Middletown transcript., 1868-07-04
there were sold, net, the handsome little

value OI spOoU. Inree dcfee yioiuoo pN'
900 over all expenses; a acres at Smyrna
brought $4, 600, the purchaser doing his
own picking. At Milford A acres yiel-
ded one year So, ,S00-another $4,000.
The secret Of these prices is in their good
condition Pickers can pick till 3 or 5 p.
m. put their fruit on an express train, and
it is in Washington market before the
next morning, sweet, fresh and uninjured
1t is safe to say, for series of years to
come, 35c. per quart will be as low as pri-
ces will go. With good cultivation, $500
and $1,000 per acre will be common re-
suits for Delaware.
Currants and Gooseberries have not
been tried on large scale, but they thrive
splendidly wherever grown in gardens. l
think either will be a success, and give
munifcent returns.
Cherries are exceedingly early. From
single young Morello S8 worth have
been taken. No disease has yet afflicted
| this tree here.
Apricots and Plums will pay to raise
and hire man to do nothing else but pick
over the trees every day to keep them free
| from disease or insects.
Mr.. James Lord, of Camden, in 1867,
had small apricot tree about six years
old, that bore four bushels of apricots.
The first bushel was sent to a commission
merchant of New York, who gave him one
dollar per quart. Had the entire fruit
been carefully picked and marketed, the
tree would have yielded $12S.
The Concord and Hartford Prolific are
the only grapes that will succeed. All
others are failures.
Extraordinary results are accomplished
in vegetables. One grower told the wri-
ter that from three-fourths of an acre,
without manure, he had taken 275 bushels
of Irish potatoes. Another planted Irish
potatoes after spring frosts, gathered the
ripe tubers in June, planted the same
ground to cabbage, and gathered the crop
before frost came again in the fall.
Sweet potatoes yield 300 bushels, or 100
barrels and upward per acre. Early pota-
toes bring 81 to ST so per bushel, and
there are many farmers who clear every
year the value of the land devoted to po-
tatoes.
We saw one farm of 200 acres, leased
with buildings on the half-share plan,
which netted to the tenant over his expen-
ses, for his own portion, the good sum of
100000; and the produce was solely
grass, corn, potatoes and wheat
Tomatoes will eventually be big thing.
At St. Georges grower sent to New
York and Boston the tomatoes raised from
an acre of ground, and the net result was
| 800. One grower near Dover realized
$400 per acre, for. tomatoes sold at 25
cents per basket to the canning establish
ment; the tomatoes were described as
being so thick that it was impossible to-
pass over the ground without stepping on
them. A case occurred at Camden of a
man who cultivated one and half acres
on half-shares with the owner. The to-
matoes were sold for 25 cents per basket,
and at the end of the season he handed
the owner $275, 800 more than the land
was worth. Such results are remarkable,
but are not safe enough to form estimates
upon for large culture, 400 to 500 bush
els can be considered good yield per acre.
The first shipments realize perhaps $5 per
crate, then the price falls steadily to S.,
then the majority over so cents.
Beets have been exhibited at an Agri-
cultural Fair weighing fourteen pounds,
and four filled bushel basket. One thou
sand bushels of corn have been raised from
fifteen acres one acre eighty eight bush
els-one hill, two stalks, together contain
ing eleven ears.
There is no reason why, by the same
energy as the Bergen truck-growers, all
kinds of vegetables may not be grown in
Delaware. and successfully supply New
York two weeks earlier than they now do.
Rhubarb and asparagus will pay finely
Cucumbers, beets, lettuce, spinach, cab.
bages. caulihowers, egg plant, onions, all
will do well.
Rail road transportation is easy and
quick, and rates are fair. I can hardly
see what there is to prevent the State from
rising from her position as one of thu
smallest in the Union, to one where sh'
can claim eminence on account OF hel
J wealth and successful fruit and garder
cultivation.