480 



HANDLING GARDEN-CROPS FOR PROFIT. 



(he law, does not hold good in case of the black-knot law 

 The provisions of the latter are simple, and its enforce- 

 ment seems to be easy and practicable. 



S D. Willard, who drafted this law, wrote us June 20 ; 

 " The new law should be enforced in every town ; and it 

 can be if good men who will discharge their duty honestly 

 axe appointed commissioners. That is the only hope of 



the plum-grower ; and if done for two or three seasons 

 less complaint will be heard regarding black-knot." 



Fruit-growers in New York state should insist upon 

 the enforcement of this good law, and growers in other 

 states should prevail upon their law-makers to give them 

 relief in a similar manner. The longer the pest is al. 

 lowed to spread, the more costly will be its extermination. 



HANDLING GARDEN-CROPS FOR PROFIT. 



1ARVEST AND MARKET 



BE successful in fruit and 

 vegetable gardening we must 

 not only grow crops well, but 

 sell them at a good price 

 Often the sale of the crop is 

 the more difficult part of the 

 business. At any rate it is 

 worth study and pains. Far 

 too much poor-looking stuff is 

 put on the market, and, as a result, willing buyers are 

 disgusted and prices depressed. Some practical growers 

 who are successful in marketing have this month given 

 us their ideas on this subject : 



DR. T. H. HOSKINS' METHODS. 



In my youthful days, "before the war," I was engaged 

 for some years in market-gardening near Louisville, 

 Kentucky. Most of the gardeners there were either 

 German or English ; and of the two, the first were decid- 

 edly the more successful. The Englishmen found that 

 the old-country way of hilling or mounding up everything 

 was fatal to success in that hot, dry valley. Some 

 learned better and did better ; but others went back to 

 the old country. The Germans plodded along and mas- 

 tered their difficulties, but rarely went further than to 

 minister to the needs of their own countrymen in the way 

 of kraut, kartoffeln, etc, 



I believe I was the only Yankee in the trade, and, 

 Yankee-like, I went in for improvements. I was the 

 first to market my truck in neat bushel-boxes, with open- 

 ings in the sides for handling, and made to fit my wagon 

 I was also the first to select and wipe my tomatoes, wash 

 my potatoes, bunch my beets, onions, radishes and car- 

 rots, and attend to other niceties of that sort. The re- 

 sult was, that I was watched for by the stewards of the 

 best hotels, and usually got home with my wagon empty 

 by eight o'clock in the morning, while most of my com- 

 petitors stayed until market was over, and brought back 

 a part of their loads. 



Three years covered my experience in this work in the 

 Ohio valley. Some years afterward I settled on a ten- 

 acre farm, close to Newport, Vermont, six miles from the 

 Canada line. Here, everything in the horticultural way 

 was in its infancy ; and as the place became a popular 

 summer resort, it has always afforded a good home mar- 

 ket for fruit and vegetables. To the growing of these I 

 have added the growing of nursery stock and seeds, and 



have now upwards of thirty acres under cultivation. In 

 all this time I have driven my own market team, and 

 have endeavored to keep abreast with the gardeners of 

 southern New England 



My chief rule is not to try to market any trash, but to 

 have everything as good in quality and as nice in looks as 

 I can. I try the novelties, and out of all find one or two 

 per cent, better than the old varieties. All roots are 

 washed and bunched, six in a bunch, neatly trimmed and 

 packed. Usually these bunches are retailed at five cents. 

 Parsnips in spring and celery in fall are exceptions in 

 bunching. Green peas go in bushel-boxes, with strict 

 care that all pods are well filled and not over-ripe. Peas 

 and snap and shell beans are sold by measure. Potatoes 

 (washed), cucumbers, summer squashes, tomatoes, dry 

 onions, etc., are also marketed in bushel-boxes. As yet, 

 I have no forcing-houses, as our trade begins late and the 

 local demand is small for forced stuff. I use hotbeds for 

 stock requiring an early start. There is a large sale here 

 for onions, winter squashes and cabbages for shipment ; 

 but I am giving increased attention to fruit-culture, and 

 have been gradually curtailing the vegetable business 

 I have also dropped seed-growing, except on orders. 1 

 have originated some successful varieties, but have intro- 

 duced none under my own name 



Small-fruits have occupied much of my attention from 

 the start ; and I ship berries to points within 100 miles. 

 With these, even more than with vegetables. I find it to 

 my profit to market them in the neatest possible way. in 

 clean crates and baskets, and to give a little more than 

 full measure. Currants, gooseberries, strawberries and 

 black raspberries are all profitable, but red raspberries 

 and blackberries require very careful winter protection. 

 After a twenty-five years' struggle with grapes I had 

 nearly given up when I chanced upon the "Green 

 Mountain " grape, which is so early and so good that I 

 think it will be a great success. 



I have now something over twelve acres in orchard, 

 of trees all ages under twenty years. Only the Russian 

 tree-fruits, aside from a few native ironclads, succeed in 

 this cold north. Our first apple is Yellow Transparent, 

 which ripens during August and sells quickly. Succeed- 

 ing this comes Oldenburg and Peach of Montreal, equally 

 popular during September — the first for cooking and the 

 second for dessert. These are retailed from the wagon, 

 and sold in packages of various sizes to dealers. Great 



