Fruits, Vegetables and General Interests. 



29 



years, all upon advancing lines, however. New and better 

 methods of culture, with the further invention of labor-saving 

 machinery, must of necessity reduce the cost of produc- 

 tion. Better transportation facilities will place the prod- 

 ucts of these farms in cities and towns more promptly, 

 in better condition, and at less cost ; while the ever-in- 

 creasing population and wealth of the cities and towns in- 

 sure a greatly increased consumption at satisfactory prices for 

 first-class productions." This report does not cover all the 

 vegetable-growing of the country, for a most unwarrantable 

 distinction is made between truck-gardening and market- 

 gardening, and the latter is not considered in the bulletin. Truck- 

 Truck-gardening, as understood in the bulletin, is " carried garden- 

 on in favored localities at a distance from market, water and 

 rail transportation being necessary," while market-gardening 

 is "conducted near local markets, the grcwer of vegetables 

 using his own team for transporting hi products direct to 

 either the retailer or consumer." • Mere listance from market 

 or methods of transportation have not before entered into 

 definitions of horticultural vocations. It is not apparent where 

 those growers belong — and they are legion — who are so 

 fortunate as to market their products both by team and rail. 

 It is to be hoped that the final census reports will give enu- 

 merations upon the vegetables grown for market. But the 

 present bulletin is sufficient to show that truck-gardening is 

 one of our most important industries. 



The seed crop. The season of 1891 was a very peculiar 

 one as regards the seed crop. The crop of nearly every 

 species of vegetable, whose seed is extensively grown in this 

 country, promised at first and up to a very short time before 

 harvest an exceptionally good return, and yet one after 

 another the crops' proved failures so that the quantity of 

 seeds of the growth of 1891 which finds its way into the ware- 

 houses of the seedsmen will be much less than for several 

 years past. This is true of the general returns, although with 

 nearly every variety there have been isolated crops which have 

 been exceptionally large. The cabbage-seed crop on Long 

 Island and in the Puget Sound region, while much less than 

 it promised early in the spring, was still fair, and a normal 

 and desirable quantity was harvested. The onion-seed crop 

 of New England was below the average, and that of Michigan 



