Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-07-08

Chatham County for Cabeages.
AS an item OF interest to strangers
who NAV be ia search of home for
profitable truck farming, we call atten-
ton to the fact that, although truck
farming in Chatham county is but in its
infancy, the farmers in the vicinity of
Savannah shipped TO Northern markets
during the season jlst closed about fifty
thousand do.lus worth of cabbages
alone. IL to this were added the values
of the numerous other articles shipped
at the same tine, tdch as cantaloupes,
cucumbers, squashes, Irish potatoes,
tomatoes, beans, English peas, beets,
"a fishes, celery, etc., it would appear
that the young industry of Chatham, so
recently sTelled into importance By the
great increase Of shipping facilities, is
destined in very few years
to assume colossal proper
tons. The railroad and steamship
companies who first wisely offered en-
c1uragement TO this line of industry
could scarcely have anticipated SO RAPID
an increase, tut fully approaching its
inheritance az a means of creating bust
ness for their lines, and also of popu-
lating and building up the country, it is
gratifying to know that, with the same
energy and sagacity, they are constantly
increasing and perfecting their shipping
facilities, in order to give the greatest
possible advantage to those who embark
in the business. 1t is of the first import
ance in all gardening for profit" or
truck farming, to have an
accessible good market, which simply
means facility aud cheapness in reach
ing the market, and remunerative prices
on arriving there Amy productive To-
cality possessing these advantages may
increase its profits without limit. A
few years ago such produce could not
be proftably raised in the South be
cause the markets were chiefly in the
North, and could not be reached except
at cost prohibitOry of all such invest
ment. All this has been changed, and
the heretofore most obscure localities in
the South have become the vegetable
and fruit gardens Of the great cities of
the North. The past three or four
years have shown that localities
far south of Savannah may profta.
bly, embark in the business
of truck farming, and If
Southwest Georgia and Florida, with the
additional freight of two and three hun
dred miles of railroad. can make it pay,
what ought Chatham and her sister conn
ties of the Atlantic coast region to do?
1t will not do to say the warmer climate
of Florida gives her the advantage-she
has not one particle of advantage in the
articles of the truck farm, but in some Of
then (uotably in the cabbage) she labors
under disadvantage. The Georgia and
Carolina coast region is better adapted
to clbbages than any part of Florida,
and though we cannot, with many arti-
Giles, enter the Northern markets with
her in the last months of winter, or, per-
haps, the first months of the spring.
her crops are exhausted by the
time ours are ready, and experience
shows that the period at which our pro-
duce enters the markets they are better
prepared for large demand. In other
words, fruits and vegetables prematurely
thrown on the market, or "ahead of the
season." do not generally find steady sale.
Tnere is no real demand, and that which
is created by their presence is ephemeral
Steady demand and sale grow out of ex-
pectaiion and necessity, but there is no
necessity, and therefore no expectation
of fruits or vegetables out of season. In
this, then, our coast region possesses a
great advantage over the lower regions
of the South. They may possess some
advantage in a few early shipments,
which must create an artificial demand,
but in the bulk of truck farm produce
our coast region is not only in many re-
spects better adapted to its cultivation,
but furnishing the markets at a time
when demanded by the season. These
facts should point out the real ad-
vantages of truck farming in this sec
ton, and when we add to them the su
perior facilities for rapid and safe trans
portatiOn it enjoys over every other 10
cality south of Norfolk and Charleston,
there would seem to be no further proof
necessary to mark its special adaptability
to the purpose.