PAGE TWELVE f———— to NEPA sires. Carl Warmouth, grandson of Har- vey Moss, Cauliflower King of the Back Mountain, models a king-size head of cauliflower, with a huge truck in the background, loaded with crates ready for the 4 am. wholesale market in Wilkes-Barre. The plant from which this head was cut, had a wingspread of a full yard, measured; from. leaf tip ‘to leaf tip. Harvey Moss has been raising cauliflower for - thirty-five years, cabbage ‘for over fifty. Cauliflower is: big business in the Back Mountain, with tremendous crops annually trucked to the Farm- ers Wholesale Market in Wilkes- Barre, or: finding outlet. through store groups. Acreage varies from one to fourteen A typical grower. is Harvey Moss, whose fields are on the Jonathan Valentine place .in Jackson Town- ship. Mr. Moss ‘has been growing cauliflower for : thirty-five . years, cabbages for over fifty. He is con- fs Carl Warmouth 1 | t leaves. Cauliflower is perishable, must be marketed immediately or it deteriorates. The six to seven acre plot takes 40,000 plants, twenty-one inches apart, in rows spaced three feet apart. There is endless cultivation and spraying, but it is the tying up of heads that takes the help. The entire area has to be gone over again and again. When time comes to cut, the fields are completely canvassed every week for mature heads. Mr. Moss says that this year there was not enough help at the peak: = season, . resulting in some wastage. Trimming 120 dozen heads is a big day’s work. Mr. Moss’ grandson, Carl War- mouth, works along with him, and two men are needed in'addition at busy seasons. Raising cauliflower means reaching Farmers Market at 4 a.m. with the truckload of crates packed the day before. The big truck handles 150 crates. sidered an authority on cauliflower, the uncrowned king of the area. Mr. Moss agrees with area grow- ers that cauliflower is a good crcp that will thrive almost anywhere, but that it takes a lot of hard work. The soil hereabouts, though some- what dense and with a clay sub- soil, is suitable for its culture. Ro- tation of crops must be practiced to prevent club-root and other dis- eases. One ray of sun on the white head yellows the product, so leaves are tied over the swelling heads before their natural covering of leaves can turn back to expose them. This is a back-breaking job, requiring end- less stooping for hours at a, time. At harvest, the tied leaves are trimmed back to the familiar stubs when the head is cut from the stem, and heads are packed a dozen to the crate, weigh forty-five to fifty-five pounds. Plants are hardy, says Mr. Moss. The earliest ones are grown under glass, to force maturity early enough to catch the higher pre-season prices, but from mid-April the plants can be set in the ground without fear of white frost. Mid- August to mid-September is the crop peak. Early fall frost does not damage the heads, as they are com- pletely protected by their sheath of It would be impossible to write up all the substantial growers of the area. A random sampling starts with a very large producer, Rafael Rodriguez. Mr. Rodriguez, raising cauli- flower at Chase for fifteen years, annually sets out 95,000 to 100,000 plants, grown in the main in the open, only a few under glass. His son Joseph, a graduate of Lehman- Jackson High School, 1948, works along with him, and Rafael, still in High School, pitches in during his free time. Joseph and Rafael, real- izing the tremendous investment in a modern farm, recognize opportun- ity in a basic industry when they see it, and expect to stay on the land. Mr. Rodriguez annually sells 3,500 first quality crates’ to the American Stores, Inc., and disposes of the remainder in other wholesale markets. Mr. Rodriguez allows at least three years between cauli- flower crops on a piece of land, says five years would be better. Walter Wolfe, Meeker, was cut- ting the last crop from his five acres November 17. He reports no trouble with help, and says the market was fair this year. He oper- ates with the help of a year-round hired man and seasonal help in tying. John Hildebrant, East Dallas, with Joe Zosh Has Top Dairy Herd Led Association During Last Year One of the outstanding young dairymen ‘in the Back Mountain area is Joe Zosh whose herd of twenty-two cows has consistently led Luzerne County Cow Testing Association No. 2. Joe's seventy-eight acre farm which was originally part of the Hildebrant place has a commanding Folks Who Make The Post view of Loyalville and the distant North Mountain range. Last year his herd averaged 13,027 pounds of milk and 501.2 pounds of butterfat for 305 days. His three top cows produced 601.2 pounds, 562.9 pounds and 553.7» pounds of butterfat, while nine cows produced 400 pounds or over. Joe started originally with grade cows but six years ago bought three registered animals from Kis Lyn, His wife Lillian, formerly of Wilkes-Barre where she graduated from G. A. R. High Schonl, is just as devoted to the dairy as Joe although she spends considerable of her time during the summer attend- ing a large patch of strawberries, and looking after the children Jo- seph and Joyce who attend Gate of Heaven School. Blackie, Aggie and Pearl come out cf the meadow like pups to her call. Pearl produces about thirty- six quarts a day. Joe attended Swoyerville and | Lake-Noxen schools and has always had a yen to do a top job with cows. He is convinced that NEPA Artificial Breeding (Cooperative is the only thing for the small dairy- man ‘and the big one, too. “How | Dallas Post none plays a more im- else,” he asked, would the small ' portant part than Rogue, a gentle dairyman get the services of $5,000 | dispositioned town dog of uncertain to $6,000 bulls. | parentage. 7 Although it takes hard work and| Rogue not only provides plenty of intelligent planning to keep a herd ‘material for Barnyard Notes, but at the top of the list Joe lives it and | also knows or is known by every- he is especially happy, too, that ! body in ' town—one of the first “ROGUE” Among the folks who make The parents, John and Anna Zosh; who | qualifications of a good newspaper live next door, can also get satisfac- | man. tion out of the development of his| Rogue first came to the attention fine herd. . of the Associate Editor of this news- paper when he was being led from three acres average, sets his plants {ho Dallas School grounds by a cus- much later than most other grow-| {odian who was determined, at the ers, the last of June or even in| .equest of some of the teachers, to early July. Plants come on fast in| pve him turned over to the Hu- hot weather, but are not ready for| jane Society because he was —and more than one busy mother went out on especially cold winter nights to throw a rug or carpet over him to make him more com- fortable. But on the day the Associate Editor learned that he was being led over the hill in disgrace to the “poor house’ as it were, he became her particular property and con- cern. She quickly called the County Treasurer's office and ordered a li- cense for a shaggy black and white dog with one black eye and ears as silky as a Spaniel’s. Then she rushed to the hardware store and bought a collar. Armed with these essentials she laid claim to Rogue as her property, and the cruel cus- todian-—with a twinkle in his eye —understood. That was also the day that the “dog who was nobody’s property” got his name “Rogue” although he had deserved it for many a day. Since that time he has made his bed and board at the Barnyard, where he guards the sacred pre- cincts against intrusion. His bark is very effective with strangers but with town lads it is a different story. At Hallowe'en when the As- sociate Editor’s corn shocks were oughly soaped she threatened the Shrine Acres. Is Region's Newest Area For Homes West Dallas Site Oi 170 Acres Is Being Developed One of the newest residential de- velopments in the Back Mountain area is Shrine Acres comprising 170 acres at West Dallas formerly | | L. Ruckno, president; James Dur- kin, secretary-treasurer; and Ben C. | Banks. Mr. Ruckno as a contractor- builder has constructed some of the outstanding homes in the Back Mountain area, and Mr. Banks is the man who developed Elmcrest, one of the most attractive residen- tial developments in recent years. The development of Shrine Acres | is unique in that three streets, in- tersected by others at right an- gles, will band the hillside. Lots on these streets, more appropriately called roads; will each have an area of one acre. Along the road at the top of the development, construc- tion will be restricted to homes in the $30,000 to $40,000 category; | of America. | along the next lower road will be | This sightly location on a gentle $25,000 to $30,000 homes; and the | hillside along the old Hays Corner- | lower road will be. restricted to | Robinson’s Road and extending | $20,000 to $25,000 homes. | northwestward on both sides of the | | Kunkle Road will eventually be | come the site of homes ranging in | value from $20,000 to $50,000. The | property also extends 4ll the way to Elmcrest. | Heading the corporation which owns the development is George Grounds along all three roads will be terraced so that each over- | looks the home below. Four homes have already been built along the lower road by Ralph Downend, and | many lots in higher sections have | also been sold. | culprits: “If you don’t behave I'll | set the dog on you.” They taunt- {ingly yelled. back, “Which one, | Rogue ?”’ William Betterly of Shavertown has recently purchased a fine loca- tion on the higher ground and ex- pects to construct a $40,000 home there next spring. . the very early market. Arthur Newman, Old Fairground Road, plants two acres, managing with a hired man and an occasional lift from Mrs. Newman, who is will- ing’ to help with the tying-up if necessary. He rotates with corn and potatoes, never using the same field for cauliflower two years in succes- sion. Spraying and dusting starts early, the annual battle’ against aphis, bug, and worms. iA A Grower Who No Longer Grows John Hildebrant, Meeker, up un- grower. Mr. Hildebrant’s acreage delivered the largest load of cauli- flower ever trucked to Wilkes-Barre, in 1948, 40,000 heads. Mr. Hildebrant went out of the cauliflower business automatically when his specialist, Tony Chigger, died. It was Tony who first per- suaded Mr. Hildebrant to raise cau- liflower. Tony, of Polish birth, had worked with his brother on Long Island, raising select heads for the New York market. When he came to Meeker seventeen years ago, he wanted to continue raising cauli- flower. Seeds were imported from Holland, and for thirteen years Tony raised his pet crop. When he died, the Hildebrants buried him in War- dan Cemetery. Drought affects the crop. In the main, level land seems to be best. Fields with a substrata of clay to hold the moisture did well this year in spite of torrid weather in August and prolonged drought in advance of harvest time. Some growers on side hills which readily drained away the scanty moisture, lost their crops or suffered severely. charged with being a nuisance. His only crime-—if it was a crime | —was that he loved children and { would follow them anywhere—even ' to school. This loyalty got him in | trouble but provided him and the kids with a lot of fun. «He stole their baseballs, mittens, hats and gloves and kept tantalizingly just out of reach when they tried to retrieve them. That was the way he broke up many baseball games. When no games were in progress, he bounced onto the playground merry-go-round and hugging the center with outspread paws and belly close to the boards barked his approval the faster that appa- ratus went around: The sliding board: was his special delight and he soon learned how td climb the ladder and slide down the other side, romping, prancing and barking with every successful slide. But he created a problem for he refused to await his turn and would crowd in ahead of girls and timid little ones, though the boys knew how to elbow him aside. It was on one of those days when he had broken up a baseball game and was in disfavor with everybody that the custodian put a rope around his neck and started down the road. : Up until that time he had been the property of nobody in particular —though everybody knew him and loved him. Housewives in the vi- cinity of the school house had a habit of feeding him choice bits whenever he turned up—which was frequently. He often slept on back porches during the winter months Road PHONE 4-0316 DA Dallas Bitumuls” Asphalt Service LE PARRY m= CONTRACTOR Pennsylvania
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