The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-05-21
HANDLING TRUCK ON TIE WFIARVEs AT. NORFOLK
But the Farmers Dislike to
Admit How Much Money
They Are Making.
Especial to The Timeg-Dispatch.)

NORFOLK, VA, May 2O.-In 1851 Col
onel Thomas Whitehead, who was then
Commissioner Of Agriculture In Virginia,
saio In his annual report that the truck
ing Industry of Tidewater Virginia was
more valuable than tho States manufac-
turo Of iron. In that year the value of
truck sent to Northern markets from this
section was estimated at S2,2S7,0i2. The
figures for last year were estimated to be
between seven million and eight million
dollars. The production Of iron In Vir-
ginia has increased more rapidly during
the period Indicated. but an increase in
sixteen years of more than 800 per cent.
In the value OF farm products In dis
trict lying within q radius of not more
than twenty miles of the city Of Nor
folk, indicates a more apparent Increase
in material prosperity than do the figures
showing the States enlarged iron indus
try Thousands Of acres of land changed
from wilderness of weeds and brush to
smiling gardens, are more impressive Of
prosperity than new iron furnaces with
the greater portion of the pay roll hidden
in the bowels of the earth.
| A BUSINESS THAT PAYS.
n does nay 10 tssss N truck. One. has
ttls EoP.Eion FfESs ilflliy liked IN oNe s
mind at the beginning. AS drove through
tho smiling farms OF Norfolk county. en-
either hand lying hundreds of acres as
level as n floor, as fertile as the Vale Of
Cashmere and as carefully cultivated as
o garden; comfortable and even elegant
residences on nearly every farm, and ten
ant houses more respectable In appear
ance than the homes of the, farm owners
in some sections, / was full of specula-
tion as to tho great size of profits from
truck growing.
Then I talked with the farmers. A few
admitted that they had made and We're
making money. But not so with the ma
jority. Had been in the country after
dark and heard the farmers discuss the
subject of their profits, I should have
|felt impelled to undertake the inaugura-
tion Of work for their relief. They dis
like moro than black frost in cucumber
time to admit that they make money. 1t
is believed that farmers, since tho day
Cain took to delvng in tho earth for a
living, Instead of engaging In sheep farm
ing with his brother. Abel. have been
GROWERS and be II known that there Is
ty truck growers. l have no explanation
of the phenomena to offer; simply cite
the fact
That the truckers will not admit making
big profits Is probably due to mddesty.
That they do make them in many In
StGilCGS lS cSlielCeds ny lHo NcitllIl Ol
men who have been cultivating the earth
for years. But 1t is not possible to get
from any ono of them details of their
struggle to affluence.
MEN WHO MAKE MONEY.
I have alluded to Mr. Hardy Duke in
this correspondence as n trucker, who
came out of the Confederate army in
1865 with only $500 to his name, and who
Is now the owner of one of the finest
truck farms on Western Branch, and Is
reputed to be worth a hundred thousand
dollars. But / never got Mr.. Duke to
admit he was much more than an ordi-
nary Virginia farmer in point of wealth.
Mr.. w. 3. Carney, who owns several of
these fine farms, and is Interested In
several big enterprises, would not tell
me much about the money he made
when I talked with him on the steps OF
his beautiful home, but everybody thinks
it would require six figures to indicate
the size of his fortune,
Mr.. Henry Kirn has made a great for
tune growing potatoes But he is typi-
cal farmer in manner, affable, genial
and Jolly. His story Is an interesting
one. He came to this country from
Germany before the war and located on
a farm near Norfolk, He wns a poor
man. Being q German citizen, he did
not fight on either side in the war be-
tween the States. and when the war
ended he had saved $4,000 He bought
farm and began raising truck. He has
been raising truck ever since, and so
profitably that he could, II his nelghbors
are not greatly mistaken, give away
several hundred thousand and still be-
millionaire.
TRUCKERS ARE CLUB MEMBERS,
AT tho clup-rochns of the Norfola
Business Men's Association, OF which,
nearly all the truckers are members,
one can get a long list of truclS-growers,
compiled by we'll Informed men An the
Norfolk business world, who have made
fair sized fortunes raising berries and
vegetables. The list includes the major
Iity of those who have been In the busl-
ness n reasonable length of time
trucker who has looked carefully
into the matter of profits from the busi-
ness Eaye me two instances which may
be- regarded as fairly indicative of tho
money to be made growing truck. On a
farm OF one hundred acres the owner
cleared $4,000 year for seven years,
Another farm, located not far from
Churohland,s nets now, or did few years
ago, about $1,000 Before the war, when
the farm was used to grow grain and
grass and stock, the farm was Guilt
vated with slave labor, at cost of
2,oS7 a year and, netted So, 800 The cost
OF cultivation now Is about $1,000, but the
profit is $4,000.
of profit in trucking. haven't heard
yet of an insolvent trucker or one OF
whom his friends predict that he Is on