164 MARKET GARDENING. 



poinfcment proceeds from our attempting too much in 

 proportion to our means ; not infrequently, larger 

 breadths of land are designed for crops than the capital 

 at command warrants. With the farmer, capital means 

 laborers, manure, working stock and numerous incident- 

 als, and the land marked out for cropping should ever 

 be subordinate to these. In tillage it is, by far, better 

 to do a little well; there may be profit in that; the 

 reverse is certain to result in loss. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

 PACKING AND SHIPPING VEGETABLES. 



As a rule all the products of the garden, not grown 

 on trees and hard wooded vines, are usually called vegeta- 

 bles, but at least one-half are really fruits. A bean, pea, 

 tomato, eggplant, melon and squash, is as much a fruit 

 as an apple or peach, for their enlargement is subsequent 

 to flowering. They are borne on the flower stems and 

 are the results of fertilized flowers. That kind of garden 

 plant alone is a culinary vegetable which develops tissue 

 under ground, as in the turnip, carrot, onion, parsnip; or 

 above ground as in the leaf-stalks of celery, or leaves of 

 the cabbage, lettuce and parsley. All these growths are 

 independent of sexual results, and as a rule these plants 

 require cooking to prepare them for food, although there 

 are a few exceptions. 



These distinctions, however, do not bring cash to the 

 market gardener. He must, after growing the articles, 

 look for his profit in good packing, quick transporta- 

 tions, honest commission agents and a judicious selection 

 of markets. 



The prices obtained by southern market gardeners 

 shipping truck to Philadelphia, New York and other dis- 



