The Richmond climax. (Richmond, Ky.) 1897-1914, 1899-07-12
RAISING RADIsHEs
virginia Produces Tons Of the Pep
perry Little Root Each
Season.

The radish crop is Just nbOut all
shipped. 1t has been a rather favorable
year for the crop. To most of your
readers, the radish crop may be in their
minds something as the peanut crop
was few years ago-rather ''small
and insignificant crop" By looking
over some old reports / notice that in
the year 1870 this section around Nor
folk is credited with having shipped
ali of 10000 lunches of radish, and all
Of $4,000 barrels of potatoes and other
truck crops in proportion.
This year it is estimated by one.of
our largest radish growers that the
acreage in radish will reach 1900 acres.
The number of growers is not far from
500. One of the largest growers has
nearly so acres of radish, and uses near
ly one ton of radish seed. At one time
recently one of our truckers was ne
gotiating with a scotsman for GER
tain kind of radish seed, when the deal
er remarked as an Endorsement of his
seed: Il sold New Jersey trucker 40
pounds recently"-and our trucker
fairly paralyzed him with an order for
300 pounds of radish seed, writes a con-
tributor from Norfolk.
The crop is planted or sown broad
cast in narrow beds, from January 10
April. The early sowings are subjected
to great danger of loss, and sometimes
the planter has to resow his crop two
or three times.
Warm. sunny hooks and corners are
chosen in which to sow the crop, and a
protection is sought from the north,
east and West, to keep off the cold
winds from said quarters of the COM
pass. The beds of all the early sown
radishes are about six to eight feet in
width, and are turned up in such a
manner that the north edge of the ridge
is higher than the south edge. causing
each ridge to slope little to the south.
On these beds the radish is sown broad
cast
The round radish is the kind grown
generally. Shipments have been going
north for the past 60 days or more.
The hands pull and tie the radishes
in punches at the low price of ten cents
per 100 punches. The hands take the
radish in the lunches ard wash them
carefully and pack them in half barrel
baskets as a rule, and ship to market.
If the weather gets very warm, nice
clean square or oblong block of arti-
fetal ice is bedded in the middle of
each package and the radish goes into
the northern market clean, bright,
fresh and crisp.
A good hand win pull and tie as
many as 1.20O lunches in a day. Others
will not get more than 500 lunches to
their credit-making the wages range
from so cents to $1.2O per day. The
half-barrel baskets cost eight cents
each. The freight to New York is IA
cents per basket. The yield per acre
will run from 100 to $50 baskets. From
100 to 40 punches fill the half-barrel
package. 1t is estimated that the pres
ent crop reached, or will reach when
finished, the grand total of 10000, 600
punches, which is quite a respectable
increase over the modest little 10000
lunches shipped in 1870. Our inform
ant stated that this section was the
largest radish growing section in the
entire country. AS fast as the radish
Grip is pulled and shipped the land is
prepared for tomatoes. melons and
other later crops. The land as a rule
is made to tote twice." so to speak,
and often totes thrice"-that is to say,
is made to grow three crops per year
Country Gentleman.