VEGETABLE GARDENING 



There seems to be a growing tendency in this country 

 for vegetable-gardening to become a part of general 

 farming schemes. A generation ago a large part of the 

 vegetable-gardening for profit was conducted in rela- 

 tively small areas by men who devoted their entire time 

 to the business. At present much of the vegetable- 

 gardening enterprise is merely an adjunct to farming 

 proper. This is in part due to the development of the 

 canning industry, because of which enormous quanti- 

 ties of certain products, as of tomatoes, are desired. It 

 is partly due also to the extension of agriculture into 

 the newer regions whereby lands are discovered that 

 are particularly well adapted to the growing of special 

 commodities; as, for example, the raising of squashes in 

 some of the prairie states and the recent extension of 



VEGETABLE GARDENING 



1905 



Census, 1890. According to a bulletin issued by that 

 census the investment in commercial or purely truck- 

 gardening interests of the country lying beyond the 

 immediate vicinity of large cities amounted to more 

 than $100,000,000. More than half a million acres of 

 land were devoted to the industry and nearly a quarter 

 of a million of people were employed. After paying 

 freights and commission, the products of these estab- 

 lishments brought to their owners more than $76,- 

 000,000. 



Vegetable-gardening may be divided into two great 

 categories, depending on the disposition that is to be 

 made of the products ; namely, market-gardening or 

 truck-gardening, of which the purpose is to make money 

 from the industry; and home- or amateur-gardening, in 



2643. Onion-growing on Hat lands in southern New York, the houses being the homes of the workmen. 



melon-growing into Colorado. Long-distance transpor- 

 tation has revolutionized vegetable - gardening in this 

 country. See Packing. Whilst there has been great 

 progress in the industry, our vegetable-gardening has 

 not developed so widely from the European ideals as 

 our pomology has. Yet tomatoes, sweet corn, water- 

 melons and sweet potatoes are probably grown more 

 extensively here thau elsewhere in the world. 



Vegetable-gardening is an important business wher- 

 ever there are large cities, because the markets are 

 close at hand. The second most important factor in 

 determining the location is climate, since earliness 

 of/product usually increases the profits. A third in- 

 fluence in the geography of vegetable - gardening is 

 the soil. Usually soils of a light and loose character, or 

 those that are said to be "quick," are preferred, because 

 the plants may be started early in the spring and they 

 also grow and mature rapidly. Because such soils 

 are so frequently employed for vegetable - gardening 

 purposes, gardeners have come to be very free users of 

 stable manure and concentrated fertilizers. In recent 

 years the vegetable - gardening areas of the eastern 

 country have rapidly extended along the Atlantic sea- 

 board as far as the keys of Florida. In these southern 

 localities vegetables can be secured in advance of the 

 northern season and when the best prices are reigning. 

 The development of transportation facilities has made 

 this enterprise possible. The southern Mississippi val- 

 ley region is also developing a large vegetable-garden- 

 ing interest since it is tapped by trunk lines of railroad 

 running to the north and east. Well-marked vegetable- 

 gardening areas are those on Long Island, N. Y., and 

 about Norfolk, Va., where special industries and prac- 

 tices have developed. Fig. 2643 shows an onion-grow- 

 ing community in southeastern New York. 



The most recent published statistics of vegetable-gar- 

 dening in the United States are those of the Eleventh 



which the purpose is to raise a supply for the family 

 use. Whilst the same principles of selection of soil 

 tillage and fertilizing apply to both these categories 

 these kinds of gardening are unlike in the general meth 

 ods of procedure. The market-garden is ordinarily lo 

 cated where the climate and soil influences are favorable 

 Every effort is made to secure uniformity and great pro 

 ductiveness of crop, and it is usually desirable that the 

 crop come into the market somewhat quickly and then 

 give place to other crops. In the home-garden the cli- 

 mate and the soil are largely beyond the choice of the 

 gardener, since these matters are determined by the 

 location of the homestead. The general effort is to se- 

 cure products of high quality and to have a more or 

 less continuous supply throughout the season. In mar- 

 ket - gardening emphasis is usually placed on a few 

 crops, whereas in home - gardening it is placed on a 

 great variety of crops. 



The old-time home vegetable-garden was generally 

 unsuited to the easy handling of the soil and to the effi- 

 cient growing of the plants. Ordinarily it was a small 

 confined area in which horse tools could not be used. 

 The rows were short and close together, so that finger 

 work was necessary. The custom of growing crops in 

 small raised beds arose, probably because such beds are 

 earlier in the spring than those that are level with the 

 ground (Fig. 1528). With the evolution of modern til- 

 lage tools, however, it is now advised that even in the 

 home-garden finger-work be dispensed with as much as 

 possible. Some of the very earliest crops may be grown 

 in raised beds to advantage, but in general it is better 

 to secure earliness by means of glass covers or by 

 ameliorating the entire soil by underdrainage and the 

 incorporation of humus and by judicious tillage. See 

 Tillage and Tools. For farm purposes particularly it is 

 desirable that the rows be long and far enough apart to 

 allow of tillage with horse tools. If the vegetable-gar- 



