EXPOSURE AND LOCATION 39 



which is very often disregarded. The marketable 

 product of an acre of tomatoes weighs from 3 to 30 

 tons, which is not only more than that of most farm 

 crops, but the product is of such character that its 

 value is easily destroyed by long hauls over ordinary 

 roads. It has to be marketed within a day or two of 

 the time it is in prime condition, regardless of the 

 conditions of the roads or weather; so that it is quite 

 deceptive to estimate the cost of delivery at the same 

 rate a ton, as for potatoes or wheat, for it always costs 

 more, and sometimes several times more, to deliver 

 tomatoes than it would to deliver the same weight of 

 less perishable crops. In most cases the cost of pick- 

 ing and delivery is one of the most important factors 

 in determining profit and loss, particularly when the 

 crop is grown for canning factories, where one often 

 has to wait for hours for his team to unload. These 

 conditions make it very important that the field be 

 located within a short distance of, and connected by 

 good roads with the point of delivery. 



Early maturing fruit. Where early maturity is 

 the great desideratum the exposure of the field is 

 often very important. It should, first of all, be such 

 as to secure comparative freedom from spring frosts 

 so as to permit of early setting of the plants and the 

 full benefit of the sunshine as well as protection from 

 cold winds. There is often a great difference in these 

 respects between fields quite near each other. Profes- 

 sor Rolfs, of Florida, mentions a case where the toma- 

 toes in a field sloping to the southeast and protected 

 on the north and west by a strip of oak timber were 

 uninjured by a spring frost that killed not only all 



