xxviii Introduction 



therefore, successful truckers must be a highly intel- 

 ligent class of agriculturists. 



In trucking, as in all intensive farming, the aim is 

 to produce superior crops, embodying both high 

 yield and good quality. This can be made possible 

 only through intensive breeding and culture. Un- 

 fortunately, however, improvement in quality and 

 yield is often accompanied by a loss of natural 

 vigor and of power of resistance to disease. The 

 great problem of the trucker is twofold that of 

 striving for quantity and quality, while protecting 

 his crops from disease. This latter phase has gener- 

 ally been overlooked. We all realize to-day that it 

 is necessary not only to produce two blades of grass 

 where one grew before, as Dean Swift declared, but 

 also to conserve it during growth and prevent it from 

 being carried off by various diseases. The great fam- 

 ine in Ireland in 1844 resulted from an epidemic of 

 late blight which destroyed the potato crop. Such a 

 condition could hardly occur to-day, because we now 

 have a better knowledge of plant life, the causes which 

 induce disease, and the methods of coping with it. 



Considerable research has been carried out on the 

 diseases of truck crops. The work of Professors Stew- 

 art, Selby, Jones, Orton, Clinton, Lutman, Melhus, 

 Manns, Harter, Sackett, Whetzel, and of others has 

 already yielded valuable information on the diseases 

 and their control in the case of some of our staple 

 food crops. Still, in the case of many diseases, little 

 is known as yet as to methods of treatment. But 

 much is to be looked for from research in the future. 



