100 THREE ACRES AND LIBERTY 



farmer, raising never less than two, and often three crops 

 in a season. They employ several men to the acre, and at 

 certain times many more, working the men in gangs. Only 

 the difficulty of getting good help at their prices prevents 

 them from using twice the number. 



However, the possibilities of putting capital into land at 

 a profit are still infinite. 



What chiefly attracts the gardener to the great cities is 

 stable manure; this is not wanted so much for increasing 

 the richness of the soil one ninth part of the manure used 

 by the French gardeners would do for that purpose but 

 for keeping the soil at a certain temperature. Early vege- 

 tables pay best, and in order to obtain early produce, not 

 only the air, but the soil as well, must be warmed ; that is 

 done by putting great quantities of properly mixed manure 

 into the soil ; its fermentation heats it. But with the present 

 development of industrial skill, heating the soil could be 

 done more economically and more easily by hot-water pipes. 

 Consequently, the French gardeners begin more and more to 

 make use of portable pipes, or thermosiphons, provisionally 

 established in the cool frames. 



Competition that stands in with the railroads can be met 

 only by being near the market or having water transporta- 

 tion. Indeed, the effect of water transportation in getting 

 manure, and in delivering the produce from the railroads, 

 appears in the early history of trucking. The railroads 

 often crush out boat competition by absorbing docks and 

 standing in with the commission men. This could be met 

 by such cooperative selling agencies as the flower growers 

 already have. 



"One of the earliest centers for the development of truck 

 farming in its present sense was along the shores of Chesa- 



