78 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
February, 1919 
take up Horticulture with the ob- 
ject of making a living for him- 
self and family must have a lot of 
work in him, must use his brains, 
and, above all, must have a natur- 
al liking for growing things. Wis- 
consin has much to offer to the 
horticulturist in the way of var- 
iety. Its changing seasons and 
abundant rainfalls have covered 
its surface with a verdure pleasing 
to the eye. “A land that will 
clothe itself will clothe man.” So 
the young man need not be afraid 
to trust to Wisconsin soil. If he 
is going to make a success of such 
a venture he should be a lover of 
nature. However, not all lovers 
of nature make successful truck 
growers. There are those who see 
the mountains, the sky, the mir- 
rored lakes and streams, the for- 
ests and woodlots, but whose pers- 
pective is so broad they fail to see 
the little things close by. There 
are those who see the individual- 
ity of plant life and study to 
learn their habits and to make use 
of such plants as man may re- 
quire. They study ways and 
means to perfect a plant or a 
fruit so that it will become a 
source of gain to humanity. This 
is practical horticulture. 
The beginner should have some 
practical knowledge of horticul- 
ture unless he has money to hire 
some one to guide him over the 
rough places. In either case I 
would advise going in gradually, 
letting his operations be guided, 
in extent, somewhat by his knowl- 
edge of the business. 
There are so many conditions 
entering into this proposition that 
to lay down a line of action with- 
out taking under consideration 
any especial case might lead to 
disastrous consequences if fol- 
lowed blindly. So if I can be of 
any practical use in the short time 
allotted me I must deal out some 
general observations and let the 
young man, starting in on this 
home building, figure out his own 
salvation. The location of the 
land would decide to some extent 
what crops best to be cultivated. 
For instance, if it is near a large 
city, general truck gardening in 
connection with hot beds, winter 
storage, and possibly green- 
houses would probably pay better 
than other lines. 
Where the distance from town 
is greater specialized crops are 
handled to better advantage as 
marketing can be done at one 
time. Much depends on the char- 
acter of the soil to decide what 
crops can be grown to advantage. 
If the soil lies high and is of heavy 
clay, onions or celery would be un- 
likely crops to raise, nor would 
melons do well on such soil. It 
would be better to go in for ber- 
ries and some tree fruit than to 
attempt vegetable gardening. 
However, at least one half of the 
ten acre tract should be kept in 
field crops to furnish feed for the 
domestic animals ; namely, two 
cows, a team of horses, some 
chickens and a brood sow. You 
may ask, Why all the live stock? 
The land will need all the fertil- 
izer that can be produced at home. 
Intensive cropping takes the 
fertility from the soil rapidly. 
This, of course, has to be returned. 
Then the supply of milk, cream 
and butter, furnished by the cows, 
together with the meat raised on 
the skim milk, furnish the family 
with a considerable part of their 
food. Possibly gasoline power 
could be substituted for the team 
of horses and cows might be added 
in their place. Pigs and chickens 
eat up the waste and are quite a 
necessary adjunct. 
Another reason for keeping 
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part of the land in growing field 
crops, such as clover, alfalfa, 
peas, etc., is that these crops bring 
nitrogen into the soil and also 
humus. At the same time they are 
resting the land with rotation of I 
crops. Rotation of this kind is 
