i 
Gardening Situation Around Boston 
Facts About an Important Industry 
Part I. 
NPUXCIIKI) VKiJKTAP.LES.—To tie or not to 
tie the hunching vegetables; tliat is the 
eiuestion wliich has been agitating the Market (Jar- 
deners’ Association of P.oston for some weeks. After 
considerable discussion the Association has voted to 
sell most vegetables with their tops on. but not tied 
in hunches. To what extent the agreement will be 
observed remains to be seen. Some exceptions had 
to be made at the very beginning. It was obvious, 
of course, that asphragus would have to be bunched, 
and no attemiit to laile otherwise was made. At the 
time the agreement was reached radishes were being 
sold from the greenhouses, and it seemed necessary 
dener.s’ Association of I’rovidence has fallen in line, 
and :is this Association is particularly well organ¬ 
ized and made up of members who stick together 
better than those of any other Association in the 
country, the chances are that the plan will have a 
thorough trial in and around I‘rovidence. The Hart¬ 
ford Vegetable Growers' Association has also airreed 
to tr}' the new plan, and doubtless other growers in 
different parts of the country will take it up. Celling 
these vegetables with their tops on but not bunched 
will mean a saving in tieing material, which is im¬ 
portant now. as raffia has become very high. Perhaps 
the saving in labor is a Itigger item, however. It 
has been estimated th.at To per cent of the marketing 
exi»enses can be saved when hunching is dispensed 
with. Often when I.T or go people have been imlliug 
the crops in the field, twice as many more h.ive been 
other vegetables proportionately. The tops will be 
left on becau.se the vegetables make a better appear¬ 
ance when offered for sale, and the tops indicate the 
freshness of the vegetables in the stores, although 
the grocers frequently twist them off before they 
sell them. Some growers are objecting to the sell¬ 
ing of beets uubuuched on the ground that more 
time is taken to wasli them. They say that formerly 
they hunched the beets and then dljjped them iu 
water. However, most of the leading growers pile 
up the beets iu the wash-house and clean them be¬ 
fore tieing them in bunches. 
LABOIl SCAIICITV.—Of course, the questhju of 
help continues to bother the market ganlener ti> an 
increasing extent. It is very h.ard to get labor of 
any kind, with the excei)tion of hoys. Now some 
market gardeners get very good results with b(»y.-.. 
1,Illicit 'I’inir ptr Ihc Italian Workers on a Mossach n-scftii 'I'rnck J'ai-ni. Fi(/. Ii12 
to permit their bunching. Shortly afrerward one of 
the biggest ve.getable growers iu WareiTown began 
to market green onions, and as he had been among 
the leaders in urging the giving up of the bunching 
plan, he sent the onions to market loose. Most other 
grower.s, however, were bunching them, and this 
man found that he was losing or $120 a day by 
sticking to the agreement. A meeting of the execu¬ 
tive committee was then held, and this grower told 
that he might resume bunching. There seems to be 
a general feeling among the most prominent grow¬ 
ers, at least, that as soon as the season is well ad¬ 
vanced the bunching practice will cease. It is difli- 
cult, though, to control the small growers, especially 
those not members of the Association. Many of 
them, it is feared, will insist upon bunching their 
small vegetables in order to get .sales among mdrket- 
men who prefer to handle bunched goods. 
REASONS FOR TIIR TLAN—The Market Gar¬ 
in the wa>h-h(>u>c bunching and tieing them. Nat¬ 
urally some of the dealers have objected to the new 
]ilan liecau.se they thought it would be hard to edu¬ 
cate the public to buying by the doz.en or by weight. 
In the end. though, the public will be benetited. for 
customers will be able to purchase foi;r beets or 
six .or 10. as the.v need. The vegetables themselves 
will be marketed in better condition, as they will 
he sulijected to less handling, so that the quality 
will be better. 
PACKING WITHOFT BrNCHINtt.—The plan is 
to pack them in the .same bo.xes as alwa.vs used; that 
is to say. the bushel box, but to put them in by 
count. It has been the practice to sell IS bunches 
of beets. 24 bunches of carrots, four dozen bunches 
of radishes, and IS bunches of celery to a box. Beets 
have been bunched mostly in fours, carrots from four 
t<‘ six, and radishes from six to 10, according to the 
size. Beets will now be packed 72 to a box. and 
while others do not like them at ali. Much de- 
Itciids upon the way iu which they are handled. 
IVilliam Rns.-^ell. of Winchester, has had more than 
50 boys at a time, and lias got along well with them. 
This is partly because he does not grow a great 
variet.\' of crops, and the boys may be set to work 
doing a certain kind of work which will occupy 
them all day. Then Mr. Russell's son has learned 
just how to manage the boys, and works with them 
He gives them a certain stint for each day, and 
when they .get through they are allowed to go. 
Sometimes they have tinished by two o’clock iu the 
afternoon, and have the rest of the day to go swim¬ 
ming. He pays them according to the amount of 
work they do. If a boy thinks he is not getting 
enough, he frankly says so. and if his work proves 
his point his pay is increased. Many of the boys 
are .getting ,^2.25 a day. If a boy can’t earn a dollar 
a day he is not considered worth keeping. 
