Shipping and Growing of Vegetables. 
By N. O. Penny. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
I am called on at this meeting for a 
paper treating on the growing and ship¬ 
ping of vegetables,—a large and an im¬ 
portant subject, one that not only re¬ 
quires, but deserves a great deal of 
thought; and unfortunately for me one 
that I am not as familiar with now as 
one should be when preparing a paper. 
It is now several years since I have 
had any active experience with the veg¬ 
etable business, and accordingly I shall 
only give you some of the conclusions 
arrived at at that time together with my 
observations since. 
I have no apologies to offer for know¬ 
ing so little about this subject. I am sim¬ 
ply here with this paper because I am 
called upon, and I feel that it is the duty 
of every citizen to respond when called 
upon to the best of his ability, and th?t 
is what I am now doing. 
The demand of our markets is for 
strictly fancy produce as well as fruits 
and it is only by catering to this de¬ 
mand that the grower is able to make 
money. Poor and inferior stuff seems 
to be a drug on the market at any price, 
a thousand crates of fancy goods will sell 
before one of inferior grade. 
Among the most successful practices 
seems to be that of irrigation and drain¬ 
age. There does not seem to be any 
standard for water supply, some are us¬ 
ing windmills, others artesian wells, 
while still others are using gasoline en¬ 
gines and pumps. The locality and 
source of supply seem to be the deter¬ 
mining features. As far as we can learn 
results are good from all, but probably 
the least efficient is the windmill, which 
I think is being gradually superseded by 
the gas engine, especially so where large 
quantities of water are required. 
Drainage also appears to be one of the 
fundamental requirements. It appearing 
to intelligent growers that if we cannot 
depend on Dame Nature for water when 
we need it, neither can we depend upon 
her not to send us more than we need, 
and growers find that a flood is as bad 
as a drouth. 
Drainage is usually accomplished by 
means of open ditches and underdrains, 
I believe that the most approved prac¬ 
tice is in having the system so arranged 
that they can be used for both irriga¬ 
tion and drainage at the will of the op¬ 
erator. The grower can then protect 
himself in either a wet or a dry time. 
More attention is being paid to inten¬ 
sive culture, intelligent growers find that 
one acre properly cared for will produce 
more than two indifferently cultivated, 
and at the same time there will be a 
larger per cent, of that most important 
essential fancy quality. 
A great deal of attention is also being 
paid to the use of fertilizers, and it is 
not uncommon for growers to use two 
and three thousand pounds per acre 
where but a few years ago it was only 
