FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
155 
of irrigation could be dispensed with. 
In land that is broken deep, say 12 to 
16 inches, with a good turning or disc 
plow, and subsoiled at the same time, 
and all the time carrying a crop of some 
kind on it, the aftermath of the crops 
and the decaying roots left plowed un¬ 
der, will put the soil in a condition that, 
no matter what crop is grown on it, 
there will always be a good supply of 
moisture. Owing to the soil capillarity 
introduced by deep plowing and culti¬ 
vation, the moisture supply will be al¬ 
most unlimited. Another important 
consideration is that on irrigated lands, 
the fertility which is carried to the low¬ 
er soil strata by irrigation can never 
be recovered; whereas, by having the 
soil properly prepared by deep break¬ 
ing, ninety per cent of the fertility car¬ 
ried by heavy rainfalls to these lower 
strata will be brought back to the roots 
of the growing crops by capillary act¬ 
ion. We therefore think that the 
spending of $200 to $300 per acre for 
an irrigation plant for vegetable pro¬ 
duction is unnecessary. True, there are 
certain seasons when a little more water 
will do good; but, as I have already 
said, if the soil had been properly pre¬ 
pared the lack of moisture would not 
be felt so very much. 
CO-OPERATION 
Another weak point in our vegeta¬ 
ble growing is a lack of co-operation 
among our vegetable producers. Many 
communities have one or two large 
producers who are able to select their 
market, and in a general way know 
just what to do. Where the small pro¬ 
ducer comes into competition with the 
larger one, he generally finds himself 
left in the cold; but if there is a live 
co-operative organization in the com¬ 
munity—and one should exist in every 
community—many of the small grow¬ 
ers could arrange their shipments in 
such a way that they would be able 
to get the best results for their work. 
DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING 
The matter of marketing, distribu¬ 
tion of the material after it is pro¬ 
duced, is the most important point of 
all. Into the discussion of this I am 
not prepared to enter, for the reason 
that I am not well enough posted along 
these lines. I should say, however, 
that as far as I can see, the tendencv 
among the small growers is to go back 
to express shipments. Now that the 
express business is on a zone basis, the 
same as the parcel post, the smaller 
markets of the country are not dis¬ 
criminated against as they have been 
in the past. There have been some very 
extensive shippings by express made 
by some communities in the state last 
season with good results, to certain 
smaller markets in the northern states 
that had never been touched before. 
The express people do the distributing 
and collect the returns, and while it 
may cost more than carload shipments 
to the central points, at the same time 
it is more certain. The material gets 
to the consumer’s table two or three 
4 
days earlier than by the other method, 
and of course that means that it is in 
a better condition. This will help stim¬ 
ulate the particular market served. 
