Published  by 
The  Rural  Publishing  Go. 
333  W.  30th  Street 
New  York 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
The  Business  Farmer’s  Paper 
Weekly,  One  Dollar  Per  Year 
Postpaid 
Single  Copies.  Five  Cents 
VOL.  LX  XV. 
NEW  YORK,  JANUARY  S,  1910. 
No.  4900. 
Remarkable  Season  for  Truck  Farmers 
How  It  Struck  Southern  New  Jersey 
N  S  E  A  S  ON  ABLE  WEATHER.— The  post  sen- 
son  is  one  that  will  be  long  remembered  by 
truck  farmers  in  South  Jersey.  It  has  been  a  sea¬ 
son  of  extremes;  extremes  in  weather,  prices,  yields 
and  misfortunes.  In  bite  March  the  weather  was 
too  cold  for  setting  berry  plants,  cabbage  or  doing 
ether  seasonable  work.  All  tried  to  follow  the  cal¬ 
endar  rather  than  the  weather.  Sweet  potato  beds 
were  made  at  the  usual  time.  Tomato  plants  were 
started  in  hothouses  and  grew  according  to  the  reg¬ 
ular  schedule,  hut  when  a  real  blizzard  came  along 
in  early  April  things  outdoors  received  an  addi¬ 
tional  setback.  Because  of  this  few  growers  were 
ready  to  take  advantage  of  the  unseasonably  weath¬ 
er  that  came  along  April  20.  It  seemed  like  August. 
Growers  who  set  to¬ 
mato  plants  in  the  field 
soon  after  April  20 
struck  the  very  best 
time  in  the  season.  In 
May  the  weather  turned 
cold  and  unseasonable 
again.  At  times  we 
hardly  knew  just  where 
we  were  at  with  our 
Spring  work. 
ABUNI >ANT  LABOR. 
— One  thing  that  fav¬ 
ored  was  the  abundance 
of  help.  There  was  no 
shortage  in  labor.  In 
fact  there  was  an  over- 
supply.  I  believe  there 
was  an  average  of  19 
men  a  day  that  passed 
our  place  looking  for 
work.  Most  of  them 
were  on  their  way  to 
the  OuPont  powder 
plant.  They  h  a  d  no 
money  for  carfare.  I 
talked  with  some  men 
who  had  worked  their 
way  from  Ohio  in  an 
effort  to  get.  work  at 
tliiw  plant.  By  taking 
advantage  of  ever  y 
good  day  and  utilizing 
this  extra  labor,  grow¬ 
ers  finally  got  t  li  e  i  r 
crops  in  and  they  grew 
well.  Tomatoes  a  u  d 
cantaloupes  were  very 
promising.  Then  about 
the  t  i  m  e  cantaloupes 
were  setting  there  came 
a  big  hailstorm.  There 
happened  to  be  no  wind 
and  the  injury,  except 
to  late  tomatoes  and 
cantaloupes,  was  not 
grea  t. 
A  RAINY  MONTH.— 
July  was  our  rainy 
in  o  n  t  li.  According  to 
the  calendar  we  should 
have  been  gathering  our 
hay  and  putting  it  in 
the  barn  in  good  shape. 
But  such  a  thing  was 
impossible.  A  few  loads  went  in  all  right,  but  with 
practically  all  it  was  a  matter  of  making  hay  be¬ 
tween  showers.  In  early  August  came  a  regular 
tornado  that  leveled  corn,  ruined  late  tomatoes  and 
did  a  tremendous  lot  of  damage  to  all  crops.  Banks 
were  broken  and  several  hundred  acres  of  meadow 
land  were  inundated.  Some  of  these  broken  hanks 
are  still  unrepaired.  Clover  and  grass  sown  in 
July  is  growing  nicely.  After  August  20  it  came  on 
dry  and  grass  seeded  after  that  time  has  not  done 
so  well,  especially  on  sandy  soil.  After  the  storm  in 
August  the  weather  seemed  to  change.  Since  Sep¬ 
tember  ii  has  been  exceedingly  favorable.  Never 
have  we  had  a  better  Fall  to  get  farm  work 
squared  up. 
SELLING  THE  CROPS.— With  so  much  to  con¬ 
tend  with  in  the  weather  line  we  naturally  supposed 
there  would  be  a  few  less  perplexities  along  some 
other  lines,  hut  it  proved  otherwise.  When  aspara¬ 
gus  began  to  he  cut  we  received  high  prices  for  a 
few  crates,  then  came  the  glut.  Prices  went  below 
those  of  average  years,  hut  as  we  look  hack  now  we 
see  that,  on  the  whole  asparagus  sold  better  accord¬ 
ingly  than  most  other  crops  that  were  largely  plant¬ 
ed.  Strawberries  paid  exceedingly  well  for  the  early 
crop.  The  yield  was  good  and  prices  high,  but  acre¬ 
age  small.  When  the  splendid  crop  of  late  berries 
began  to  move  prices  tumbled  and  averaged  about 
$1.25  a  crate.  Many  sold  for  less  than  $1  a  crate, 
this  being  below  the  cost  of  production.  Then  came 
peas  and  beans.  Thousands  of  baskets  sold  for  20 
to  25  cents  a  basket.  At  this  price  there  was  abso¬ 
lutely  no  profit.  Picking,  freight,  cartage  and  com¬ 
mission  took  practically  all.  Entire  fields  of  these 
crops  were  plowed  under  rather  than  add  the  addi¬ 
tional  expense  of  gathering  for  an  uncertain  market. 
DISCOURAGING  RETURNS.— Onions  were  a 
trifle  better,  the  price  being  about  25  cents  a  bushel. 
White  potatoes  sold  very  low,  the  price  being  about 
2s  to  20  cents  a  bushel  at  digging  lime.  Early  toma¬ 
toes  followed  in  the  same  line.  A  few  at  the  start 
brought  a  fair  price  in  crates;  then  because  of  over- 
supply  and  poor  tomatoes,  due  to  excessive  rains, 
the  markets  broke.  The  remainder  of  the  crop  was 
either  plowed  under  or  sold  to  ca liners  at  eight 
cents  a  %-bushcl  basket,  one  plan  of  marketing 
being  about  as  satisfactory  as  the  other.  Peaches 
were  so  low  in  price  even  fruitmen  dislike  to  speak 
of  it.  Bush  Lima  beans  and  eggplants  sold  at  fair 
prices  and  were  profitable.  The  acreage,  however, 
was  not  Large. 
SWEET’  POTATOES. — Last  of  all  came  sweet 
potatoes.  Some  expected  these  to  follow  in  the  same 
line  as  had  most  other  truck  crops,  but  in  that  they 
were  pleasantly  surprised.  The  yield  was  good  and 
prices  to  the  grower  averaged  about  $1.05  a  barrel. 
At  this  i trice  sweets  paid  and  helped  growers  to 
square  up  many  of  the  bills  that  were  beginning  to 
accumulate  as  a  result  of  the  remarkable  season. 
VARIABLE  YIELDS.— Yields  of  truck  crops  were 
quite  variable  and  in  practically  every  case  were 
largest  for  low  price  crops  and  smallest  for  high 
price  crops.  Watermelons  sold  for  as  high  as  $25 
a  hundred,  yet  were  a  practical  failure  because  of 
the  excessive  rains  in  July  and  early  August. 
HOG  CHOLERA. — Another  crop  not  exactly  in  the 
line  of  truck,  hut  very  valuable  to  all  truck  farmers, 
was  the  hog  crop.  In  the  vicinity  of  Swedesboro, 
Pedricktown.  Bridgeport  and  Penn’s  Grove,  there 
are  hardly  any  hogs  left.  Cholera  made  practically 
a  clean  sweep.  I  know  of  many  farmers  with  10  or 
more  hogs  who  were  counting  largely  on  the  sale  of 
these  to  offset  some  of 
their  losses  from  other 
sources,  only  to  find  at 
the  last  minute  that  the 
loss  on  their  hogs  was 
the  most  complete  loss 
of  all. 
A  MELANCHOLY 
C  II  R  O  N  1  O  L  E.— The 
above  report  for  the 
season  makes  d  i  s  in  a  1 
rending.  One  dislikes  to 
record  such  things,  but 
they  are  facts  and  it  is 
often  as  helpful  to  tell 
of  failures  as  of  suc¬ 
cesses.  Some  may  ask 
if  the  above  was  the  ex¬ 
perience  of  all  truckers. 
No,  it  was  not.  There 
were  exceptions,  but  for 
the  average  the  season 
was  poor  enough.  There 
were  some  pleasant  sur¬ 
prises  throughout  t  h e 
season.  The  satisfac¬ 
tion  of  producing  a  good 
yield  under  adverse  cir¬ 
cumstances  was  worth 
something,  and  full  of 
lessons  for  future  years. 
In  fact  the  season  as  a 
whole  might  be  called  a 
season  of  lessons.  One 
that  stands  out  more 
prominently  than  the 
rest  perhaps  is  the  need 
for  making  the  truck 
farm  more  nearly  self- 
supporting,  e  s  p  e  c*  i  a  1- 
ly  for  the  man  with 
small  capital.  When  to¬ 
matoes  or  other  truck 
crops  sell  well  it  is 
much  more  economical 
to  grow  these  and  buy 
the  corn  and  hay  need¬ 
ed  for  the  farm.  But 
in  a  season  like  this  it 
is  far  better  for  each 
farm  to  produce  just 
what  is  needed  along 
this  liue.  In  other 
words  ‘“farming  safe” 
is  bet  tee  than  taking 
long  chances  by  growing  truck  crops  only. 
(>\  ER-PROI>U('TTONT. — Another  tiling  is  the  mat¬ 
ter  of  plunging.  Onions  sold  well  in  1914.  The 
acreage  was  greatly  increased  in  1915.  The  result 
was  dissatisfaction  and  small  profit  all  along  the 
line.  I’he  same  was  true  of  peas,  beans  and  other 
crops.  Just  now  there  is  little  enthusiasm  over 
early  tomato  growing.  Because  of  this,  sashes  are 
selling  tit  vendues  at  50  cents  to  $t  each;  or  less 
than  half  their  value.  Some  will  stop  growing  to¬ 
matoes  altogether  and  go  into  sweet  potatoes.  This 
is  wrong.  Both  tomatoes  and  sweet  potatoes,  as 
well  as  other  truck  crop,  have  proved  profitable 
over  a  period  of  years,  and  anyone  who  is  in  the 
trucking  business  will  do  well  to  keep  his  acreage 
in  each  commensurate  with  his  facilities  for  grow¬ 
ing  it  and  keep  it  about  the  same  from  year  to  year. 
THE  MARKETING  PROBLEM, — Another  thing 
A  Shorthorn  !  Mountain  of  Beef  and  Volcano  of  Power.  Fig.  7 
