agriculture may do so, and still have the advantages that an enterprising city like Worcester bestows upon them.

Its horticultural society is known all over the State and all over the United States. Its presidents have been men of mark.

The agricultural society of Worcester is also one of the most noted in the country. It is one of the earliest organized in the country, and its past career has been such that its members may now point to it with pride. It is one of the very few that are endowed by an investment of their own acquiring.

But, gentlemen, you did not come here to hear me talk. I am very grateful, in the name of the Board of Agriculture, for the welcome which has been so eloquently and heartily given to us. But as you came for the purpose of hearing important agricultural questions discussed, and as the speakers are at hand, I will not take any more of your time, except to thank the city of Worcester and these societies again for their welcome.

As has been said by some of the speakers, the business of market gardening is one of the most important for this State and for this locality, and for the city of Worcester in particular; and the secretary and the committee which aids him in making out the programme have arranged for the first subject a lecture on market gardening, by a practical market gardener, — a man who, we are proud to say, pursued the study of the calling at our Agricultural College, and has since practised what he was taught there and what he has since acquired by experience and by reading. I now have the pleasure of introducing to you Mr. Henry M. Howard, who will speak to you on the subject of market gardening.

MARKET GARDENING.

BY MR. HENRY M. HOWARD, WEST NEWTON.

Producing several varieties of vegetables in large quantities is called market gardening.

It is a business carried on chiefly near large cities or towns in which the stuff can be sold. According to the last United States census, Middlesex and Essex counties produced $1,875,000 worth of vegetables in 1899, while the rest of the State produced only $1,325,000 worth, or about two-thirds as much. The above figures do not include potato and onion values.

Truck farming is carried on in any section of the country where the soil and climate are suited to the production of any one vegetable. Railroads and steamboats have to be used to bring this stuff to market, and most of it must be sold through commission men.

With market gardening a greater variety of vegetables is raised, and they are sold from the farmers' wagons to the dealers. The cost per acre for manure and labor is greatest on a market-garden farm, the last United States census giving the cost of labor as $340 and manure as $76 per acre for Massachusetts market-garden farms.

The most important essentials for market gardening are land, labor, manure and a large market.

The land used is that most convenient to the market, and is not always first class; yet by liberal use of manure, water and labor it is made to produce large crops.

Those farmers having a light, sandy soil are usually the first in the market with early vegetables. This kind of soil is suited for growing very early peas, beans, lettuce, spinach, radishes, corn and tomatoes; and again in the late fall

the light soils can be depended on to grow stuff as well if not better than the loamy soil.

Farmers having loamy soils do not have to use so much manure and water. Their crops come a little later than on sand, and are usually a little better in quality. During midsummer farmers having heavy loams are the ones who bring in the best stuff. I have never yet found a farmer among market gardeners who does not imagine that the other farmer with a different soil has a little better opportunity because of a better soil.

Those farms located nearest to the market are often the most desirable. The expense for transportation of manure and vegetables is very much less than on a more distant farm. Labor can be more easily obtained, and advantage taken of fluctuations in the market.

A load of 57 barrels of cabbage has been taken with one horse from Revere to Boston, a distance of about 4 miles. A one-horse load from East Watertown, about 4 miles out, has had on it 214 bushels of spinach. No such loads could be hauled a much longer distance with one horse. A single load from 10 miles out would be about one-half as much as that put on from farms 4 miles out.

The nearer the farm is to the market, the smaller we are apt to find it in area, and the more intensive its style of business, with a large proportion of its area under glass.

One of the smallest places is one in Methuen, Mass., where there are only 12 acres, but from which the gardener, with the aid of two men, sells nearly $2,500 worth of vegetables a year.

A small farm of 32 acres in Belmont has produced far greater results. This place is mostly covered with greenhouses. This farmer is an expert grower of lettuce, cucumbers, radishes, water cress, parsley and tomatoes. According to his own statement, he has made $40,000 profit in ten years. There is another farm in Belmont about the same size as this one, which has as much glass on it; and this farmer has been even more successful than his neighbor before spoken of. These two little farms are only 4 miles from Boston, and the salesmen are in the market every day,

thus keeping posted. They have the stuff every day, and so can dispose of it to advantage when short or when plentiful. These two men have been very shrewd business men, as well as good growers. They have had very little No. 2 stuff. They have worked with their men, and consulted them as to methods of doing the work. They have kept strict account of their business. No man knows better what to do than the one who is on the spot or doing the work. Often the workmen will discover some way of doing which is more economical in time, or makes the goods look better when exposed for sale; and this new way will be adopted. The amount of manure used on these small places will average 30 cords per acre. On a market garden of 25 to 35 acres it will average 18 to 20 cords, but on those of 75 to 100 acres you will find a different style of business, and the farmer using scarcely 15 cords per acre.

All market gardeners use horse manure in preference to any other, as it is the kind which makes the vegetables grow best. It is usually broadcasted and plowed in not over 6 inches deep.

Manure is the principal source of plant food; but on most market-garden farms at some time during the growing season you will find the farmer using nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia or fertilizer, to make some crop grow faster. Nitrate of soda is very quick in acting, its effects being seen in three days. Great care must be used in applying it, so as not to injure the crop. There are two times when it is safe to apply it, they are when the crop is dry or when a hard rain is falling. It should be applied about 80 pounds. per acre at a time, and not again for about ten days. If applied too heavily, there will be loss by leaching and it may burn the crop. Sulphate of ammonia is slower in acting, and can be used in larger applications at one time without danger of waste by leaching. It is equally liable to burn the crop.

The manure supply for these market gardens is hauled quite regularly. Some of the large stables have to be cleaned out every day. Wagons holding 2 cords or over and drawn by three or four horses are used to carry it in.

Two men are usually sent on the wagon, and they make two trips a day.

When the manure is piled on the farm, it is in some spot convenient to the cultivated land. Onto these piles of fresh manure is thrown all the waste from the wash-house. The best way to build the pile is to make a bottom as large as desired and keep the top levelled as each load is added. Piles built in this way and tramped hard will not burn much. Some market gardeners use a lot of water on manure when overhauling in the summer for fall use. In February and March all the manure is overhauled once or twice, usually twice, and made ready to use.

We find some market gardeners about Boston who have a clayey soil plowing in about 10 cords of strawy manure in the fall, and as much more in the spring. By so doing they can get very good crops. Where the land is heavy or late, and the crops planted on it are celery, onions or parsnips, it is advisable to manure in the fall.

Some interesting experiments have been tried with manure on market gardens, and some of them have been very costly. There is probably not a market gardener present who has not at some time injured a crop with too much manure, or more often some of his crops have suffered for lack of manure or proper application.

Manure which has had well-fed hogs on it will be found highly beneficial to early spring spinach, but it is very injurious to the small red radish. Manure which is too rotten is dangerous stuff to use in large quantities for lettuce. It is much safer to use fresh manure for lettuce; in fact, it will grow the best lettuce. In the open field or hotbed I have found nitrate of soda great for lettuce. Cow manure is first class for corn, spinach and beets. We used one year something like 600 cords of manure from the cattle yards in Watertown, and found it especially good for spinach and beets.

The help on most of our market gardens is largely Italian. It is good help, intelligent, quick to catch on and very industrious. It is easy to get help on any farm near Boston where the carfare by trolley is only five cents, but beyond that limit it is much harder to get it.