26o THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



by there in an ordinary season, when they are running toma- 

 toes through the factory at a very rapid rate, and you will 

 find the steps covered with the crates, with lots of tomato seed. 

 Xow, some men get their tomato seed from such a place as 

 that, and that will operate this way. Jones plants Success, 

 and Johnson plants Stone, and so on around the list, and when 

 one man falls short he gets what plants he wants from his 

 neighbor, and puts them in his field. Another man gets some 

 more and puts them in his. See what a mixture you are get- 

 ting unless you are careful. Let me give vou a little personal 

 experience. I wanted a special variety of kale. I sent in to 

 the city of New York for seed enough to plant a couple of 

 acres. It came out and it grew. The cultivation and every- 

 thing had been complete. Dr. E. B. Voorhees was visiting 

 my place, and the Doctor made this remark, "That is a pretty 

 sight." The leaves were nearly as big as your two hands, and 

 as to quantity, I had a world of it. But friends, when I 

 came to gather that crop, I did not have a barrel of any one 

 kind at one time. I had all that had ever been in the catalog 

 and some extra. That is what I got for not knowing what 

 the seed was that I put out. The man that is going to make 

 a success of marketing earlv vegetables must provide his own 

 seed, and grow it himself, if possible. It is impossible to get 

 reliable seeds through the agencies where you are getting them 

 to-day, and it is not the seedman's fault. The cry has been 

 from the beginning for cheap seeds. You are getting them. 

 The seeds are a great deal cheaper than the price. 



Now there are some things about market gardening that 

 I might touch on. The man who is going to grow crops suc- 

 cessfully must practice rotation of crops. There must 

 be a certain rotation. We often see it in the agricultural 

 press that there should be at least a three to four year 

 rotation, with certain things, one of which takes in clover, 

 but you hardly ever see anything about truck gardening. It 

 is more essential there than it is in general farming. Why? 

 In the first place, you have got insect pests and fungus that 



