FLORIDA .STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
were until recently considered unsatis¬ 
factory for Florida conditions but now 
we have reason to believe that a still 
greater variety is possible. 
With the increased supply and val¬ 
ues naturally arises the question of 
over-production. Each year we are 
confronted with an over-supply of one 
or more important vegetable crops. 
Coming in direct competition with 
those growers closer to Northern mar¬ 
kets and where freight rates are con¬ 
siderably reduced, the crop remains un¬ 
touched or dumped when it reaches its 
destination. While these conditions 
are more or less discouraging, it does 
not mean that more of these products 
are being grown than can be marketed 
and consumed. It merely emphasizes 
the need of a greater distribution of the 
products and not necessarily greater 
distance in transportation. 
The facts are that hundreds of small 
towns that could use a large amount of 
these products never get an opportu¬ 
nity, the need therefore of organiza¬ 
tion and co-operation, which slowly 
but surely comes about with such an 
important industry. We have become 
so accustomed to shipping to New 
York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and 
Washington, etc., that we hesitate to 
consign our cars elsewhere. Others 
would like to have those products, but 
so far have been unable to get them. 
The population of our Northern 
towns is on the increase. A large per¬ 
centage of this populace in the ranks 
of mechanics and in the various profes¬ 
sions and industries must buy their 
vegetables, and are becoming rap¬ 
idly educated to a vegetable diet in 
143 
preference to such an extensive meat 
diet. 
Considering these facts we cannot 
compare our trucking industry with 
some other industry that produces lux¬ 
uries instead of necessities that have a 
duration only for a period and finally 
pass into history. The trucking indus¬ 
try has to do with a product by which 
the people are fed. 
The South is the home of truck 
crops, and there is no section of it that 
will produce any better or larger crops 
than our own State. For the most part,, 
truck crops like a rich sandy loam soil 
and plenty of warm sunshine. Mois¬ 
ture is an essential element in all crop 
growth, and while our rainfall during 
the trucking season is inadequate in 
many sections for several crops, we al¬ 
ways have at hand an abundant supply 
of water for irrigating purposes. 
In preparing the soil, no matter for 
which crop, it is vastly important that 
a thorough cultivation shall precede 
planting. Irrigation, high-grade fertil¬ 
izers, good seed and plants, etc., are 
always to be emphasized, but unless 
the land has been thoroughly cultivated 
before planting, much of your efforts 
will result in failure. 
The land should be plowed as deep 
as possible without turning up too 
much raw subsoil. Thorough working 
at this time gives the soil a good sup¬ 
ply of oxygen and greater power to 
absorb and hold the needed moisture. 
Shallow plowing followed by insuffi¬ 
cient surface cultivation results in an 
impoverished moisture content. 
An experiment at the Florida Exper¬ 
iment Station conducted at the termi- 
