16 BULLETIN 848, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



An early crop usually commands a good price, and the land on which 

 it is grown may be used for growing another crop the same season. 

 Hotbeds are sometimes profitably utilized for growing lettuce very 

 early in the spring and very late in the fall. 



MARKETING THE PRODUCE. 



Marketing the produce is really a part of the regular farm opera- 

 tions on these farms. The work on the farm is so arranged as to 

 allow the required number of men and horses to deliver the vege- 

 tables and fruits regularly to the open market in Washington. A 

 short discussion of this subject thus seems warrahtecl ; in connection 

 with the study of the management of these farms. 



Fig. 7. — Potatoes buried in pit covered with straw and earth. The potatoes were buried 

 in October, and the picture was taken the following May. 



Most of the vegetables and fruits raised are of perishable nature 

 and must be marketed when harvested. Irish potatoes are some- 

 times stored to be held for a better price or a more convenient time 

 of marketing. They are put in cellars or buried in pits. (See fig. 7.) 



The produce of all the farms visited was sold on the Washington 

 market. A very few farmers hire their produce hauled and pay a 

 definite commission for hauling and selling. The common practice 

 for the farmer is to do the hauling himself with his farm horses and 

 wagons. The men on the larger farms are beginning to use motor 

 trucks. The average haul to the market for all farms is 9 miles, and 

 the average number of trips to market for all farmers was about 75 

 a year, the number of trips varying with the quantity and variety of 

 produce grown. 



The farmers sell by wholesale, retail, or commission. The city 

 of Washington has a wholesale market which opens at 3 o'clock every 



