has a fertile 32 acre truck 

 farm at the edge of E. St. Louis, Fair- 

 mount City to be exact, where farming 

 and industrial production meet. He 

 rents an additional 9 acres of ground 

 where for many years he could pro- 

 duce the finest green vegetables the St. 

 l-ouis housewife ever put on the table. 



Everything went well until a chem- 

 ical plant that produces acid phosphate 

 and other industri.il goods started up 

 and proceeded to lay waste to a sizable 

 hunk of surrounding landscape. The 

 land immediately about the plant, of 

 course, was purchased by the company 

 so there was no argument there. 



But Ben Bertels' truck farm is some 

 distance from the plant, perhaps a half 

 mile or so. It doesn't get the full force 

 of the sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sul- 

 fide, phosphorus pentoxide and all the 

 other fumes that a chemical plant sends 

 up the big chimney. But it does get 

 just enough of these gases when the 

 wind is right to make perfectly good 

 table peas, spinach, sweet corn, and 

 onions, and fancy wax beans at least 



H|u*ciliiii[| 



of 



Farm 



Pniiilems 



Here's One Tluit's 

 Just ii Little llifferent 



turn yellow if they don't curl up and 

 die. 



Bertels, who is an ardent Farm 

 Bureau member, laid the matter before 

 the St. CMair County Farm Bureau. His 

 neighbors joined him in the protest, 

 they got some advice from the Legal 

 Department of the LA. A. and the 

 upshot was they put in a claim for 

 damages. 



We had our worst d.image last year 

 on the sweet corn, " Ben said. 'The 

 acid made yellow spots all over the ears 

 so that when we took it into town the 

 customers thought it was old stuff and 

 wouldn't buy it. 



\X'e- kept on eomplainmg but that 

 didn't do any good. It seemed to us 

 that they were blowmg the acid fume^ 

 out ar night when we couldn't see 

 That's when we noticed most of our 

 damage. It got so bad that we couldn't 

 grow peas, spinach, beans, lettuce, 

 onions, and other leafy crops. 



"So we started to grow asparagus 

 It doesn't seem to hurt asparagus any. 

 We can crow rhubarb too. Must be 



WHERE AGRICULTURE AND 

 INDUSTRY MEET 

 The iactory and the iarm side by sid« 

 as recommended by Henry Ford is a good 

 idea but it leads to complications. 



that these crops can take it. But we vt 

 had to slop growing sweet corn and 

 these other crops which used to bring 

 us good returns. 



1 he comp.my men over there 

 thought they would show us we were 

 wrong. Filey planted some cowpeas 

 over by the plant. The cowpeas came 

 out but they soon turned yellow and 

 keeled over. The ground over there 

 was soon as bare as a floor and wt 

 didn't hear any more out of them. ' 



The Bertels grow both the Big 

 White (blanched) asparagus as well as 

 green. In June when most of the 

 crop was going to market, the large 



< (.."ini'iiied on pji^e 2.". (''// i> 



WHERE THE CROP IS MADE READY FOR MARKET 

 "75 to 80 dozens oi bunches a day iind their way to market from this small packing 

 plant." 



SEPTEMBER. 1938 



21 



