VOL.  LI.  No.  2218. 
NEW  YORK,  JULY  30,  1892 
PRICE,  FIVE  CENTS 
$3.00  PER  YEAR. 
A  Long  Island  Vegetable  Factory. 
A  “Sieve  Farm”  Clogged  with  Manure. 
A  BARRELED  WATER  BUSINESS. 
Part  I. 
Something  New  in  Agriculture. 
The  Rural  has  been  publishiDg  articles  about  suc¬ 
cessful  farms  all  over  the  country,  showing  the  methods 
of  work  and  explaining  the  principles  upon  which 
success  is  based.  Mr.  Terry  farming  with  clover  in 
Ohio,  Mr.  Lewis  with  chemicals  in  New  Jersey,  Mr. 
Johnson’s  poultry,  and  the  cranberry  bogs  that  stretch 
along  the  shores  of  Cape  Cod,  all  represent  different 
types  of  farming,  and  all  make  a  profit  proportionate  to 
the  enterprise,  skill,  resources  and  facilities  of  the  men 
who  manage  the  work.  Rut  the  farm  of  Hallock  &  Son 
is  of  a  different  type  altogether.  The  market  gardener 
living  within  driving  distance  of  a  large  city,  raises  a 
great  variety  of  vege¬ 
tables  which  he  loads  on 
a  wagon,  and  sells  him¬ 
self  in  the  market.  The 
large  market-gardener  is 
simply  an  enlarged  copy 
of  the  smaller  one.  Mr. 
Hallock  is  what  may  be 
Jterined  a  farm  gardener. 
Living  100  miles  from 
New  York,  and  still 
further  from  Boston,  all 
the  produce  must  be  bar¬ 
reled  and  shipped  by 
steamer  or  sail,  or  both, 
to  commission  dealers,  to 
be  sold  at  wholesale,  and 
consequently  he  does  not 
raise  such  a  variety  of 
crops  as  the  market  gard¬ 
ener,  but  confines  himself 
more  to  specialties  and  to 
such  crops  as  are  suitable 
for  the  purpose.  The 
bunch-stuff,  such  as  rhu¬ 
barb,  beets  and  radishes, 
is  out  of  his  line,  for  he 
does  only  a  barrel  business 
An  Abandoned  Farm 
Rescued  From  Salt 
Water. 
Mr.  Hallock  bought  the 
original  farm  in  1870,  and 
since  then  has  bought 
several  strips  of  land  ad¬ 
joining  and  the  past  fall 
he  added  10  acres  more, 
making  the  total  fcr  the 
season  of  1892  about  68 
acres.  When  purchased, 
the  place  was  practically 
an  abandoned  farm.  It 
had  frequently  changed 
owners,  Avas  almost  al¬ 
ways  mortgaged,  and  it 
was  said  that  if  a  man 
lived  on  it  long  enough  he 
would  starve  to  death. 
The  land  Avas  very  poor 
and  gravelly  and  was 
intersected  by  salt  mead¬ 
ows  that  permitted  high 
tides  to  Avash  over  the 
loAverlots.  People  thought 
manuring  that  land  Avas 
like  pouring  water  into  a 
sieve  and  for  the  owner 
to  spend  money  for  man¬ 
ure  was  as  foolish  as  to  throw  it  into  the  bay,  but 
manuring  for  20  years  has  clogged  the  sieve.  Then  it 
was  the  poorest  farm  in  Orient,  noAvit  is  the  richest  in 
Suffolk  County.  No  farmer  can  blame  any  one  but 
himself  if  he  does  not  have  as  big  a  crop  as  Mr.  Hal¬ 
lock  ;  for  no  one  in  Orient  has  as  poor  a  farm  as  his 
Avas  20  years  ago.  When  he  first  commenced  to  buy 
manure  in  company  with  some  of  his  neighbors,  he 
bought  a  schooner-load  of  city  stable  manure  ;  the 
next  year  he  bought  a  whole  load  himself,  and  now 
buys  a  dozen  or  so.  For  1892  he  will  use  nearly  1,000 
tons  of  city  stable  manure,  65  tons  of  fish  scrap,  and 
12  %  tons  of  chemicals.  He  is  a  strong  believer  in  the 
good  effects  of  fertilizers. 
The  Profit  of  a  Good  Partnership. 
In  1874,  Mr.  Hallock  was  joined  by  his  son,  Lucius, 
who  left  a  carpenter’s  bench  for  the  plow.  Having 
Clematis  Erkcta  Pleno.  Fig.  209.  (See  page  489.) 
selected  farming  as  their  business  they  proceeded  to  do 
it  in  a  businesslike  manner  and  so  they  formed  the 
firm  of  Geo.  W.  Hallock  &  Son,  farm  gardeners.  One 
great  trouble  and  cause  of  failure  in  a  partnership 
business  is  that  all  the  members  of  the  firm  have  equal 
control  of  all  the  different  departments,  and  it  doesn’t 
pay  for  all  hands  to  stick  their  fingers  in  the  same  pie 
at  the  same  time.  To  obviate  this  difficulty  the  junior 
member  has  charge  of  the  works  and  the  senior 
handles  the  output,  or,  in  other  woi'ds,  one  raises  the 
stuff  and  the  other  sells  it.  They  had  the  utmost  con¬ 
fidence  in  each  other;  they  had  Avilling  hands  and 
stout  hearts  and,  what  is  more,  the  best  of  common 
sense  and  they  applied  all  to  their  fanning.  If  more 
farmers  were  such  men  the  question  would  never  arise 
how  to  keep  the  boys  on  the  farm.  At  first  when  the 
business  was  small  the  manager  of  the  works  could 
scarcely  be  called  a  foreman,  but  now  he  is  a  full- 
11  edge  d  superintendent 
and  the  head  foreman, 
Mr.  W.  E.  dagger,  has  been 
with  them  15  years.  One 
of  the  features  of  this  de¬ 
partment  that  goes  to 
show  that  farming  is 
there  carried  on  as  a  busi¬ 
ness  is  the  book  of  maps. 
Each  year  Lucius  draws 
in  this  book  maps  of  the 
different  lots  shoAving 
where  each  crop  is  to  be 
placed  the  following  sea¬ 
son.  The  maps  are  drawn 
to  a  scale  and  the  fore¬ 
man,  by  applying  a  rule, 
can  tell  just  where  the 
potatoes  are  to  be  planted 
and  where  to  start  the 
plow  in  for  early  cabbage. 
Imaginary  lines  form  the 
boundaries  of  the  crops; 
for,  like  parallels  of  lati¬ 
tude,  they  exist  only  on 
paper.  There  are  no 
fences  on  the  farm.  An¬ 
other  set  of  books,  one 
for  each  crop,  shows  the 
cost  of  raising  all  per  acre. 
It  is  needless  to  state  that 
some  of  these  books  are 
not  used  any  more,  and 
when  a  farmer  raises  only 
Avliat  pays  he  must  be 
making  money.  If  every 
farmer  in  the  country 
would  folloAv  this  plan 
and  stop  raising  Avliat 
doesn’t  pay,  the  whole 
financial  problem  would 
be  solved  and  The  Rural 
parrot  would  have  to  learn 
something  new.  Kuoav- 
ing  the  cost  of  production , 
the  amount  of  the  crop 
and  the  price  per  bushel, 
it  is  an  easy  matter  to  find 
the  profit.  No  guess-work 
is  done  here. 
A  Long  Journey  to  the 
Front. 
At  first  the  firm  raised 
very  much  the  same  kind 
of  crops  as  everybody  else, 
but  at  times  they  would 
take  a  new  departure, 
holding  fast  to  the  crops 
