82 FIELDS, FACTORIES AND WORKSHOPS. 



we see such crops as 445 to 600 bushels of onions per 

 acre, 400 bushels of tomatoes, 700 bushels of sweet 

 potatoes, which testify to a high development of culture. 

 As to the " truck farms " (market-gardening for export 

 by steamer and rail), they covered, in 1892, 400,000 

 acres, and the fruit farms in the suburbs of Norfolk, 

 in Virginia, were described by Prof. Ch. Baltet * as real 

 models of that sort of culture a very high testimony 

 in the mouth of a French gardener who himself comes 

 from the model marais of Troyes. 



And while people in London continue to pay almost 

 all the year round twopence for a lettuce (very often im- 

 ported from Paris), they have at Chicago and Boston 

 those unique establishments in the world where lettuces 

 are grown in immense greenhouses with the aid of 

 electric light ; and we must not forget that although 

 the discovery of " electric " growth is European (it is 

 due to Siemens), it was at the Cornell University that it 

 was proved by a series of experiments that electric 

 light is an admirable aid for forwarding the growth of 

 the green parts of the plant. 



In short, America, which formerly took the lead in 

 bringing " extensive " agriculture to perfection, now 

 takes the lead in " intensive," or forced, agriculture as 

 well. In this adaptability lies the real force of American 

 competition. 



* IS Horticulture dans les cinq Parties du Monde. Paris, 1895. 



