TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 



255 



sey. Practices may differ. Being" some more miles awaw my 

 conditions may be somewhat different from yours, but, as I 

 was saying', what I mean to say will be mostly on princi])les 

 stated in such a way, so far as I can, as will bring out some 

 questions, and through those questions the speaker may be 

 able to find out what you are most interested in besides the 

 apple. I was thinking that if you had a Jersey cantaloupe 

 there is hardly a member of this audience that would eat it, 

 but if any of you will come down to my farm next summer 

 we will try to show you some fruit of that kind that will con- 

 vince you it is a good thing. 



Now friends, at the outset, in order to be successful with 

 market gardening and truck farming, there are some things 

 which must be considered. First, the soil ; second, its hand- 

 ling so far as humus, manure and water are concerned ; the 

 fertilizers, when to apply, how to apply, and where to apply ; 

 last, but not least, the man behind the gun. Tf he is not inter- 

 ested in that type of farming he had better continue to grow 

 apples, whether it be in Connecticut or wherever it may be. 

 At the outset let me say that I have been farming over a quar- 

 ter of a century on a sandy ground farm. When I first pur- 

 chased it I was somewhat disappointed, because I thought 

 when a man had a deed for the property it was his, but when 

 a northwest wind blew over the fences the other fellow would 

 not let me cart them home. Something had to be done to 

 hold down the mortgage or it would not stand. So we had to 

 try something else. 



Cover Crops. A man that is trying to grow truck in a 

 garden that does not consider the cover crop proposition to get 

 vegetable matter and humus into his soil is lacking in one of 

 the essential elements of success. I am before an audience 

 where if I was to say that crimson clover was the best thing", 

 you would throw up your hands in horror. Nevertheless, the 

 man that can grow on his farm crimson clover can solve the 

 problem of vegetable matter and humus in his soil. In the 

 early beginning of my operations we bought in large quanti- 



