VEGETABLE GARDENING, OR OLERICULTURE 3 



has contributed very largely to the supply, and, to a considerable 

 extent, has cheapened the standard garden vegetables, making 

 them available for the masses, yet it has not discouraged the 

 development of the forcing industry, which has for a number 

 of years been an important branch of market gardening in the 

 vicinity of the large Northern cities. 



From the nature of the crops grown by the market gardener and 

 the truck farmer, means for quick transportation and good markets 

 are two of the chief requisites for success. The large quantity of 

 truck produced, as well as its perishable nature, has induced the 

 railroads and private car lines to inaugurate fast-freight schedules 

 for handling vegetables, and to equip cars with refrigerating appa- 

 ratus, so as to carry the product to the market in the best possible 

 condition. Without these facilities the present truck development 

 would be impossible except at seaport towns, where good steam- 

 ship facilities are offered. Previous to the advent of fast freight 

 and refrigeration the truck centers of the South were confined to 

 a few seaboard towns which had steamer lines making regular trips 

 to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston, but since the 

 development of rapid railroad transportation the great bulk of the 

 truck shipments go by rail. Inland towns and cities are now as 

 near the fields of production as are seaport towns. Their distance 

 is measured not in miles but in the hours required to transport 

 their produce to the market. 



Crops and cropping systems. Not only have these industrial 

 developments aided the trucking business, but special varieties 

 of vegetables suited to the purposes of truck growers have been 

 developed, and this field yet offers one of the most attractive lines 

 of work for the horticulturist. There is a demand for varieties which 

 have good shipping qualities, which mature quickly, and which are 

 especially adapted to the Southern climates. But behind and above 

 all this the success of either the trucking or market-gardening 

 business depends upon the man guiding it. Besides being a crop 

 grower he must be a thorough business man, equipped to overcome 

 obstacles in the cultivation of his crops as well as in the shipment 

 and marketing of them. This means that he must have a carefully 

 conceived and well-thought-out plan of procedure, involving the 

 most complete and profitable use of his land that from the 



