Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-02-06


four inches long tomorrow morning.
They are hauled to the nearest pickle
factories, where they are measured
out in buckets, about two buckets
selected at random in the barrel
being counted ana the total number
estimated from this. The grower is
paid for them by the thousand. Last
year (t902) the pickle growers of
Stafford, King George and Spotsyl-
vania counties received 75c. per
thousand for cucumber pickles from
II inch to 4 inches in length aud
$125 per thousand for those from
4 inches to 6 inches in length.
YIELD OF ONE ACRE.
From 100000 to 100000 cucum-
bers can be grown on one acre of land
10 single season, and cases have
been recorded of an individual selling
$3.50 of pickles from an acre in a
single season. One woman, a widow
with three very small children and u
small piece of land, planted one-half
an acre in cucumbers last year and
after paying for plowiug and prepar-
ing the land and hauling the pickles
TO market cleared S37.7O above all
expenses. In addition to picking her
own pickles this same woman picked
for larger growers. often in one day
picking nearly barrel of the smaller
size.
The present efficient manager of
the Stafford county poor-house has
for several years past employed the
more ablebodied inmates Of that in
stitution in the growing of cucum-
bers for pickles on the farm con-
nected with it, with the result that
the poor-house farm of Stafford
county will compare fsvorably in
fertility, high state =. cultivation,
number and general "rrearance of
the buildings with al, lrm in the
State; and, what is mo- remarkable,
1t yields the county an income above
all expenses. 1t 10 very doubtful if
any other eleemosynary institution
AZ khO OOutu uOcc lIll6.
1t is said that if man once plants
"pickle patch" he will plant one
every year. The returns are quick,
the profit large, the risk small, the
work light and healthful and there
is not the continual outlay that is
necessary in general farming. Where
a farmer is raising staple crops there
is generally lull between wheat
and hay harvest and the cutting off
of corn that can be very profitably
spent picking cucumbers as this is
the busiest time among the pickle
growers. Thus without interfering
with general farming, it is a great
aid. A small farmer in Stafford
county who lost horse and had his
wheat crop fail him last year, bought
a new horse, paid his fertilizer bill
and met various other expenses from
the proceeds of his pickles.
THE FACTORIES.
There is pickle factory (where
the pickles are purchased from the
grower) at Brooke Station, one at
Falmouth, two in fredericksburg
and the latter town is to have another
large one this coming season. One
of these pickle factories has over one
hundred large vats, each one capable
of holding from 100 to 900 pounds
of tifty-four gallons in which the
pickles are placed as purchased from
the growers and while shipping
pickles away all the time it had all
these vats filled on one occasion last
summer. 1t is no unusual sight to
see forty wagons in line at this pickle
factory as early as 10 o'clock in the
forenoon when the picking season is
at its height, each one waiting it's
turn to be unloaded.
WASTE GROUND VALUABLE.
The area of Stafford county is 945
square miles; of King George, 100
square miles; of Spotsylvania, 400
square miles; q total of S35 square
miles, or 534, 400 acres, very little of
which is too rough for cultivation
and all of which experts claim is
good pickle ground. In the occupa-
ton of pickle growing it is estimated
that 8 man can make good living
for himself and his family on twenty
acres. AT this ratio these three coun-
ties could furnish 26,72O farms, each
once capable of furnishing good
living for one family, and as statis-
ticians have estimated q family to
average five persons ever since Moses
numbered the able-bcdied Israelites
on Mt. Sinai, their agricultural pop
ulation might easily be increased to
l33,6OO. Deducting the present (cen-
sus of l900) popu'stion of these
three counties, excluS of Freder-
icksburg, 24,304, fror1 ,his, we have
109,296. Examinips aese figures
We see that the one-,.fteth part of
the State is capable of supporting
an additional population nearly equal
to one-quarter of the population it
has lost by emigration.
But the possibilities OF this branch
of agriculture do not stop here, the
soil of the entire Tidewater section
of Virginia and part of the Pied
mont, over one-fourth of the State,
is especially suited for the produc-
ton of pickles and the supply has
never equalled the demand. In the
sands of Eastern Virginia lies buried
a treasure that if rightly sought
after is capable of yielding more
wealth in single season than all the
gold hidden away in the sand OF
Nome and Klondyke without the
latters' cold, hardships, expensive
living and element of gambling.
Tendency OF the Times.
The tendency of medical scienae "a fouarf