PLAN No. 1062. HORTICULTURE
The farm orchard, though it may be for the use only of the owner and his tenants, must be properly handled, pruned, and sprayed. Garden truck, berries, and small fruits must have early and constant attention. In commercial orcharding trees of different varieties are now frequently interplanted, such as apple, peach, and apricot. In the different seasons the fruit grower is occupied with the various employments of pruning, cultivation, spraying, thinning, gathering, storing, and marketing. Summer, fall, and winter varieties may be grown, the latter to be sold as the big crop and stored by the buyer, or by the orchardist himself, to supply the markets through the winter and spring, or even until they compete with next year’s summer apples in the market. Various side lines of labor naturally accompany orcharding, such as growing small fruits and berries, and some farming, possibly trucking, between the rows in young orchards. Bees, poultry, and swine are not only profitable, but help in keeping the ground clear of insects, and in other ways.
PLAN No. 1063. BEEKEEPING
Bees not only produce honey, but render service in promoting crop farming through fertilization and by aiding in the control of parasites. Beekeeping is most interesting and exceedingly profitable, and while usually managed as a side line with orcharding, or some other branch of farming, it may be made so profitable and conducted on such a large scale as to be a business in itself. Many retired professional men devote themselves to it, as the work is light and is done only in spring, summer, and fall, when the weather is inviting for outdoor work. One Indiana man is reported as having a $20,000 honey crop this year.
PLAN No. 1064. DAIRYING
Possibly no occupation has more possible lines of interest and is more adapted to your condition than dairying. The handling, feeding, care, and management of the herd and calf nursery, and in cases of pure-bred herds, the study of pedigrees, blood lines, and breeding are all most interesting, as are also the scientific milking, handling of dairy products, and marketing. The dairy occupation of butter and cheese making, as well as the feeding of live stock for meat, and much other work continue through the entire year. The agriculturist, if a specialist, can conduct a small dairy and can co-ordinate, for example, butter making or other lines with his specialty, thus enabling him to run his “agricultural factory” the year around.
PLAN No. 1065. OTHER FARM SPECIALTIES AND TRADES
Other branches of farming require active all year employment, and, though too numerous to mention here, attention should be called to forestry, the nursery business, large poultry projects, the growing of rabbits, hares, birds, and pigeons on large scale, and the production of medicinal plants, now receiving so much attention because of the war’s interference with production abroad. All these occupations call for much labor of a frequently changing nature. They are interesting and provide opportunity for selection of employment suited to your disability.
Hauling products to the station or, if near enough, to the market demanding a fresh supply of fruits and green vegetables is one line of work. The truck farmer operating large fields of potatoes, onions, and other crops not requiring placement daily on the market finds a great variety of work to be done and usually carries on one or more side lines. One of the most successful combinations of specialties includes raising poultry, growing small fruits, and keeping bees, but one making a specialty of any one of these branches would unquestionably develop profitable minor lines which would give employment when the main line did not supply it.
Small trades or manufacturing may accompany your farm project, as you will find time for these in rainy weather and in winter. In many localities the broom corn, grown between the rows of early potatoes, or as a regular crop, may be made into brooms on the farm in the winter. Crates, boxes, and barrels for fruit and vegetables are to be made, and buildings, fencing, and gates demand attention. During much of the dormant season of the year, in many sections of the United States, land is most advantageously plowed, prepared, and planted to winter grain and other crops in some sections up until Christmas. Other land is simply broken (not harrowed), to be in readiness for early spring preparation, and in order that it may improve more rapidly under winter rain, sunshine, freezing, and thawing, natural processes which release plant food and kill insect life and fungus development.