ECONOMICS 130 



using a rotation in which green crops are turned 

 under. 



Truck farming, like all other highly special- 

 ized industries, has been carried on in the way 

 most " single crop " systems of farming are 

 conducted. The industry is not based on a sin- 

 gle crop, but in general the results are much 

 the same though from altogether a different 

 cause. 



Single-crop farming, except when based on 

 some special perennial crop, is usually a pioneer 

 type of agriculture and consists merely in gar- 

 nering the natural fertility of the soil by the 

 continuous use of a single crop. No heed is 

 given to the future. The plan is to get the 

 greatest possible return in the shortest time, re- 

 gardless of consequences. The same idea has 

 actuated the truck farmer, but his crops were 

 not sufficiently abundant, without the use of 

 fertilizers, to be profitable. Maximum yields 

 were desired, and as heavy dressings of 

 fertilizers produced large yields, heavy 

 applications of fertilizers were, therefore, 

 the logical and necessary accompaniment of 

 large yields. But there came a time when 

 tHe soil reached its limit. The plant used such 

 elements as it needed and left the others. The 

 excess or residual part of the fertilizer left in 



