CHAPTER XVII 



Production for Canning 



Growing for canning has many advantages over 

 growing for market. Some of these are that it is 

 not necessary to start the plants so early, that they 

 can be grown at less cost, and set in the field when 

 smaller and with less check, and on this latter account 

 are apt to give a large yield. It is not necessary to 

 gather the fruit so often, nor to handle it so carefully, 

 while practically all of it is saleable. For these rea- 

 sons the cost of production is lower and it is less 

 variable than with crops grown for market. Still 

 farmers and writers do not agree at all as to the ac- 

 tual cost. It is claimed by some that where the fac- 

 tory is within easy reach of the field the cost of grow- 

 ing, gathering and delivering a full yield of tomatoes 

 need not exceed $12 to $18 an acre, while others de- 

 clare they cannot be grown for less than $40. Nearly 

 one-third of this cost is for picking and delivering, 

 and varies more with the facilities for doing this easily 

 and promptly and with the yield than with crops 

 grown for market. A large proportion of the crops 

 grown for canning are poorly cultivated and unwisely 

 handled, so that the average yield throughout the en- 

 tire country is very low, hardly exceeding 100 bushels 

 an acre. But where weather and other conditions are 

 favorable, and with judicious cultivation, a yield of 



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