CONCLUSION. 355 



CONCLUSION. 



Some of the truck-farmers near the large cities, prin- 

 cipally those planting on a smaller scale, grow a general 

 assortment of vegetables and attend the local markets. 



Owing, however, to the numerous "patches" in the 

 vicinity, and the competitions they cause, this attend- 

 ance has of late years been unsatisfactory. Nearly all 

 the farmers grow Ruta Baga or Swedish Turnips in the 

 fall for sale to the retail grocers in the winter, the price 

 being twenty-five cents for eight bunches. 



Another source of income is the hay crop. The heav 

 ily manured fields produce a thick growth of C^ab-grass, 

 which may be mowed several times during the season, 

 making good hay when cut at the proper time. Unfor- 

 tunately for the reputation of this product, many farm- 

 ers defer cutting the grass until it is too old to make hay 

 of the best quality. The price is fifteen dollars per ton. 

 The crop of one of the farmers in this vicinity in 1882 

 was valued at two thousand dollars. 



Apart from the neighborhood of cities truck-farming is 

 generally an adjunct to cotton planting. In Florida, it 

 is an adjunct to orange growing. In southwestern 

 Georgia, along the line of the Savannah, Florida, and 

 Western Railroad, in parts of Florida and at other ex- 

 treme southern points, the fields, after having yielded 

 early vegetables for shipment, sometimes produce the 

 most satisfactory portions of the cotton crop, owing to 

 the previous manuring and careful working of the land. 



