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.