The Young Farmer: Some Things He Should Know

by Thomas Forsyth Hunt

CHAPTER XIV

THE PLACE OF INTENSIVE
FARMING

The doctrine of the survival of the most fit applies equally to the field of biology and to the field of economics. The general introduction of vegetables and fruits into the human dietary has, by banishing the loathsome diseases of the Middle Ages, greatly increased human efficiency. It follows that those peoples or nations who employ vegetables and fruits in abundance, other things being equal, will be most fit to survive and must outstrip others less fortunately situated. We may for this reason alone look forward to the increasing importance of vegetable growing and fruit raising; but there is a more obvious and perhaps more direct reason. There is in the production of vegetables, at least, a method of satisfying the dietetic needs of an increasing population. The employment of a part of the area now in cereals and forage crops for the production of potatoes, cabbages, legumes, roots and tomatoes is one of the most ready means of increasing the food supply. Whether such substitution will be advantageous to the human race depends, however, not so much upon the food returns from a given area of land as upon the products from a given amount or unit of labor.

KINDS OF HORTICULTURE

In that form of intensive agriculture to which is given the designation horticulture, there may be recognized several more or less distinct divisions, as fruit growing, market gardening, truck farming and floriculture. Each has its own special problems, based upon conditions of culture and market. While, as in all classifications, there is more or less overlapping, the tendency is for them to become more and more distinct. The market gardener is the producer of vegetables for a local market, while the truck farmer produces similar products for a larger or wider distribution. The former grows a great variety of products, disposing of them in relatively small quantity, not infrequently directly to the consumer. The latter raises a few highly specialized crops which he sells in gross, usually through a commission merchant. Truck farming has developed since 1860, in consequence of the growth of large cities, which require enormous supplies of vegetables of fairly uniform quality, and on account of the continuous demand for fresh vegetables as nearly as possible throughout the year. Watermelons and sweet potatoes can be raised in the southern states and laid down in New York City or Boston more cheaply than they can be raised in the suburbs of these cities, and, what is equally important, they will be of superior quality.

The extension of railway facilities, the introduction of refrigerator cars and the building of cold storage plants has made it possible to grow in one climate products to be consumed in another. Cold storage has enabled the fruit growers of California to supply the eastern markets with peaches and other fresh fruit. Chicago, to give only one example, begins to receive strawberries, cabbages and tomatoes from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico early in the year and continues to receive these products, until finally they are being shipped late in the summer from the shores of Lake Superior. It is estimated that the change of locality from which these products come, travels northward at the rate of from 13 to 15 miles a day.

IMPORTANT FACTORS IN INTENSIVE FARMING

In the neighborhood of large cities, notably in the environs of Paris, market gardeners often produce their vegetables in made soil. The local character of the soil under such conditions is a matter of comparative indifference, since a board floor would answer every requirement as a resting place for the artificial soil. The large expense in preparing and constantly renewing the seed bed is only economically possible, however, where proximity to a large city out-weighs all other considerations.

Ordinarily climatic and soil adaptation are prime factors in successful horticulture—much more than in any other branch of agriculture. Each fruit has a restricted climatic range, and in most cases the number of soil types on which a given fruit can be made a commercial success is likewise limited. Thus, in general, apples and pears require heavier soils than peaches. Success in commercial apple growing requires even greater discrimination, since different varieties of apples demand different soil conditions. Thus Baldwins are grown the most successfully where a northern climate is modified by proximity to the Great Lakes. Rhode Island Greenings will succeed on soils too heavy for many other varieties. The York Imperial has not yet achieved a great commercial success save on one type of soil. Some varieties of apples are much more restricted in their adaptation than others. Thus, while the King is quite restricted, the Ben Davis has a fairly wide cultural adaptation. No one should plant an orchard until he has made a thorough study of his soil and climatic conditions and has received the highest possible expert assistance in choosing the varieties best adapted to his conditions.

There is an increasing tendency to specialize in vegetable growing. The production of celery, onions, muskmelons, watermelons, cabbages, cauliflowers, tomatoes and sweet corn, to mention only some of the most striking examples, are becoming more and more localized. Even where vegetables and flowers are grown under glass, not only is each house devoted to a single species, but, notably in the case of roses, growers are restricting themselves more and more to a few varieties. This is due to the fact that it is impossible to give in one house, or even in one establishment, the special set of conditions required for the most economic development of each species or variety of plant, just as in the open air the natural conditions are best adapted to a limited number of horticultural products.

So much being admitted, it follows that it is folly to attempt to grow plants under unfavorable climatic and soil conditions when competing in the same market with those possessing favorable ones. It is true, of course, that where one man fails another often succeeds, but this is no reason why a man should apply his talents under unfavorable circumstances. In fact, one of the important attributes of most successful men is their ability to recognize and apply their energies under conditions which will give them the most effective return for a given effort. There is no virtue in unnecessary toil. Progress in any enterprise, as progress in the human race, can be accomplished only in reducing the amount of labor required to produce a desired result.

All this is axiomatic. The purpose of emphasizing it here is that it is fundamental to the success of those who attempt to produce horticultural products. The necessity for the emphasis lies in the fact that these factors are so often disregarded. They are of most vital importance to the man who attempts to raise tree fruits. A mistake in the planting of celery, cabbage, or onions may be rectified the following season, but if a mistake is made in planting tree fruits, it may, as in the case of apples, require ten or even 20 years to discover the error.

The growth in commercial orcharding is due in part to the need of special knowledge and facilities for combating fungous diseases and insect enemies and to the better markets which a large production of uniform quality makes possible. While these are extremely important considerations, there is a more fundamental reason, which may in the long run exercise an even more potent influence. The location of the ordinary family orchard, so called, has been determined in almost every instance by the location of the farm buildings. There is no necessary relation between a good site for a farm dwelling and a suitable location for an orchard. It happens, therefore, that family orchards, taken as a whole, are not grown under as favorable conditions as are commercial orchards. This is a sufficient reason in itself, even if the other reasons above mentioned did not exist, why the commercial orchard must, in time, supplant these accidental plantings.

ADVANTAGES OF HORTICULTURE

The advantages of this intensive form of agriculture as compared with the more extensive forms discussed in Chapter XII may be stated as follows:

(1) A large gross income per acre may be obtained. An investigation of truck farming made some years ago indicated a gross return per acre about 40 times as great as that obtained on an average from all forms of agriculture.

(2) There is a large opportunity for the use of skill in raising and preparing products for market and an equal opportunity for the exercise of judgment in choosing the best markets.

DISADVANTAGES OF HORTICULTURE

(1) It requires considerable capital, particularly for machinery and labor. In the investigation in truck farming above mentioned the capital per acre invested in land, buildings, implements and teams was eight times that in the more general forms of agriculture.

(2) The products are for the most part readily perishable, requiring special facilities if held for any length of time.

(3) Growing out of above-mentioned fact, the market is easily overstocked at any given point, and hence prices often fluctuate widely.

(4) The yield is also quite variable, this class of products being especially influenced by seasonal conditions and particularly subject to insect attacks and fungous diseases. Since large capital is invested in labor, the horticulturist may be involved in financial ruin through causes which he is unable to control.

(5) The labor question, in certain forms of horticulture more than in others, involves difficulties, among which is need of large quantities of cheap labor for short periods of time.