The Truck Farmer

foreign largely in Florida and other California a Texas while winter holds the North in icy grasp these fertile fields of the warm Rio Grande Valley yield a wide variety of fresh vegetables for consumers throughout the snowbound regions at this time tourists from the north may have an excellent opportunity to study the source of their winter vegetables today for example Mr Andrews a South Texas truck farmer is visited by a man from Minnesota good morning howdy I was just driving through South Texas and thought I'd like to see how you raise those winter vegetables we've been enjoying up in Minnesota this winter well here they are make yourself at home you know you're doing us people up north a big favor by raising all these winter vegetables well you're doing us a favor by buying our crop so I reckon that makes us about even have you lived here long only about 10 years I used to be an office man in Ohio but I heard about what you might call this new frontier they were opening up down this way the idea of getting in on a new development like this appealed to me so I came down to South Texas to look it over an agent of one of the development companies showed me some newly cleared land and I could see that the soil in this section was rich Sandy long all it needed was irrigation to make it ideal for farming and the nearby Rio Grande was able to supply an abundance of water that could be fed to the fields Under full control well the proposition looked good I bought 30 Acres right over there is the house we built after the family moved down now we're Old-Timers we've seen Brownsville grow a good deal since we came our business district provides ample shopping facilities and we've built modern schools that are attended by our own children and those of other farmers and the city people another of our important developments has been the building of a ship canal linking us with the gulf and making Brownsville a port of Commerce as well as a truck farming Center while you're here I want you to be sure to see our apartment it is February in the Rio Grande Valley and this laborer on the Andrews Farm is planting beans in the same month tomato seeds are planted no hot houses are needed to start young plants since the temperature is warm throughout the year sweet corn is being planted in these rows though roasting years to reach Northern markets while corn is still being planted there once the seed is in the ground the level fields are ready to be watered and because there is little rainfall water from the Rio Grande must be brought to the Thirsty soil through irrigation ditches an irrigation company controls the water supply and the farmers pay for what they use through each separate ditch between the rows of plants the water creeps onward until the field is well supplied laborers keep the ditches open more water is brought in as needed during the growing season also at this time the plants must be protected against insects these men are using a powder which will kill insects that thrive upon these young tomato plants in this large field of potatoes nearby we see the latest mechanical method of spraying to overcome pests unless these plants come into bloom unharmed the crop of potatoes will not develop now we see beets that have reached maturity ripen squashes on the vine and full round heads of cabbages ready to be cut in the Andrews home problems of marketing the crop are now Uppermost Mr Andrews keeps in close touch with daily market reports through the local newspaper remind me to get in touch with Jim Fraser at the Packing Shed tomorrow we have about 100 bushels of carrots ready for Market have you heard how the market is on cabbage today it's up a little think we'd better sell a ton tomorrow Dad how much did you pay for this Farm 300 an acre son why Bill Green and I have decided to save our money and buy some uncleared land about eight miles out we can get it for fifty dollars an acre and clear it ourselves well look it over but before you buy you'd better make absolutely sure that you're in the Irrigation District yes and how much irrigation ditches too it will cost yes and you'd better get samples of soil and have them analyzed yes I know all these things and there are a lot more problems we've been studying him in school but I like farming here where you hardly ever have a crop failure turning from problems of the future to those of the present next morning we find Mexican workers in Mr Andrews cabbage field Mexican labor is cheap that is one reason why Northern consumers pay so little for winter vegetables entire families labor in the fields this young lab is picking beans with the skill of his Elders beside him working from early morning until sundown on his knees between the rows of plants in a nearby Field Plaza turned up the ripened potatoes and other Mexican laborers are carefully putting them up in sacks in this large carrot field Mexican workers are brought in from their homes by trucks the crop must be harvested quickly while the market is favorable hundreds of workers are engaged in harvesting these carrots at top speed crops are usually sold before harvesting and the buyer directs the activity of the workers each crew first pulls up the carrots here the soil is so dry and loose that they come forth with tops and Roots intact next comes the job of sorting the carrots and tying them into bundles each containing from four to six in such bundles these carrots will reach the vegetable stands far away in the wintry North the buyer is constantly concerned with the quality of the crop the trucks which came to the field loaded with workers presently or even more heavily loaded with carrots from the field sorted and carefully tied in bunches as quickly as possible the Harvest is rushed from beneath the broiling sun to the packing sheds one of the most important problems of cut growing is to get produce from field to Market Fresh and crisp these men are unloading squashes just picked from other fields at the end of the day the trucks returned to carry the Mexican families back to their homes sometimes located several miles from their work these little settlements are much like Mexican villages Southward across the Rio Grande simple homes with thatched roofs well suited to the hot dry climate back in the packing plant we find parsnips passing by on a conveyor belt to be washed freshly harvested carrots being given a thorough cleaning and other carrots with cops cut off coming from a rotary washer in their journey to Northern markets these vegetables may have to travel 2 000 miles or more therefore they are packed in the boxes between layers of chipped ice come to the aid of hands in the packing sheds and contribute to cutting down the cost of the fresh vegetables when they have reached the consumer and to the Packers by way of overhead mechanical conveyors here beets are being iced down in their packing boxes this ingenious Machinery saves time in topping the boxes now the fresh vegetables packed in ice have begun their journey to Market outside the Packing Shed refrigerator cars are always waiting to receive the produce one car may contain several varieties of vegetables a stream of chipped ice is forced over the boxes stacked in the cars to ensure their arrival in Northern cities as fresh as if just taken out of the soil and now the train is off without delay possibly to Montana or Michigan or Vermont fresh vegetables raised under a Tropical Sun packed in ice and rushed quickly northward soon our loaded refrigerator cars are passing through snowbound regions and nearing their destination and this is why the housewife in any Northern Community passing through the deep snow that covers all the countryside has only to drive a few blocks to the nearest market to find there in midwinter a delightful offering of fresh vegetables because of refrigeration rapid transportation and the winter work of the Southern truck farmer