1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
EVERYBODY’S GARDEN. 
Seasonable Work. —“Will you tell us 
just what the market gardeners are do¬ 
ing now?” This is June 28, and the lo¬ 
cation is up in Michigan, lying along the 
Detroit River. This locality is but a 
mere speck on the map, and what we are 
doing here would be true of only a very 
narrow belt of land through the broad 
expanse of the entire country. Most of 
us are gardening by the irrigation 
method, and the time is chielly occupied 
in hunting up vacant places to run off 
the surplus water supply, which we were 
longing for last year. Some favored lo¬ 
calities are standing the wash pretty 
well just now, but at the expense of 
their fertility, which is going down to 
help the lowland gardeners later on. 
But the cloud has at least a bit of silver 
lining—for whatever there is for sale 
brings good prices. 
Under Glass. —The cold backward 
Spring gave the lettuce, beet and radish 
growers extra prices for their later 
crops, as the outdoor growth was very 
slow. As fast as the greenhouse benches 
or hotbeds were emptied of their crops 
the space was utilized for the early cu¬ 
cumber crop, which is always sure of 
top prices at this time. The March and 
April lettuce crop averaged from iirst 
hands about $1 per basket of eight to 12 
pounds, aud from retailers, 21) to 25 
cents per pound. Radishes and beets 
were from 20 to 40 cents per dozen 
bunches. The cucumber crop (home¬ 
grown) just now coming into market is 
never up to the demand; but prices are 
always modified by the southern pro¬ 
duct, so that the rich can usually pay the 
price of six to 10 cents apiece and some¬ 
times more. Later on, when the main 
crop is in full evidence, a customer is 
very liable to offend a gardener if he re¬ 
fuses to accept a part at least, of his 
supply as a gift. As a whole—from the 
beginning of the main crop until the 
close of the pickling season, cucumbers 
as a money crop are satisfactory. 
Truck-Grower’s Routine. —This is 
not detailing the particular work of to¬ 
day. Ordinarily, to answer this question 
would be to tell what nearly every gar¬ 
dener is doing. The large operators who 
wholesale exclusively, are usually con¬ 
fined to few varieties, aud endeavor to 
grow what best suits their soil, condi¬ 
tions and surroundings. A near neigh¬ 
bor, with one or two helpers, spent most 
of yesterday afternoon in preparing his 
load for to-day’s market The load is 
principally asparagus and celery. At 6 
A. M. the covered, single market wagon 
is started for the Eastern MarKet. This 
wagon was made to order, and is a 
model of convenience as well as neat¬ 
ness. The name and address of owner 
is displayed on each side of nicely paint¬ 
ed cover. At the same hour one of the 
hired men is started on his daily trip 
through the city, gathering up manure. 
The home forces, consisting of the pro¬ 
prietor, a second hired man and two 
younger sons, turn their attention to the 
many things waiting to be done. About 
20 acres of potatoes had been planted, 
and between the bugs and wet weather 
the owner is guessing what his share 
will be. Not long to stop and ponder, 
for the bugs are already after their share 
of the early crop. There are four acres 
of these, planted 2x4 feet apart, to be 
followed by the late celery. The bugs 
are not very numerous yet, so the hired 
man and two boys shoulder their knap¬ 
sack sprayers, loaded with Paris-green 
and water, and go after the enemy. The 
instructions are to “go over the field 
spraying only where the bugs are at 
work.” They walk rapidly, keeping a 
sharp lookout and an hour finishes the 
work. The whe^l hoes are next started 
in the parsnips, carrots and onions. By 
10 o’clock the teamster is back with the 
load of manure, which is unloaded on 
the general manure dump. That load 
means two or three ordinary loads, as 
the farmer hauls out to the field; and is 
gathered every week-day in the year, 
no postponement on account of wind or 
weather. After the team is cared for, 
the driver reinforces wun a lunch and is 
ready for the weed slaughter until noon. 
Not later than 12.30, the eldest son re¬ 
turns from market. He has been fortu¬ 
nate in disposing of his entire load be¬ 
fore the closing of the market, which 
occurs at 12 o’clock noon. The garden¬ 
er who has not disposed of his load by 
that time must either carry it home 
again or seek a market for his goods at 
grocery or commission houses, or from 
door to door in the residence streets. 
After dinner the asparagus and celery 
must be got ready, and stored in the cel¬ 
lar for the Monday morning’s load. This, 
with the cultivating, wheel-hoeing and 
weeding will fill up the afternoon. In 
this garden asparagus, of which there 
are about eight acres, is the principal 
early crop, supplemented by radishes 
and lettuce. The early celery from 
strong plants set out as soon as weather 
would permit was crowded as rapidly 
as possible, and from now on will be in 
nearly steady supply the entire season 
through. 
Preparing the Load. —The white and 
the green asparagus is merely the man¬ 
ner of cutting; the former cut below, 
and the latter above ground. In this 
field the white is principally cut and to¬ 
day sold at 10 cents per bunch; this is 
lower than the price for the green pro¬ 
duct. One-half the field is usually gone 
over each day, making three entire cut¬ 
tings each week. The cutters, two going 
together, each take a row, carrying a 
bushel basket between them. Every 
stalk an inch or two high and often 
those just breaking through the ground 
are cut with long knives, three to five 
inches below the surface. This gives the 
white butt and green tip, but it is class¬ 
ed as “white.” The green has longer 
growth above ground, and is cut just 
at, or a little below the surface. The 
asparagus is carried to the packing 
house, emptied into a large tub and after 
thorough rinsing is spread upon the drip 
table to drain. The stalks are averaged 
in size as nearly as possible, tied four 
to six in a bunch, with ordinary gro¬ 
cer’s wrapping twine. The bunches are 
gathered in round bundles of one dozen 
each, tied with same kind of twine at 
butts and tips. A single cut with a long 
sharp knife evens the butts and the 
package is ready for market. To-day’s 
quotations (wholesale) are, white 5U 
cents, green 60 cents per dozen. The 
celery is pulled, thrown into wheelbar¬ 
rows or carried in baskets, to the pack¬ 
ing house. The roots are closely trim¬ 
med, leaving only sufficient of the main 
stump to hold the stalks in place. The 
rinsing and draining are the same as the 
asparagus. The clumps are tied at butts 
and tops, one dozen in a bundle, and the 
package is complete; and to-day brings 
30 cents wholesale. 
Other Conditions. —The above pretty 
fully covers the day’s work in one gar¬ 
den, but probably would in no way de¬ 
scribe the day’s doings a week hence. 
Just a little farther on, another gardener 
is hustling just as lively, but in a differ¬ 
ent line. Being an extensive grower of 
out-door lettuce he uses but little glass, 
and that mainly for starting the young 
plants for the open ground, and also to¬ 
mato pants. At 5 A. M. his market 
wagon was on the road with the oldest 
son as driver. The working force at 
home is the father, two younger sons 
and one hired man. The demand for 
manure is not so great here as at the 
first garden, and the unceasing daily 
route of the manure wagon is not so 
rigidly followed. The load, consisting 
of 25 baskets of lettuce, 10 dozen of rhu¬ 
barb and 30 to 40 dozen of beets and car¬ 
rots, was put up ready for loading yes¬ 
terday afternoon. The frequent heavy 
rains fill the lettuce heads pretty full of 
sand; so they are carefully cut just 
above the lower or ground leaves, and 
carried to the packing house. Here the 
heads are caught by the butts and rapid¬ 
ly plunged up and down in the water in 
a large vat, until the sand is rinsed out, 
when they are stood bottom upward on 
the drip table. They were left here un¬ 
til morning when they were lightly 
packed in bushel baskets and loaded. 
The price received was 50 cents per bas¬ 
ket. The vegetable washer is out of 
commission now, as the young vege¬ 
tables are all sold with tops on, so after 
pulling the beets and carrots they must 
be given a bath in the vat. The carrots 
are still small, and four or five are used 
for a bunch, tied with bunching twine. 
After draining, the bunches are tied in , 
dozens, but will not be loaded until 
morning. The beets are fair size and 
three will usually answer for the bunch. 
These are tied in dozens also, and left 
to drain; this prevents heating; and the 
wagon is kept dry. The rhubarb is pull¬ 
ed and piled in wheelbarrows and wheel¬ 
ed directly to the packing house. One 
boy grabs three stalks at a time, gives 
them a quick dash up and down in the 
water, and passes it to a second boy 
standing at the end of work table; he 
removes the hulls and ties in bunches, 
of three stalks each, using soft bunch¬ 
ing twine and tying at the butts only. 
A third person ties the bunches into 
bundles of a dozen bunches each; using 
the same twine, but tying at top and 
butt A sharp knife is drawn across the 
leaves an inch or so from the stalks, 
leaving a neat compact package. The 
market boy must breakfast alone, but 
after he is on the road the usual morn¬ 
ing work, as care of horses, pigs, cows, 
etc., is completed in time for the 6.30 
breakfast. A portion of the ground Is 
a veritable mortar bed, and more rain 
is promised. Some cultivating and weed¬ 
ing can be done on the higher ground 
and more surface drains must be open¬ 
ed. If one could guess just how closely 
one shower would follow another, he 
might be able to map out the day's work 
fairly well. But it is safe to say that the 
main business will be dodging showers, 
and other odd jobs until afternoon, 
when the Monday’s load must be got up 
and prepared, rain or shine. These in¬ 
cidents are only a day’s work In the 
many-sided general market gardens. The 
commission and private market garden¬ 
ing are distinct branches, and of course 
vary much in their special features. 
Michigan. _J. e. morse. 
For the land’s sake, use Bowker’s Fer¬ 
tilizers. They enrich the earth.— Adv. 
481 
Study Agriculture. 
It Will Pay. 
Attractive Courses. 
Light Expenses. 
Send your address. 
RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE, KINGSTON, R. I. 
School of Practical Agriculture 
and Horticulture. 
Courses In Fruit Culture, Gardening, Landscape 
Gardening and Farming. Begins September 10, 1902. 
Open to men and women for t raining in practical and 
scientific work. Catalogue. 
GEO. T. POWELL, Director, 
BrlarclUT Manor, N. Y. 
*“■(!— - ht 1*1** --"T 
ll!fg^Spllp== 
If This Weather 
makes your wire fence sag, it Isn’t the PAGE. 
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SAN JOSE SCALE „ 
And other Insects can be Controlled by Using 
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Oil Soap No. 3. 
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PEACH 
BASKETS 
2, 4, «, 8,10,12,14 and 
lG-quart sizes. 
Peach Covers. 
Wooden, Burlap and 
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Berry, Peach and Grape Crates, etc. 
Write for new 1902 Catalogue. 
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109 & 111 Warren Street, New York. 
Established 188-1. 
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No. 41—The new South Side Patent Nesting Carrier with six four-quart baskets. Car load 2,000 
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’•Miwtliffl 
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The only manufacturing company in the world In their line selling A 
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wm 
4 
m 
'iil k 
Si 
m 
“Boxal” does it. 
Kills Bugs and Blight. 
It Increases the Crop 20 to 30 per cent 
in both amount and quality because it 
Prolongs the Growing Season 3 or 4 
weeks. 
“Boxal” is an insecticide and fungicide in one, prepared after 
scientific Government formulas by a thoroughly responsible 
concern. It is all ready to use by adding water. Ex-Secretary 
Sessions, Mass. Board Agriculture writes “Boxal killed the 
bugs: I had aline crop: no blight or rot although both prevail¬ 
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as much $ 4.25 Illustrated Circular free. 
Bowker Insecticide Co- 43 Ch |osto“. b MaSl 
