The age-herald., 1902-05-01
Describes Thirty Acre Strawberry Farm Located Near York
OWNER CLEARS S9OOO IN YEAR
From 75 to 100 Bushels of the Berries Picked From Each Aore-A Splendid Opportunity
 for Farmers.
BY NED BRACE.

York, April 3O.-(Special.)-I saw some thing here today which is not equailed anywhere in Alabama, and probably has aot it's equal in this country. It is strawberry farm-a rolling tract of thirty sull acres of land, blossoming and bear slg strawberries in profusion. From &lstance it looks like a grassy lawn, cap sed with white blossoms and enlivened by ahe luscious red berries which gives to the great field color and beauty.
 Of this great rolling strawberry farm, twelve acres are bearing profusely, and two score of women and children were picking the fruit today and packing 1t Ia boxes and crates for shipment. The farm is owned by Frank Holman, who came here from Aurora, Ind, eight years ago He began farming on land which was not supposed to be worth more than f9 an acre. He planted strawberries prin- cipally and has since added several acres of peaches and some sixty acres of pota- toes
 He has, however devoted his time to strawberries, and out of this luscious fruit he is making fortune Last year
 
 Httle farm, and this year he may make double that sum. Indeed he sold nearly k5O0O worth of strawberries last year. This year he will probably largely exceed his last years business.
 He has but twelve acres now in actual bearing plants, and from this he expects to ship 1890 crates of "A boxes each dur l,,oy To haG ShiDninP about 100 crates a day for nearly week past.
 The remaining acreage of the straw berry farm is in new crop, which would have borne this year. but in or der to make the berries better, he pucks the blooms from his plants the first year in order to prevent them bearing. Next year he will ship from thirty acres, and will probably sell from four to five thou sand crates
 In speaking about his farm today Mr. Holman said T will pick this year from 75 to 100 bushels from each acre. l have gotten as high as 150 bushels of berries from an acre, and I have found the busi- ness, when intelligently handled, ex-
 
 duct during the early part of the season to Cincinnati I sell through commission merchants in Cincinnati, and they ad- wise me that they have been getting as much as $650 a crate for my berries. The berries leave here by express at o'clock in the afternoon, and reach Gin clnnati at o'clock the next morning. They are therefore much fresher and bet ter than the berries which are shipped from Florida and bring a higher price. Later in the season. when the price goes lower, ! ship some berries to points in Alabama"
 "l usually ship from 50 to 100 crates day" continued MT Holman, "and have shipped as high as 139 crates in one day"
 MT. Holman was loath to discuss the profits from his business, but admitted that his sales from berries last year year amounted to about $4O00, his product heinz in excess of 1000 bushels. He ex- poets to ship much more this year.
 "A good yield of berries from my farm added MT. Holman. lis about 100 bushels to the acre, and I have often sold as much as $259 worth from one acre.
 
 tached to raising strawberries. Indeed, MT. Holman says he puts almost as much labor on twelve acres of strawberries as he would on 100 acres of cotton. There are other expenses. For instance, the ex- pressage from York to Cincinnati amounts to 54 cents per crate. It costs a cent and a half box, or 36 cents per crate to have strawberries picked. The women and children who pick the berries are paid for the amount of work they do at the rate of a cent and half box. The crate and twenty-four boxes cost about P cents making the total expense to the Alabama producer to deliver the berries in Cincinnati for sale about $1. F per crate Then the commission mer- chant gets 10 per cent for handling and selling them. At the ruling price now Mr Holman is getting more than $4 crate net for his berries. Taking the en- fire season, however, he will not net more than $2.50 crate; but in the event he ships POGO cases this year, which he hopes to do, there will be profit of ,nore than s4OOO for twelve acres of straw | berries.
 It is interesting 10 see the berries pelng gathered There are from twenty-five to | 1,.venty-five women and children in the | ,rowherrv fields each day, according to +ha number needed. They get cent and \ h half quart for picking, aad some of Il The women will pick more than DO q.'arts N day. The average labocer gathers Il something like sixty quarts day ard II ,crseorently these negro women ard chill Il nron make rom 75 cents to s1.50 a day | b,cking berries. Men are never employed Il in the strawberry patches to gather the Il r,ut because of the fact that their hands \ are large and muscular, and they arc I .eId 10 bruise the fruit in picking. Men \ would probably be glad to work at the N ,rices raid, but they are not permitted Il to do so.
 1 Mir. Holman, has recently rented much land in this neighborhood, and has sev-