Relation of Horticulture to are often sup posed to be a rather shrewd, intelligent, reliable set of men. This may be due partly to the fact that for all concerned the work in a horticultural community is usually beneficial. For the men, women, and children the outdoor work is wholesome, pleasant, and not too hard. The life is socially agreeable, for the farms are small, and the houses are conse quently near enough so that there is not the isolation which is the bane of some other farming communities.
The outstanding traits of the Chinese seem to have a close con nection with the horticultural type of farming. The work in the little Chinese gardens furnishes an excellent training in patience, in the capacity to plan for the proper rotation and succession of crops, and in . economy and thrift, for every bit of fertilizer and every square foot ' of land must be utilized. The splendid capacity of the Chinese for extreme care, accuracy, patience, and economy are partly the product of the intensive system of horticulture. This has been fostered not only by the density of the population, but by the abundant rain during the warm summer and by the dry spring season when many crops can be started only in beds that are artificially watered. Not only does the teaching of the elders pass on such traits to the children, but in the famines which frequently afflict that country the children of careless parents are much more likely to die than those of the parents who are careful and economical.
In our own country the work of the market gardener and truck farmer demands a great deal of careful planning as to what crops are best fitted to the soil, what ones will pay best in competition with those from other regions, what times of planting will give the largest return and find the best market, what kinds of fertilizer and of rotation of crops will bring the best returns and at the same time retain or improve the productivity of the soil, and what plans can be made to insure a plenti ful labor supply at the right times and keep the demand for work as steady as possible. One great value of horticulture lies in the fact that the units are usually small so that each farmer must to a greater or less degree think out his own problems. Though no great skill is required, garden work demands more judgment than most factory work, and it is more interesting to decide which beans are ready for picking than to shove a bit of metal into a machine hour after hour in a factory. It is
vastly better not only for an Italian peasant woman and her children, but for the children of any thrifty family to go out to a market garden or truck farm and work during the summer rather than run on the streets or work in a factory or store. It means not only earnings for women and children, and hence better business for everybody, but also better character. Few other occupations, except diversified, all-around farming, are better calculated to build up a sturdy, self-reliant middle class who furnish the background for almost every other sort of business.
Cooperation among Horticulturists.—The fact that horticulturists generally live in fairly compact communities and are not widely scat tered like many farmers makes cooperation relatively easy. In irri I gated regions this is peculiarly the case, for the whole community depends on a common water supply, and each man's rights must be carefully guarded so that he may get neither too much nor too little water. Among the market gardeners and truck farmers, however, there is much less cooperation .than among dairymen, but more than among wheat and cotton farmers. The fruit growers have made most progress in this respect. For instance in California one cooperative society has 8000 members. Such societies arose largely because of the difficulty of shipping fruit long distances without great loss.
The fruit raisers required low railroad rates, refrigerator cars, and fruit expresses. Their fruit needed to be cooled before shipping; their common enemy, the many fruit pests, had to be fought. So today the Western fruit growers associations are well-managed business enter prises directed by experts who conduct advertising campaigns, protect their brands of fruit by copyright, enforce careful grading and packing, care for the pre-cooling of the fruit and the icing of the cars en route, j negotiate for lower freight rates, keep in telegraphic communication with the Eastern markets so as to hold back or change the destination of shipments, and purchase tools and other supplies for their memberal at wholesale prices.