The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-10-09
DOES IT PAY!

TdSpD6TTItS lOI SlA w iShS SCuto pei
quart for home markets !?
Yes-no-rather queeranswer, isn't
it, reader? But, as Artemus Ward
would say, "Wait till | get through
with the show before you ask me to
return the money" So we say, hear
our explanation. First, bear in mind
that everything is low; wheat go cents
to 81 per bushel, and other grain and
crops in proportion. Yes, everything
but whiskey, and in three cases out of
four, "hard time" croakers imbibe too
much whiskey at five to ten cents per
glass (every glass costing enough to
supply a small family with bread for
one meaD. We only wish whiskey
went up in price, as other things have
gone down.
Let's see what an acre of strawber-
ries cost well cultivated.
Say 10000 plants for one acre at
s25 to $50. Rent on land SO (tho'
in large share of instances our read
ers have the land to use, and, too, the
costs of plants is cnly for the first year,
as after that the increase from them
will cost you nothing but a little la
bor). The care of the plants will not
be over S12 to S15 per acre, in fact if
one has the land, the whole cost of an
acre of Strawberries the first year will
not exceed $50; understand that is
when one has to buy the plants. A
fair and almost certain yield from an
acre well set and tended will be Is
bushels, and 100 bushels is not an un-
common yield from well grown and
we'll kept acre-say 80 bushels-these
at eight cents per quart, amount to
about 5000 in round numbers. The
cost of picking, where that kind ofhelp
is plenty, need not be more than one
cent per quart Gas any good picker can
pick from 80 to 100 quarts per day;
we have had pickers who picked $50
and 100 quarts per day.. The cost
of baskets (there need be but little lost
if sold right at home, as all or nearly
all are returned) need not exceed one
fourth cent per quart each year. The
cost peddling say three-qnarters cent.
There is two cents per quart for pick
ing, baskets and selling. Adding this
to the $50 above mentianed, and we
have an outlay of 500 per acre to our
income of 5000, or a net profit of S1OO.
This includes cost of plants, which
ought not to be deducted from the
one or first crop, as the increase year
after year give all the plants wanted
afterward. However, we figure it in
to cover expenses which may occur.
Then, too, if the grower has quite a
family, the picking bill can be saved
by their doing that work, and if sold
at home, paper boxes costing only one
cent for eight, can be used. The fact
is, where one has the land, horses,
cultivated lands and family, there is
no money out, after the plants are
paid for, except the little cost for bas,
kets and crates; and, too, if person
has little go-aheaditiveness, he can
sell plants enough to more than pay
him the first cost. So we claim that
with 80 bushels to the acre. at even
six cents per quart, he is sure Of taking
in $3.50, and that the money out need
not be over S25 to $50. In those To-
calities where a higher price can be
obtained. just so much more the profit.
Understand, at these figures, we are
not thinkingof high priced new kinds,
but the old reliable kinds, like Will
sons, Col. Cheney, Charles Downing,
Green Prolific and Kentucky-that
can be bought for S25 to $50 per TO-
900 by the quantity. Here's another
hint: if one has not the means to pur-
chase plants to set an acre, let him buy
and set a few plants this month-pro-
tect them well through the winter,
and next season he will get an increase
of from ten to twenty fold. A man
who has got high priced land near
towns that he must get at least $50 to
S25 per acre from to pay taxes, DC,
or who rents land at SIS to S25 per
acre, and who has to hire all the work
done at high prices, need not expect
10 reap a fortune in selling strawber-
ries at six cents per quart. Yet we
can make more money from them un-
der such circumstances and at even
such prices, than from any other root
or grain crop we can grow, at cores
ponding prices.
Now for raspberries. First we will
take the black caps. The cost of
plants for one acre need not exceed
$40, and after the first year the in
crease, like strawberries, will give all
the supply one needs for ever after
wards. The main cost for cultivation
is the first year, and this may be fully
met by planting potatoes, beans or
cabbages half way between the first,
and even the second year (and here
we would say that even with straw
berries, early potatoes or peas, beans
or cabbage may be planted half way
between the rows the first year, thus
paying for plants with proceeds from
such). After the first year, raspber-
ries are kept clean with but little hand
labor and but little expense. The
yield the first bearing year will be Is
to 20 bushels per acre, and after that
so to IS bushels per acre yearly for
five or six years, and even larger il
well fed with manure. "But isn't
there glut occasionally in the home