The nonpartisan leader. [volume], April 05, 1920, Image 5

About The nonpartisan leader. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1915-1921

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
"N
The author of this article lives at Lakeport, Cal.
While his conditions will not fit with those of most
farmers it is possible for nearly every one to get soma
hints from the success of another. The readers of the
Leader are now so widely scattered over the entire con
tinent that it is our purpose to present articles dealing
with as many different farming conditions as possible.
BT C. CHAPMAN TOMSK
OR 10 years I have been getting a little
over $500 per acre in garden crops on
a piece of bench land so poor that it
had never quite yielded the seed. The
tract is on a bluff about 75 feet above
the bottom land. It slopes southeast
and is a sandy loam mixed with coarse gravel,
underlaid with gravel and boulders at a depth of
four to ten feet. The great drawback to this piece
was it leaked moisture like a sieve and my crops
either dried out or burned up.
The remainder of my farm is low, rich bottom
land and I sometimes lost my early vegetables by
late frosts. My poor bench land warmed up earlier
and could be worked and planted fully three weeks
earlier than the lowlands, and in all the years I
have planted it to tender vegetables I have had to.
replant but once. My first successful crop was the
following:
Sweet Corn—Early Cory.
Tomatoes—Earliana, First of All, Coe's Early.
Peppers—Neapolitan.
I drilled in my sweet corn so early that my neigh
bors thought me crazy. Though it was a late
spring I planted tomatoes three weeks ahead of
any that had been set out in this community.
That bench land, with all its drawbacks, had one
invaluable feature—its earliness. I was willing to
risk seed, labor and plants to beat the drawbacks
—and I won. That first season I had a big "scoop"
on the early corn, tomato and pepper market, beat
ing the neighborhood by more than three weeks.
After the first load, I sold to peddlers^ who came
to the place for the vegetables.
I received the first week 28 cents per dozen for
my peppers, 25 cents per dozen for corn, and 22
cents per pound for tomatoes.
At the end of three weeks my corn was all sold,
but tomatoes and peppers were selling at 4 cents
and 2 cents per pound, respectively. I quit selling
from this tract when
the price dropped below
these figures. When the
returns were all count
ed I could scarcely be
lieve my eyes—$500 an
acre from waste land!
During the last two
years I have been get
ting even better re
turns. My success is
still founded on the
earliness of the tract,
and I have learned
many little kinks for in
creasing earliness. I
have developed a good
system of packing and
handling my crops. 1
have also learned the
most valuable of all
lessons—that an honest
and uniform pack is
"first aid" to selling on
a glutted market.
USES NORTHERN
GROWN SEEDS
I secure earliness by
using northern-grown
seeds, by planting at
the earliest possible
moment, and by raising
my own plants of va
rieties best suited to
my soil. Earliana is my
favorite so far. My
method of handling and
raising my plants is
one of the secrets of
my success. I set no
plant that is not stocky,
tough and hardened to
From Minus Zero to $500 Per Acre
A California Farmer's Experience in Successful Truck Farming
on Abandoned Bench Land
The fact that one man is able to make
returns of $500 an acre by personal ex
ertions is no indication that this can be
done generally. If all farmers took to
growing- garden truck the story of
their experience would be "From $500
Per Acre to Minus Zero." Mr. Tomek's
case is frankly an exceptional one and
is quoted as such. Individual farmers
may gain valuable suggestions from
such experiences, but for the great bulk
of the farming population fundamental
reforms are necessary before farming
can be put on a sure and safe business
basis. The individual farmer must con
stantly strive to be a better farmed,
but in addition there must be collective
action, in co-operative enterprises and
in the political field, to better mar
keting and credit conditions.
a rather low temperature. I also require plants
that have a mass of short, fibrous roots. Drawn
or sappy plants get badly checked in transplanting
and do not set fruit so early.
I start my tomato plants as early as the second
week in January, as 1 do not wish any rapid growth.
I sow seeds in rich loam in a hotbed and trans
plant the first time when the second leaves begin
to show. In transplanting I do not loosen the soil.
I pull the seeding gently up. If the roots did not
break short I nip to one inch in length, setting them
two inches apart each way.
When the tops meet I transplant again, this time
to cold frames, giving more space. My plants are
always transplanted three or four times before
planting in the field. These frequent transplant
ings dwarf and harden the seedlings, causing them
to make many little fibrous roots. These roots
start little feeding branchlets a few hours after
transplanting. When the time comes to trans­
GOOD HAND TOOLS MEAN BETTER GARDENS
mm
mi
Making hand work easier means more home gardening, both in the city and on the farm. A. F. Yeager
of the North Dakota Agricultural college declares that many farmers might find a wheel hoe better on
closely spaced rows than a horse-drawn cultivator. Especially is this true with crops like
radishes, lettuce, peas and onions. The hand cultivator also can be used to
good effect with close set cabbage, sweet corn and tomatoes.'
PAGE FIVE'
plant to the field, seedlings given this treatment
suffer little shock and soon commence to grow.
As I set out in the field at the earliest moment
when the ground is but slightly warm, my plants
must stand quite a low temperature at times. I
have prepared them for this by giving fresh air in
increasing doses. The last 10 days in the cold
frame they are strong enough to go uncovered at
night and not check their growth. This cold hard
ening of my plants has enabled me to plant fully
a week earlier than I could if I were buying the
best plants on the market. Get the tomato seed
ling once hardened and it will grow cheerily and set
fruit, while the sappy plants are hanging their
heads undecided whether to live or die. It takes
a little judgment to harden plants successfully, but
any mature person can get the knack from expe
rience better than from precept.
WHEN GROUND STARTS TO
WARM PLANTING IS RUSHED
My big money comes from earliness, so I bend
all my energy to that end. I have an early plat
of ground but I do not depend on that. I take good
care to have my ground ready and my plants ready
a week before my usual time for setting out, for it
is highly important that the plants are set in the
field at the earliest possible moment. This moment
is when the ground is a little warm. I usually
test the ground heat by scratching off about an inch
of the surface soil and testing 6y placing my hand
on the soil. It must feel distinctly warmer than
the surface soil, and feel a trifle warm to my fin-?™
gers. The time to make the test is in the early'
morning by 7 or 7:30 at the latest. Test in several
different parts of the field.
Once satisfied that the ground is warming—I
usually make the test on two or three successive
days—rush the planting all you possibly can. Here
is one of the milestones where you gain or lose
dollars. Do not hold back planting because you
fear frosts. The years it does not come will pay for
an occasional replanting. Take note and remember
to raise a reserve supply of plants if not needed
they can be sold. Care in planting is important. The
plant must be set so firmly it can not be pulled out
without breaking. The soil must press firmly
against the roots—leave
no air spaces or the
roots which have been
so carefully nurtured
will wither and the
plant will be too slow
in starting. My system
of plant raising is the
outgrowth of my desire
to get the best plants
ready to grow at the
earliest possible mo
ment. Anything that
checks growth after
setting in the field de
feats this object. There
fore the greatest care
should be used to keep
the roots from drying
out. Plants for early
crops should be han
dled with extra care as
they must be checked
in growth when trans
planted to the field.
Very little care is
needed after setting in
the field—just keeping
weeds dbwn and mois
ture in. I set tomatoes
closer together in poor,
sandy soil close
enough to keep the
ground shaded when
the plants are mature.
It keeps- the fruit from
sunburning. The exact
distance depends on va
riety and soil. I usual
ly set plants on bench
lsuid about three by
three feet for the early
varieties mentioned.