The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-12

GERS ran after me to get them at 40 cents
per peck, and | had the satisfaction of
selling to the very gardener who dis
cOuraged my idea of planting from one 10
three pecks every day or two for fully
month, TO retail from his two market
wagons.
always took great care to have my Gu
cumbers well culled and in nice shape. l
remember driving up to a large fancy
grocery one morning, before which stood
another truck wagon, the owner of which,
knew had cucumbers for sale. The buy
ing clerk came over to my wagon and
said: just wait few minutes till that
fellow gets out of the way, and 1 will talk
to you. / saw you coming, so told him |
didn't want any cucumbers to-day" l
sold him half bushel at 20 cents.
From those 300 hills sold Sll5 worth of
cucumbers, but must add that towards
the last of the season we got our irrlgat-
ing ditch in working order, and were
able to water them. The amount of yell
low, bitter, knotty, and turned-up-ended
cncumbers hauled into this city was
astonishing, and it was mystery to me
how they were sold at any price.
But some of them were sold at some price,
and succeeded after a time in breaking
down the demand, and merchants disliked
buying even nice, green ones of me, for
they said there was no sale for them. l
told them l didn't wonder at it, and they
had better put their yellow, bitter ones in
the trash barrel and let me sell them
some cucumbers, which they often did.
But 1t was hard to convince them that all
were not bitter. 1t was wonderful how
the price of my cucumberS held up, while
other people were hauling theirs home,
and can't complain of the result.
With tomatoes we also did fairly well,
although we had no early ones at all. But
] = n Low 4
came into the market when nearly every
other gardeners had about dried up, and
they sold well at from 40c. to 60c., and for
a while 66c. per peck | am careful in
culllng them, also sorting them into three
grades; but the average never came up TO
my ideal of what they should be. For
time | could sell even the lowest grade
the little cracked and rough ones-to
boarding houses, at from zoe. TO SOC. per
peck, but my highest grade were all taken
by one firm, who took two pecks every
morning at from SOC. to CSC per peck, and
wanted more all the time. We had only
600 plants, and we sold sos worth of to-
inatoes, and l know we can beat that
next year, the conditions being equal.
There is one man in this city who makes
it point to buy cheap, in fact, he won't
buy unless he can, so | make it point to
drive around to his store last and sell
him what have left. He gets my poor
est cucumbers, but never could sell him
| tomatoes. Mine were always too well
culled, and we never could agree about
the price He is a goodnatured man,
with a big trade, principally boarding
| houses and people to whom he is obliged
to sell cheap
"Do you see the tomatoes in that box?"
| he said to me one morning well, what
do you suppose l gave for them2" l re-
piled that really had no idea, as he was
such hard man to trade with ;sbut had
uo'doubt he bought them cheap, as they
were all sizes and great many of them
were cracked.
Well" said he, ~ gave 80 cents
for the lot" There were between two
and three pecks in all, should judge,
and some Of them were fine ones, that
would have wholesaled easily at so
cents. Then there would have been AT
least another peck of seconds, that would
have brought so cents. 1t was the
remaining half-peck or so of culls, and
| the mans ignorance who sold them. that
| caused so cents worth of tomatoes to
sell for 80 cents.