The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-05-28
op,cU1rURAL DEPARTMENT,

TIE Field, Farm and Garden.
No solicit articles for this department
ha name of the writer should accompany
= letter or article, not necessarily for pub
& Ecation, but as an evidence OF good faith.
Advice to Southern Truck Farmers
The Fruit Gro,Oer, published in Illinois,
;. this to say about truck farms in tho
nth Rightly located, there is hardly
o,ht that commercial fruit and vegetable
lowing can be made more profitable south
the Ohio river than north of it. The
an must be adapted to the business, and
"a of tho requisites is that he shall have
smrage to survive and surmount difficulties
nd disappointments. If he engages in the
,,sness with the mistaken expectation that
ooousa he is located where he can raise and
,arket his products earlier than his more
ortbern competitors, be will therefore
make a speedy fortune, he will very likely
facome quickly discouraged and drop out
the race when persistence might have
,von a reasonable success. The results of
his seasons experience IN the southern part
Mississippi give point to lesson that
as needed and ought to have its effect in
,ture operations A letter recently re-
Lived from a town on the I. C. well down
Il the State of Mississippi reports that many
n the farmers are blowing up their straw
4,erries. beans, cucumbers and tomatoes,
Ind planting the ground to corn, cotton and
weet potatoes. Precisely this result was
radicted by the writer at the meeting of
h. state society at Crystal Springs last j an
arv when informed that one and half
kar loads of seed had been brought to that
3own to be planted. AT the season when
Ill., garden truck is ready for shipment at
hat far southern point, no northern mar
1 Of enshrouded with winter SHOWS, can
$spose of the avalanche of green vegeta-
lies from that and a score of other similar
Xoints If such an experience causes men
declare that the whole fruit and vegeta-
liz business is a fraud and delusion, they
nav very properly be asked what industry
kould be successful under such irrational
|hethods. The law of supply and demand
must govern here as we'll as in any other
/ line of production; and it should be re-
/ Rendered that the law of demand is not
In ironclad statute. but rather movable
least and that a human body encased in
6vercoats and furs is i'll no pressing need of
kummer fruits. AS a luxury they may be
fesired, but the market for luxuries is a
limited one and only to be patronized to
tny extent by the wealthy, especially as
4 HE luxuries are soon to become common
A heritage with the advancing season, when
warmer suns and lower prices may entice
the great middle and poorer classes to be-
tome patrons and on whom the burdened
markets must chiefly rely for relief. The
experience of the present season seems to
b"aA0j probable what was before scarce
Fhoukht Of that there may be southern
llmf, beyond which the raising Of early
ntturing fruits and vegetables. such as
Iawberries and radishes, cannot be grown
Fifth profit in large quantities. The reason
Is evident, the markets will not take them
BIT paying prices except in very limited
quantities. Just how far south that point
Is cannot be demonstrated, and in fact it is
bot fixed point and will change to some
extent with the different years. Local pride
lis critical and easily aroused, but we ven
tdre the statement that Strawberries, rad
ishes and beans cannot be grown at profit
Ii large quantities much south of Crystal
Springs, in the State of Mississippi, and in
that latitude both east and west. The LA
bllty Of mourning adverse criticism and of
possible error of opinion in stating this be-
lief is fully realized, but if existing facts
do not sustain it, they will be furnished by
the experience of years yet to come. If
northern markets will not take large guam
titles OF early vegetables in the month of
March, who shall force them to do SO. The
only rational course is to find waiting mar
kets near the same latitude in which the
goods are grown or limit the production to
the actual demand in the north. 1t is no
answer to say that "a pint cases of Louisi-
ana strawberries sell every March in the
Chicago market at SO to s. per case. The
TACT is that only a small amount will sell at
that figure, and that if the production
should increase, as it easily may and proba-
oily will, then much lower prices than here
tofOre will have to be accepted. 1t is not
Judicious, to say the least, for whole town
ShlpS near the southern line of production
drop all its accustomed industries and
rUS pell nell into line of production with
Wh1h it has had little experience and which
Is sFgely still an experiment Large re-
gone of the south are rushing wildly into
irut and vegetable production, and doing
h#lthout experience, and unless the brakes
snPut on some bitter experiences are sure
1oioplow. Such business should be en-
gas1d in cautiously and the work extended
@e1perlence is gained and results will jus
IIy A man who throws up the busine !.
u as life and stakes all his hopes on an ex-
Nrpk use in which he has had no experience
and tvith which he has little acquaintance,
aket great risks. The business to which
4as been trained should still lead his
elfts and new enterprises hold subordi-
M4 position; and then should his new
%uhd hopes prove deluslve, no great loss
~ been sustained. Cabbages cannot be
to market too early, and they do not
lIer into this discussion, and the same may
esaid of the tomato.