A GENERAL VIEW 
5 
depends upon market and seasonal conditions. Commer- 
cial vegetable gardening is very generally regarded as 
one of the most profitable branches of horticulture, but 
success and failure depend more upon the ability of the 
man than upon any other factor. 
8. The outlook. — Prices fluctuate greatly from year to 
year. In a season of low prices producers are likely to 
conclude that the vegetable business is being overdone. 
The next year, perhaps, prices are higher, the growers 
prosper, and increased areas are planted the following 
year. Prices for the past io years probably averaged as 
high as for the previous decade. This would not hold in 
all sections, but population is increasing rapidly and 
more vegetables will be required to meet future demands. 
Again, meat products will doubtless continue to bring 
higher and higher prices, and thus increase the demand 
for vegetables. Then, too, there is a growing sentiment for 
the use of more vegetables as well as more fruits, and this 
tendency will be for the benefit of commercial gardeners. 
The large city markets are often crowded with a sur- 
plus of certain vegetables, but strictly high-grade 
products nearly always command good prices. The need 
of our cities is not more vegetables but better vegetables. 
When the problems of distribution and other questions 
concerning the marketing of produce have been satis- 
factorily solved, vegetable growers will be able to operate 
to better advantage and with greater surety. 
Many important local markets are poorly supplied. In 
some sections little attention is given to grading and at- 
tractive marketing, and the offerings of locally grown 
vegetables are light during most of the year. Under 
such conditions wide awake growers should succeed. The 
production of special crops, as celery, onions, lettuce and 
cabbage, on a large scale, should not be undertaken with- 
out full assurance that soil, climate, labor, transporta- 
tion and market conditions are favorable. 
