The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-04-27
THE TRUCKING INDUSTRY.

be the leading industry of large sec
ton in Eastern North Carolina. 1t is,
says Mr.. H. H. Hume in
the article on first page. just
eighteen years since the first
refrigerator car loaded with straw
berries reached New York from
Florida. At that time North Carolina
was shipping small quantities by eX-
press. The business has grown until
100000 barrels were shipped from
value of $6,500,000, were shipped from
North Carolina to Northern and West
ern markets. In 1890 it is estimated
that 5000 barrels of potatoes were
shipped, while in 1904, it is said that
100000 barrels were shipped f,om
the same point, and the grower re-
ceived a larger price per barrel for
the 100000 than they did for the 5000
barrels. Ten years ago there were
those who feared that the business
would be overdone, but markets have
constantly widened and there is little
danger of overproduction. Success or
failure practically depended solely
upon weather and climatic conditions.
If seasons are good, the profits are
good; if the seasons are poor or 'ate:
the profits sometimes turn into heavy
loss.
The dewberry crop, grown in GEN.
trail North Carolina, has grown to be
% cror IF hIa nrpnnrtionS
Writing of the returns, Mr.. w. b.
Fleming, of Warren county, says:
'"Dewberries, like other fruits, vary
greatly in price, and the average al
ways ranges so low that none of our
growers have grown wealthy or i'm
proved their condition very much. The
net average after deducting expenses
of picking, crates, railroad charges
and commissions range from rs cents
to 1925 per crate-oftener than other
wise from 80 cents to $1.00. We
can safely calculate ON an average OF
so crates to the acre, and when We
net $1.00 per crate, after deductlng
shipping expenses as mentioned, we
think that the profit is as much or
more than We could obtain from any
other crop.
There are articles in this special edi-
ton upon other truck crops, how to
grow them how to prepare them for
market, how to fight the diseases that
attack fruit and truck, and a variety
of other interesting and valuable in
formation.
The success of agriculture in North
Carolina largely depends upon diversi-
fication. The day of big profits in one
big crop has passed. New conditions
and labor problems make diversified
ton essential. Trucking, fruit culture,
raising chickens and ducks shipping
eggs, and what was formerly called
the little things about the farm have
come to be on many farms the big
things, with cotton and tobacco grown
as side issues. This must be more
and more so with small farmers if they
expect to have the largest measure of
success. Many a muckle makes a
mickle." There is more money in the
little things that require infinite care
and skill than in the big crop. One
reason why Massachusetts has more
lima is that in that State every MEM
Der of the family. old enough to work,
is a bread-winner. The boys and girls
and the women have something to do
that brings in money return, whereas
it is too often the case in the South
that in a family of five or seven there
is only one bread-winner. Trucking,
fruit-growing, dairying. selling eggs,
and chickens and the like offers to in
telligent women an equal chance with
often women slave at harder work be-
cause they have no convenienceS for
chicken raising and other industries on
the farm that would be profitable.
There is always market for anything
to eat, and most of the time the pay
The trust keeps the price of tobacco
down to about the cost of cultivation,
some years stimulating production by
paying good prices in order the next
year to get a big crop for a song.
Bears and bulls make cotton prices
uncertain. mere is, OF course, uncer-
tainty about any and all crops, as in
every sort Of business, but the better
conditions that have prevailed in
North Carolina in recent years is al
most wholly due to a diversification of
crops, a better system, and more study
of markets and conditions. Labor has
been more difficult to obtain during
the past ten years and has been more
costly than in the previous ten years,
but the farmers have made better pro-
gress because they have used better
methods and diversified their crops.
As long as farmers could get all the
labor they wanted at low wages, they
were inclined to farm on old plans
and grow single crops. With the diff
ficulty of obtaining labor they have
sought to grow crops that did not
call for so much labor all the year.
More labor is needed, but the wise
farmer who finds it difficult to obtain
is making the crops that pay best
with less labor, and in so doing he
in learning that prosperity depends