FIELD, ORCHARD, AND GARDEN CROPS 177 



In the garden, as in the field, rotation of crops should be prac- 

 ticed. Diseases are increased and insect pests harbored by having 

 the same crop in the same place year after year. 



Truck Farming. Truck farming, or market gardening, is an 

 important and, in many localities, a profitable branch of farming. 

 Earliness and productiveness are the qualities most sought for its 

 products. The soil must be a light, warm one that will produce 

 early crops; by liberal use of stable manure and commercial 

 fertilizers, it can be made productive. 



The great market garden of the United States is a narrow strip 

 extending fifteen hundred miles along the Atlantic Coast. This 

 coast region is free from late frosts in spring and early ones in fall. 

 The soil is light, warm, and sandy ; it is made very fertile with ma- 

 nures and fertilizers. There is a similar soil on the Pacific Coast. 



Surplus Products. There is a frequent and direct loss of truck 

 products through inability to market them promptly and profitably. 

 The farmer may be unable to secure transportation or his products 

 may come in when the market is glutted. There are always some 

 unsalable inferior fruits and vegetables. Sometimes the year's 

 balance is changed from loss to profit by putting these surplus 

 products into salable forms instead of leaving them to rot in the 

 field. 



In canneries many perishable products may be put in shape to 



be stored and held for market. Fruit may be dried, or evaporated, 



- that is, dried by artificial heat or the juice may be extracted 



and sold as cider or vinegar. Surplus fruit, melons, and vegetables 



may be utilized by feeding them to stock. 



Root Crops. Root crops make their growth underground. 

 Some of these, such as the sweet potato, are enlarged fibrous roots; 

 some, such as the turnip, are enlarged taproots; others, such as the 

 white potato, are not roots, but tubers, or enlarged underground 



