I 
191 - 
126 
CANNING CROPS. 
How They are Contracted, Grown, Deliv¬ 
ered—Prices Paid. 
Part II. 
Tomatoes. —Tomatoes, like peas, are 
somewhat of a chance crop, but one 
year taken with another there is about 
as much money in them as there is in 
any other crop. The price paid for the 
tomatoes is not what it should be, as 
there is a lot of hard work to raising 
them. Some years we have early frosts 
which freeze the tomatoes so that only 
part of them get ripe. The plants are 
set in early June four feet apart each 
way. A marker similar to a corn row 
marker is used in marking out the 
ground. A hoc or spade is used in set¬ 
ting the plants. They can be set with 
a spade by driving the spade into the 
ground, tipping it over so that the plant 
can be dropped behind it, and then pull¬ 
ing the spade out, thus allowing the dirt 
to fall back around the plant. The 
earth around the plant should be well 
packed. After the plants are set a one- 
horse cultivator should be run through 
them to stir up the ground which has 
been packed down in setting. After this 
they should be cultivated every week, 
or as often as it is thought necessary to 
hold the moisture and keep the weeds 
down until the vines get so large that 
one cannot get through without injuring 
them. The factories furnish crates to 
pick and deliver the tomatoes in. They 
begin to get ripe about September 1, 
and arc picked every week until the frost 
catches them. A wagon with hay-rack 
makes a good rig. to haul them on. Var¬ 
iety mostly grown is Chalk's Early Jew¬ 
el ; prices paid for plants are $3.50 to 
$5 per 1,000; $8 to $8.50 per ton is paid 
for the tomatoes. Eight to 10 tons is 
the average yield. Twenty-one tons 
have been grown upon an acre. 
Peas. —Peas are a chance crop. Some 
years it is too wet for them, and other 
years, like last year, it is too dry. It 
seems difficult to get a good piece of 
ground upon which to grow them. A 
low piece of ground that is well drained 
will probably be best, one year taken 
with another. If the ground does not 
wash, it should be plowed in the Fall 
so that it will dry out quickly in the 
Spring, and can be worked earlier than 
if plowed in the Spring. The seed is 
sown in April with a common grain 
drill, using fertilizer attachment. A 
small amount of fertilizer is used, which 
should be some brand having a small 
amount of nitrogen and plenty of phos¬ 
phoric acid and potash. Three and a 
half to four bushels of seed is sown per 
acre. Ground for peas should be well 
fitted, using spring-tooth harrow, disk 
harrow, clod crusher, el£. After the 
seed is in the ground a roller or clod- 
crusher should be run over the ground 
so that a mower can be used in harvest¬ 
ing. When the peas get about ready to 
cut a man from the factory is usually 
sent around to inspect them and to tell 
the farmer when to begin delivering 
them. The grower can tell about when 
the peas are ready by taking an aver¬ 
age sample of pods from the field, shell¬ 
ing them and crushing them between his 
fingers. If .the peas are too hard they 
will split in two; if not, they smash into 
small pieces. If the peas stand up good 
they can be cut with a mower going 
round and round the same as in cutting 
hay. If they are lodged and all lodged 
one way they can be cut only one way, 
cutting against them of course. Some¬ 
times they are lodged all ways, and so 
fiat on the ground that they have to be 
cut with a scythe. This makes extra 
work, but it is the only way to get all 
of the peas. When cutting with a mow¬ 
er men follow the mower with forks, 
pitching the peas together ana out of 
the way, so that the wheels will not run 
over them the next time around. If 
enough peas are grown an attachment 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
can be bought for the mower that rolls 
the peas together and out of the way. 
This is a labor saver, and will soon pay 
for itself. The peas can be cut the 
afternoon before they are delivered, 
but they must not be loaded then, as 
they heat very easily, and are apt to 
spoil. Peas are loaded on a hay-rack 
the same as hay, except that it is not 
necessary to have a man on the load. 
The peas can be loaded from the ground, 
one man working on each side of the 
wagon. However, it is necessary to get 
upon the load and tramp them down two 
or three times. The average yield is 
3,000 to 2,500 pounds shelled peas per 
acre. As high as 6,500 pounds have 
been grown. Price paid for seed is $3 
per bushel; $2.25 per hundred pounds is 
paid for the shelled peas. Some of the 
varieties of peas grown are Alaska, 
Hosford s Market Garden. Telephone 
and early June. String and Lima beans 
and beets cannot be grown very exten¬ 
sively unless one can get plenty of 
cheap labor to weed, hoe, etc. 
Beets. —Beets are something like onions 
in respect to care. They must be weeded 
at just the right time or they will not 
amount to anything. The seed is sown 
with a hand drill or with grain drill in 
rows about 28 inches apart. The seed 
is sown quite thick, about 20 pounds be¬ 
ing used per acre. The beets are not 
thinned when small, but allowed to 
grow until some of the beets are 1J4 
to two inches in diameter, when these 
are pulled out, topped and taken to the 
factory. This process is repeated from 
time to time. The beets are cultivated 
with horses, using one-horse or sulky 
cultivator; 30 cents per pound is paid 
for the beet seed. Ten tons have been 
grown upon an acre. I do not know 
the exact price paid for the beets, but 
think it about $15 per ton. 
String Beans. —These are sown with 
common grain drill, using V/ 2 to two 
bushels seed per acre. They are sown 
in drills 28 inches apart and are culti¬ 
vated with a horse. The beans must be 
picked a number of times, and are de¬ 
livered to the factory in sacks. Three 
dollars to $5 per bushel is paid for the 
seed; $1.50 to $3 per hundred is paid 
for the beans; 6,000 pounds have been 
grown upon an acre; 15 to 25 cents per 
30 pounds is paid for picking. One 
Thousand to One Refugee is one variety 
grown. 
Lima Beans. —These are planted in 
hills four feet apart; a pole about six 
feet high is set in every hill. The beans 
must be tied up to this pole two or three 
times. A one-horse cultivator is used 
in cultivating them; 6 cents per pound is 
paid for the shelled beans; one cent per 
quart is paid for shelling. King of the 
Garden is the variety grown. 
Fruit Crops. —Quite a good many 
strawberries and raspberries are canned 
in this vicinity. I have been told that 
4,000 quarts of strawberries have been 
grown upon an acre; 2,500 quarts is 
about the average yield; 4/> cents per 
pound is paid for the strawberries and 
five to six cents per pound for rasp¬ 
berries. Apples are sometimes canned. 
They are shaken from the trees and de- 
liverd in a wagon box, using a shovel 
in unloading them at the factory. They 
must be 1J4 inches or over in diameter. 
Prices vary. This year they are bring¬ 
ing 65 cents per hundred. In 1907 they 
brought $1.25 per hundred, which was 
considered a good price. One factory 
nearby canned pumpkin and squash last 
year; $3.50 per ton is now paid for 
pumpkin and $10 per ton for squash. I 
do not know anything about it, but I 
think money could be made with squash 
at $10 per ton. 
Dates of settlement for canning prod¬ 
uce are different by different factories, 
but are about as follows: Peas, Novem¬ 
ber 15 ; corn, tomatoes, etc., January 15 ; 
one factory in this vicinity is paying a 
little better prices than the others, and 
is paying cash with every load. It would 
be a good thing for the farmer if they 
would all do this. Just a word in clos¬ 
ing to the man who is to deliver produce 
to a canning company whose reputation 
he does not know: Keep your eyes 
open and see that you get a square deal. 
There are crooks in the canning busi¬ 
ness just as well as in any other busi¬ 
ness. See that your produce is weighed 
correctly. If you are in doubt as to 
whether your load is weighed correctly 
weigh the next load before you get to 
the factory. lynn g. swanson. 
Chautauqua Co., N. Y. 
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