TRUCK-GROWING 



TRUCK-GROWING 



655 



grain crop, a rotation of wheat, clover and melons 

 is highly satisfactory ; or, if corn also is grown, 

 the rotation may be extended one year, and the 

 corn planted on the clover sod. In case clover 



Fig. 885. MuskmeloDS for local market. 



does not thrive in the region, cowpeas are sown 

 immediately after the wheat is harvested, and they 

 leave the land in ideal condition for melons. On a 

 clay soil in regions where clover does not thrive 

 and wheat is not grown, but where muskmelons 

 constitute an important money crop, the following 

 rotation has given exceptionally good results: 

 corn, cowpeas, melons, timothy. The melons are 

 heavily manured, and the thorough tillage required 

 by this crop leaves the land in ideal condition for 

 seeding to timothy immediately after the melon 

 harvest. Eai-ly tomatoes might be substituted for 

 melons in the same rotation with almost as good 

 results. 



In regions where manure is not obtainable, and 

 the distance from large cities is too great to war- 

 ri.nt its shipment by rail, truck crops are some- 

 times grown with commercial fertilizer as the 

 source of plant-food. In such cases, the supply of 

 humus in the soil must be kept up by the plowing 

 under of green crops. It may be necessary to plow 

 under a crop of cowpeas instead of harvesting it 

 preparatory to growing a crop of melons or toma- 

 toes, or to sow the land to rye after removing the 

 cowpeas, and plow this under the following spring. 



For growing between the trees in young or- 

 chards, truck crops are highly desirable, since they 

 demand thorough tillage early in the season, do 

 not shade the trees as would a crop of corn, and 

 can be removed from the land in plenty of time to 

 sow a cover-crop. 



The largest item of labor connected with the 

 growing and handling of many truck crops is the 

 harvesting and preparing for market. In the case 

 of many crops, however, the harvest comes at a 

 time when it does not interfere with the handling 

 of the regular farm crops. For example, melons 

 and tomatoes normally ripen after the corn is laid 

 by, the wheat and oats harvested and the hay made, 

 and usually may be disposed of before fall-plowing 

 and the corn harvest begin. Winter onions con- 

 stitute a crop which is planted in the dull season 

 of early fall, and is harvested before regular farm 



work opens in the spring. Rhubarb also demands 

 little attention at a time when general farm crops 

 need special care. The growing of a reasonable 

 acreage of carefully selected truck crops in connec- 

 tion with general farming, therefore, may afford a 

 means of giving regular employment to the same 

 working force for the entire season. 



Although truck-growing and live-stock-farming.i 

 may not appeal to the same type of men, neverthe-, 

 less there are some features about the two indus- 

 tries which would make the combination a desir- 

 able one. Truck crops demand large quantities of 

 manure. This could be secured more readjly by 

 keeping an abundance of live-stock than by any 

 other method. Live-stock demands more care and 

 attention in the winter, while truck crops demand 

 more attention in the summer, so that if the two 

 lines of effort were combined, the farm labor could 

 be distributed more uniformly through the year. 

 The live-stock also furnishes a ready outlet for the 

 refuse and unsalable vegetables, and the presence 

 of this outlet would tend to improve the grading 

 and leave less excuse for the shipment of culls. 

 Hogs are especially valuable in disposing of refuse 

 vegetables, though nearly all classes of stock feed 

 greedily on cull melons, tomatoes and cucumbers. 



Truck-growing demands greater special skill and 

 closer attention to details, than does general farm- 

 ing. The difference between an ordinary and a 

 superior product, and consequently the difference 

 between the prices of the two, is much greater 

 in truck crops than in staple farm products. The 

 niceties of grading and packing and their influence 

 on prices are not fully appreciated by many who 

 attempt to grow truck crops. It is only those who 

 give attention to every detail of growing and 

 marketing their crops with a view to putting a 

 high-class product on the market in perfect condi- 

 tion, that meet the highest success in the produc- 

 tion of truck crops. 



Literature. 



The following are references to literature on 

 general truck-growing : A. Oemler, Truck-Farming 



Fig. 886. A day's pickine of fine cucumbers, 250 dozen. 



at the South ; P. H. Rolfs, Vegetable-Growing in 

 the South for Northern Markets ; E. J. Wickson, 

 The California Vegetables in Garden and Field ; 



