The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-10-10

| proved by horticultural skill, and new va a..
rieties placed on our. tables. ss:F. !.
l The sub;ect.matter Of this book concerns
| yirr;n;a "a State in one of her most vital
/ ;n.ereets. and in il the prosperity OF every
o;t;zen ia more or less involved. The
| writer remembers when the assessed value
of land averaged throughout the whole
State OF New Jersey about the same as
Virginia lands wonld average if q general
assessment were now made. which he thinks
would not exceed seven dollars an acre.
But new interests have sprung up in New
Jersey, among which not the least import
ant is market gardening; and an assess
ment made at this time would show an in
crease from seven to seventy dollars an
acre that is, the State is ten times
Weather in land value alone OF this time
than it was thirty years ago. Now, GER
tainly there Is broader margin for pros
perity to Virginia, for Jersey has no natu-
raj advantages but what Virginia enjoys
in a greater degree, plus her Chesapeake
Bay and her Italian climate. This mere
surplusage Of the gifts of Nature, now that
she has shaken off the incubus that re-
strained her energies, will convert her
waste lands into vineyards and fruit
orchards, into hop grounds and market
gardens, and these will create carrying
trade which will soon maintain daily ana
rival lines of steamers that will do pay
inc business at third of the present rates
of freight; and then, northern growers
must, of necessity, abandon all competition
with their more favored southern rivals In
the growth of those fruits and vegetables
the value of which depends on early pro-
duction. Jersey truck-growers know this
well, and many have sold out, and many
more are DESTROYS Of selling, in order to
purchase in climate where there IS need
of but little glass for it is the necessity
for sashes that absorbs SO large portion OF
the northern truckman's capital; and his
profits, according to Henderson, are in pro-
portion to the number OF sashes he IS aole
to keep in use. Certain stock vegetables,
among which are winter cabbage, celery,
onions from seed, carrots, parsnips, Irish
potatoes, and horse-radish, may always be,
grown with profit near the point of con-
sumption; but far larger class, and ali
fruits, except apples, must be grown far to
the south of that point to afford high remu-
neration. It is such books as Henderson's,
if there should be ever any other that
will bear mention with his, that will
greatly promote the rapid development Of
the truck interest in Virginia. Every one
commencing that business, with this book,
to guide him, is forewarned, and therefore
forearmed, against failure. 1t is as much
a business to be learned, before it can be
carried on proftably, as any of the me-
chanical arts, and henceforward we shall
hear of fewer failures in these undertake
ings, since they who have not reasonable
means and qualifications viii prudently be
deferred by his warnings from risking what
they possess. We happen to know that
Mr.. Henderson, just before the publication
of his book, vas in our State surveying the
ground, and he constantly recognizes the
incalculable advantages our climate gives
us over our northern competitor.
Nothing seems omitted from the book
which it is useful to know, and the chapter
on Profits will be eagerly scanned by all
who contemplate adopting gardening as
business. "The profits are so large in some
instances as almost TO exceed belief, and
SO trihing under other conditions as hardly
to be worth naming. These latter condi-
tons are generally where men have started
on unsuitable soils, too far from market, or
without money enough ever to have got
fairly under way. = The average
profits the last FIVE years have not been
less than $500 an acre, * and on land
valued at 81 900 to $4,000 an acre we can
and do probably grow and supply the ma
iority of towns within fifty miles around
New York with fresh vegetables" The
most profitable crop is cabbage, and the
next onions. "The average return to the
grower of cabbage is forty or fifty dollars
per thousand and at these prices late
cabbage is extensively shipped during the
fall months to southern ports" When they
reach Richmond, if one has to buy one Of
these cabbages, he must pay at least TWEEN
ty-fye cents for it, which is more than five
times the growers price. The same mon
strous disproportion is found in onions.
6 1t may be given as q fair average that
l.50 per barrel is realized by the grower"
And yet the price of barrel of onions in
Richmond last spring was $40, and scala
wags at that. The product is about $50
barrels to the acre. * + And next to
cabbage, perhaps, onions are the most pro-
fitable crop of our market gardeners. !"
And yet the cabbage pay him but four and
half cents each, and onions dollar and
half barrel.
Now, here certainly must be fine field
for profit to farmers inquiring what spe-
cialties they shall plant. With land va,
lued at S25 per acre instead of $1,000, ana
| wages with board OF SIT month instead OF
| $40. and growing season for these hardy
crops which lasts till Christmas, they may
| be raised for half what it costs IN the
North and yet we depend on the North
for our winter supply, and tax ourselves
eighty per cent. additional, in the way of pro-
fits to middlemen and spectators, before
| these articles reach the consumer.
What has been shown of cabbages and
onions will appear also in relation to almost
every other crop, if we had room to 60 into
detail of it. But surely enough is apparent
to open our eyes to the absurdity Of buying
in the North products We can grow better
at fifth part Of the price we pay at home,
and of expanding capital in: markets we
should never enter except as sellers.
This book will find extensive sale in Vir-
GINA, for it appears just at the right time,
j, when mighty interest is in ferment to
start on rapid career of development, to
which standard and unerring guide like
this will be safe and certain advancement.
Every small place in the neighborhood OF
cities is now described by the eloquent auc-
tioneer az just the place for an excellent
market garden, and most purchasers, en-
: tering on such places, look with more or
less dependence to the sale Of some pro-
duce Of this sort in market for their first
ready money. But for one that gets back