The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
499 
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The Brutal TrutK Afcout Aster Growing 
We would like to try this year, one acre of. asters; 
grow them especially for the New York City market. 
We have never grown flowers before to sell or ship away 
to market, but we have grown a large acreage of 
cucumbers and peas for shipping. What kind of asters 
are most profitable to plant? How are the flowers cut 
and packed? IIow many do we put in box for ship¬ 
ment? N. A. R. 
Oswego, N. Y. 
PROFITABLE START.—Before explain¬ 
ing liow easy it is for the average farmer 
to grow asters I wish to reminisce just a 
little; not very far back. Not farther than 
1912 to 1915. About that period occasion¬ 
ally there were published in apparently 
trustworthy farm papers rather glowing accounts of 
almost fabulous returns that could be made from 
an acre or two of flowers grown for the large city 
markets. A prominent commission merchant told 
me at that time that they had many requests from 
men and women, -who having read some such ar¬ 
ticle, had planted flowers, and then could not sell 
them. The commission house being already over¬ 
stocked could not handle them. They had women 
burst into tears in being refused. Eventually came 
our participation in the war. Labor became scarce; 
and even scarcer. The demand was for more food, 
and farmers, and men and women with 
small plots of land forgot trying to 
grow flowers. Coincident with the ar¬ 
mistice came a little relief in the in¬ 
sistent demand for food. Again some 
yellow, and is absolutely Worthless. Never a perfect 
flower will such a plant make. The plant patholo¬ 
gists cannot tell us how to prevent it, nor can they 
offer us any regimen that will effect a cure. They 
will tell you to pull them out and burn them. That 
only fixes the one that went bad. and a promise of 
the same treatment has no deterrent effect on the 
others. They just keep on their yellow ramble right 
merrily. I have been told that New York State does 
not having bug troubles. If this is correct they 
are leagues ahead of us in the aster game. 
VARIETIES GROlWN.—Queen of the Market is 
usually planted for early, the Early Branching Royal 
second, and the upright and branching types for mid¬ 
season and late. Be very sure your seed is procured 
from a reliable dealer. . Seed may be sown very 
early in the Spring in a cold frame. If not sown 
too thick transplanting is not necessary. We have 
found asters grow stronger and more healthy if 
they are not transplanted. Flowers may be market¬ 
ed earlier if the seed is sown in hotbeds and the 
plants potted before planting in the field. 
CULTIVATION AND MARKETING.—We have 
never planted for horse cultivation. Flowers on 
plants in single cultivated rows during a severe storm 
They found 
They even 
in the large 
men turned to flowers, 
it wonderfully profitable 
had the commission men 
cities competing with one another for 
their stock. One of our neighbors told 
all his friends that he sold $115 worth 
of asters off a plot 20 ft. square. The 
next year half a dozen of his neighbors 
planted asters, and they all made 
money. The following Summer more 
farmers planted them. At our express 
station alone there were over 50 large 
boxes for Philadelphia in one morning. 
COMPETING WITH THE FLOR¬ 
ISTS.—They began to pile up in the 
commission houses in the cities. The 
florists who shipped to these merchants 
the entire season began complaining 
that the farmer-grown stock was inter¬ 
fering with the sale of stock they were 
growing; some even served notice on 
their commission men that if they were 
not protected in Summer they would 
consign their stock elsewhere in Win¬ 
ter. The farmers were immediately 
asked to stop shipping. One who the 
previous season told of making over 
$5,000 did not nearly make expenses. 
For the coming season several Philadel¬ 
phia commission houses have already 
made it known that they positively will not handle 
any flowers during the Summer time that are not 
grown by a man who has greenhouses and ships to 
them the entire season. This may not sound encour¬ 
aging to one who wishes to embark in this business. 
It may even appear that selfishly I am trying to 
ward off possible competition. Even though any 
reader may take this view of it, he can rest assured 
such is not the case, as we quit trying to make any 
money on this end of the business several years ago. 
It is simply a wish to be frank; brutally frank, if 
you choose, in order to save the inexperienced unnec¬ 
essary expense and eventually complete disillusion. 
Conditions in New York are no different from Phila¬ 
delphia. 
CULTURAL CONDITIONS. — Asters are easily 
grown on any good rich garden soil, where asters 
have not been planted in a former season. After sev¬ 
eral crops, and in some instances one crop, have been 
grown, it is very difficult to grow a full, healthy crop. 
Stem-rot is often very destructive under these 
conditions. It is good practice to endeavor to have 
new soil for each crop. Here in Pennsylvania we 
also have the yellows, the tarnished plant bug, and 
the back aster beetle to contend with. Rather a 
formidable list, we have found to our sorrow some 
seasons, when we were in the aster business. 
DISEASES.—Yellows is the most destructive. 
Plants that are growing in apparent health, with 
buds ready to open, turn slightly yellow, and the 
flower, instead of assuming a beautiful white, pink, 
rose or purple hue, just opens out light green or pale 
The A ew Massachusetts Rose ‘‘Commonwealth.” Fig. 165 
are blown into the mud and practically ruined. Our 
practice has been to set the plants 12 in. each way in 
beds 5 or 6 ft. wide. Practice thorough cultivation, 
have the soil rich, but avoid fresh manure, and there 
should be no difficulty to grow asters. The flowers 
are shipped in bunches of 25, packed in corrugated 
fiber boxes about 8x14x42 in. Some growers use 
larger boxes, but they do not carry as well as the 
above-mentioned size. After being bunched they 
should be placed in water for several hours before 
packing. ELMER J. WEAVER. 
Pennsylvania, 
R. N.-Y.—The picture on our cover this week 
shows Mr. Ernest Hahn and his wife and daughter, 
picking asters for Pittsburgh market. 
The Truth About Lancaster’s Markets 
On page 96 I saw a letter on Lancaster Co., Pa., and 
some comments on it- Just because I do not think as 
you do does not make you wrong or me right, but I do 
think you have only stated a half (or a good bit less) 
truth. I have been in Lancaster on a market day, and 
can testify as to farmers selling direct to consumers. I 
also have friends living out through the county, and 
have been over part of it, and know it is a fair-sized 
county. If you would be able to get any figures (I 
have none to offer) you will find that the ratio of 
farmers attending Lancaster market, compared with all 
farmers in the county, is very small. It seems to me 
you have only scratched the surface of Lancaster Coun¬ 
ty’s reasons for prosperity, and believing you want to 
be fair to all, I write to call your attention to this mat¬ 
ter, as some of your readers might get an impression 
that the market was the main reason for their prosper¬ 
ity. I am not trying to belittle the importance of their 
market, as I know it is popular. For several years I 
retailed milk in Philadelphia, Pa., in a neighborhood 
known as the 52d Street section, being around the 52d 
Street station on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and a num¬ 
ber of my customers who were workers on the Penn¬ 
sylvania Railroad and had passes to travel on, went 
regularly every Saturday morning to Lancaster for 
produce, butter, eggs. etc. w. e. g. 
Pennsylvania. 
E xtent of the industry.—i do not think 
any Lancaster Countian would make the assertion 
that the Lancaster market was responsible for the en¬ 
tire prosperity of the Lancaster County farmer; nor 
would any resident affirm that the lot of the farmers as 
a whole would be as good financially if this revenue were 
suddenly cut off. There are 11,000 farms in the county, 
varying in size from an acre or two to 175 acres, with 
several hundred above 175 acres in size. Statistics 
show there are about 1,500 farmers attending the va¬ 
rious markets in Lancaster and other boroughs in the 
county. In addition to this number of market-stand 
purchasers, there are numerous farmers who drive to the 
city and borough and peddle their produce from their 
wagons direct. Again, many farmers send butter, eggs 
and surplus vegetables, berries, or anything edible, with 
their neighbors who purchase stands. In this manner 
we may safely assert there are over 2,000 farmers de¬ 
pending on direct marketing of something they produce 
for a portion of their income. Very few of them are 
satisfied if this income does not feed and 
clothe the family, and in nearly all in¬ 
stances there is a good Mirplus in addi¬ 
tion, another thing it does to them that 
adds to our agricultural prosperity, or, 
more properly, to their individual com¬ 
fort. 
\ AIDED CROPS.—They all endeavor 
to grow some kind of vegetable for sale, 
market eggs, poultry, etc. They plant 
asparagus, strawberries, raspberries, a 
small orchard, etc. This variety of crops 
grown on many farms gives a more varied 
and abundant food supply for home con¬ 
sumption than will be found in localities 
where the farmers’ efforts are more often 
confined to one and two crops. They 
plant a large garden, and they do it right 
and they get results. If they have a sur¬ 
plus at any time it is sent to market with 
a neighbor, if, as already mentioned, they 
do not attend regularly. Our various 
boroughs and cities have a population of 
over 75,000,000, and that means a lot of 
food annually. Almost all of it is pro¬ 
duced on the Lancaster County farms. 
True, there are men who purchase out-of- 
the-season vegetables and fruit produced 
in the South or other sections of the 
county, and sell the same on (lie markets. 
This is necessary, as all of us should eat 
more fresh vegetables, as lettuce, celery, 
etc., during the Winter than we do. If 
the consumption of such food would be 
increased in all families during the Win¬ 
ter, especially on many farms, there would be less 
boils and bilious grouches toward Spring then we 
find now. 
LARGE RETURNS.—In a community where there 
is one farmer out of every five attending market regu¬ 
larly, and many of the other four sending their surplus 
along, either regularly or intermittently, it would take 
a pretty hardy spirit to assert calmly that the market 
was a small contributory asset to that agricultural 
community’s wealth. I have tried to get estimated fig¬ 
ures in dollars and cents as to just what it may total 
annually, but no one in authority seems to know. I 
have gone from the Farm Bureau to the city officials 
and the Bureau of Markets. They all say the total 
must be tremendous, but there has never been a can¬ 
vass made that would be authentic. They pay from $20 
to $150 each for their stand rentals annually, a space 
about 8 ft. long and 4 ft. wide, as a rule either along 
the curb or in especially constructed market houses. 
You farmers who have never dreamed of disposing of 
produce in this manner, imagine getting out of bed at 
•> :30 a. m. or earlier, then standing along tin* curb, 
either in the rain or snow, for four hours, and you can 
get an idea their is some money in it, or they would not 
do it. It is a matter of education on each side. The 
Lancaster city child knows very early in life that there 
is nothing in the house to eat until some member of the 
household goes to market; and coincidentally the farmer 
boy and girl know they can get spending money by grow¬ 
ing or producing something to sell on the same market. 
ELMER J. WEAVER. 
