8 MARKET GARDENING. 



is a grave mistake. True the railroad car or the steamer 

 which is to receive articles so perishable as fruit and 

 garden vegetables for transportation, should be near at 

 hand, as hauling over rough country roads should be 

 avoided as much as possible, and transshipment from 

 cars to boat, or vice-versa, is to be dreaded, as every dis- 

 turbance is promotive of decay, and attended by expense 

 in some shape or other, as well as liable to cause delay. 

 The writer would impress upon all not to embark in the 

 business of market gardening and small fruit growing, 

 however much they may be tempted by ready transpor- 

 tation, unless they are, themselves, favorably located for 

 such pursuits ; for a good location means not only trans- 

 portation, but condition of soil, and availability of labor . 



There are other crops besides garden vegetables and 

 fruit which will, in many locations, pay more certainly, 

 and, as a necessary result, more fully, in the end just 

 as the moderate man, who is content with six per cent, 

 well secured on land, fares better, finally, than he who 

 grasps at two and one-half per cent, a month on 

 doubtful paper. 



Where transportation, climate, soil, ability to com- 

 mand labor and manure, unite to point out any special 

 spot as well adapted to the object, the next point of 

 inquiry is, which crops are the best to grow ? This is, 

 also, an all-important subject to be considered, inasmuch 

 as the facility for shipment may be all that is desirable, 

 but the distance from market too great to afford hope 

 for the successful transportation of the more perishable 

 class of products. Within fifty to sixty hours of market 

 by rail or boat, delicate fruits and comparatively perish- 

 able culinary vegetables may be moved successfully, but 

 beyond that .distance danger of decay increases, and the 

 business assumes too much the complexion of a lottery, 

 where the blanks far out-number the prizes. A ship- 

 ment, eighty hours on its travels, may occasionally reach 



