The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1880-12-22
Market Gardening in Florida.

MaFkOO UdIUcuIuS III lUIIuus
The second priee essay ,uritten by James Il. Paine,
Of Archer, Florida, for a premium offered By the
Editor Of the Florida Agricutturist for the best
article on Market Gardening in Florida.
In attempting an essay on market
gardening in Florida, l, by no
means, think it pr obable that | am
better able, or as much so than scores
of others, nevertheless an experience
of years in gardening, both before
and since living in the State, has
been worth something to say the
least. And now that the industry is
attaining such huge proportions, a
comparison of views, ideas, and facts
can not fail to be of interest. The
line OF the Transit Railroad has been
where the traffic has developed to
it's greatest extent and it has been in
that section where my labors and my
experience have and has so far been,
it can be divided perhaps into six
different heads or sections, failure i'll
any one Of which will be- broken
links ruinng the whole:
1st. What and when TO plant.
End. Soil and situation.
Sd. Fertilizers.
18th. Cultivation.
9th. Transportation.
9th. Marketing.
The articles found profitable for
sucn long transportation have rapidly
dwindled down to very few; snap
beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, and
watermelons comprising abou: the
whole list. Egg plants sometime,
but, have had my whole crop OF
that article thrown on my hands
without paying market. Irish po-
tatoes are more OF a farm garden
than a marke. garden crop; and on
hammock land will no doubt produce
well, but with all their quotations l
never have been able to sell at salts
factory prices. Beets, onions, cab
bage and cauliflower will yet be
added, indeed have even now. been
are planted in the tall and grown
through the winters. Early corn for
roasting ears, near cities where
the transportation does not exceed
two days, can be grown to a limited
extent Tomatoes constitute the
main crop and the immense quanti-
ties disposed OF is certainly marvel
MS to what becomes of IL all and
mere let me say it is all a mistake to
say you could make Florida one vast
garden without danger OF overstock-
ing the market. Even now during
the height OF the season hundreds
and thousands OF crates do not more
than pay cost of freight and commits
sion,-some not even that-and al.
though the aggregate ofmoney re.
ceived is large, doubt whether you
could find a dozen on this road who
individually made money this year
many have just about cleared ex
penses, many have lost money, some
of them heavily. the reasons why w
will try and aualyze further on.
lst. Then what shall we plant and
when? am speaking now more
particularly Tor the line OF the Tran
sit Railr oad, further South or where
one has a sheltered situation pro
tected either by woods or water. they
can modify dates and seasons to
suit the location. The earliest crol
in is snap beans we usually com
mence planting the last Of January
and from that on through the monll
OF February, if the early ones ge
killed, plant over again, but if 20,
have not the seed or labor to spar
better not risk it until the 18th o
Goth OF February. For earliest tn
Mohawk is almost universally used
! it Is the hardest, comes the earliest
and in good soil bears proliticall,
and ii picked at the right time is
good snap, being fiat bean though
is not equal in quality to the round
few days after planting your Mo
hawk put in your Valentine rount
bean OF excellent quality, and bear
well; it is more tender than th,
Mohawk and will scarcely make al
effort at growing in cool weather
when the Mohawk will be marching
right along, but when it does begil
10 bear it will always bring IRON 81
cents to $1.00 more per crate than
a fiat bean. The Wax bean is comm.
more and more i'll demand and bringi