We are indebted to the Carolina Trucking Development Company
for a copy of a very charming little book bearing the above title. This book,
bound in cloth, octavo size, of 250 pages, is a remarkable one in more respects
than one. It is on the subject of intensive farming and was written to show
what a man of pluck and energy could do in the way of making a competency for
himself and family on a small farm by growing fruits and vegetables for the
city markets. It is an interesting account of the experiences of a man who gave
up his business in a city and moved with his wife and six children to an
11-acre farm purchased and stocked out of the proceeds of the sale of his
business in the city. There is much of advice and practical information in it
for those who contemplate truck farming, and it will afford pleasant reading to
others not intending to take up such occupation. It is an interesting and
pleasantly written account of the experiences of this family—as interesting as
a novel. But it is not a fancy sketch of present day conditions; for a
remarkable circumstance about the book is that it was written about 40 years
ago and portrayed the conditions then existing.
For some years the book has been out of print. The
Cultivator Publishing Company of Atlanta has issued a reprint of the original,
and in the preface it is stated that the conditions existing at the time of the
issue of the original were so similar in many respects regarding the matters
therein treated that it was found necessary to make remarkably few changes,
only one or two chapters requiring rewriting, these being such as on the
subjects of “Revolution in Agriculture” and “Where to Locate.”
The book is exactly the thing for farmers and truckers in
this section of the country whose chief aim is to contract the area planted and
at the same time expand the results of their farming. A general distribution of
this book among the truckers of eastern North Carolina would, we believe, have
good results in aiding in increasing the value of the trucking business of our
section.
We remember reading a few years ago an account of a
Frenchman who lived near Paris and supported his family on the proceeds from
sales of the products of a quarter of an acre of land. His was farming of the
most intensive kind with frequent repetition of crops. Every square inch of his
little patch of ground was highly fertilized and was kept growing one kind or
another of crops all the time.
This Frenchman’s experience and success was referred to in
this article.
“Ten Acres Enough”—This is the key note to successful truck
farming in this section, as well as elsewhere. What we need to make farming
successful to the farmers and a means of adding to the general prosperity of
our section is to have the old plantations and the waste lands divided into
small farms whose owners or renters can cultivate carefully and keep under a
high state of fertilization.
We are glad to know that a movement looking to this end is
being energetically and intelligently pushed in our midst. Small farmers with a
good class of owners or tenants, whatever their nationality may be, is the
present-day need of our section and we are glad to believe that in the very
near future this much desired state of affairs will be realized.
Accompanying the book treated of in this article is a chart
“showing times for planting different crops in Wilmington section” designating
for each month of the year the vegetables which should be planted. This chart
was prepared by Mr. Albert S. Root, soil expert for the Carolina Trucking Development
Company, showing that in this section gardening and truck farming can be
carried on the whole year round.
January—English peas, radish, onions, beets, and cabbages;
the last three are planted in hot beds; also figs, grape vines, fruit trees and
cassava.
February—English peas, radish, beets, cabbage, tomatoes, egg
plant, carrots, peppers, Irish potatoes, turnips, spinach; figs, fruit trees,
grapes and cassava.
March—Onions, radish, Irish potatoes, turnips, beets,
cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, spinach, egg plant, and rhubarb.
April—Cantaloupes, watermelons, beans, table peas, okra,
cucumbers, squash, corn, sweet potatoes, onions, tomatoes, beets, pepper,
asparagus, and rhubarb; also cow peas, velvet beans and teosinte.
May—Corn, squash, beans, late melons, cucumbers, tomatoes,
okra, sweet potatoes, asparagus, beans, peas, squash and velvet beans.
June—Beans, tomatoes, corn, cow peas and velvet beans.
July—Rutabaga turnips, cow peas, cabbage, beans, beets,
Brussels sprouts, Irish potatoes and strawberries.
August—Strawberries, turnips, collards, kale, beans, Brussel
sprouts, cabbage, beets, and lettuce in latter part of month.
September—Mustard, collards, cabbage, kale, turnips,
strawberries, and lettuce first part of month; also alfalfa, clover and vetch.
October—Lettuce, strawberries and lettuce first part of
month; also alfalfa, clover and vetch.
November—Strawberries, spinach, cabbage, beets, lettuce,
turnips, kale, cauliflower, clover, alfalfa and vetch.
December—Strawberries, turnips, spinach, onion sets, beets
and cabbage under glass; and figs, fruit trees, grapes, clover, alfalfa and
vetch early part of the month.
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