8 GARDEN FARMING 



where many acres are covered by glass roofs and devoted to the 

 cultivation of tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers during the winter 

 months. 



Besides possessing a knowledge of these devices and make- 

 shifts for lengthening the season and for overcoming adverse con- 

 ditions, the successful truck grower or market gardener must have 

 knowledge of the insect enemies and diseases which are liable to 

 attack his crops and of the methods for controlling them. He should 

 also have special knowledge of the effect which plant foods or 

 fertilizers have upon the growth of plants and be able to use these 

 to the best advantage for increasing the yield and perfecting the 

 quality of the crops which he wishes to produce. 



Soil and exposure. While in truck growing soil and exposure 

 are of less importance than is the accessibility of the market, yet 

 the character of the soil, to a great extent, determines the time of 

 maturity of the crop, no matter what the climatic conditions. In 

 other words, a cold retentive soil is always "late," while a warm, 

 light, sandy soil is always "early." The cold soil, the one which 

 is heavy and retentive of moisture, cannot be cultivated as early in 

 the season as can the lighter, sandy soil, which dries out more 

 quickly. Seeds planted in the cold soil will not germinate as 

 quickly, neither will the plants grow as rapidly as those planted 

 in the warmer; soil. Hence for trucking or market gardening it is 

 desirable to have a light warm soil rather than one which is 

 heavy and cold, particularly for supplying the demands of the 

 early market. For certain crops, however, the cold retentive soils 

 are absolutely necessary, and, as before noted, the persons who 

 make a specialty of growing crops which demand such an environ- 

 ment usually grow no other crop except the one requiring these 

 conditions, such as onions and celery. The natural fertility of the 

 soil for truck work is a matter of small consequence. If the 

 mechanical conditions are good, the fertility can be supplied by 

 manure, the plowing under of green crops, and quickly available 

 fertilizers, such as nitrate of soda, muriate and sulphate of potash, 

 and phosphoric acid. The successful market gardeners and truck 

 growers who are located upon light sandy soils endeavor to com- 

 bine the use of stable manure with that of quickly available fertil- 

 izers. In addition to the use of from 10 to 40 loads of stable 



