Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-29
TRUCK FARM PROFITS
Fortunes Being Made in
Charleston Neck.
BUSINESS is A VAST ONE
Largest Express Office in the World
Engaged.
MANY SPECIAL TRAINS DAILY
Early Vegetables and Strawberries
Quickly Carried to the Epicures
of Northern Cities.
RY WILLIAM T. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and Inc
Chicago Record Herald.


Chicago Record-Herad.
CHARLESTON. March II. 1905
There have been many important i'm
movements and Developments in and
around Charleston of recent years, which
date from the inception OF the recent ex-
position here. That enterprise was
financial failure for several reasons, but 1t
did great deal of good for the city in
arousing a public spirit and In causing
innovations and public utilities which
were necessary to take care of the VISIT
ors In the first place. an extensive sys-
tenn of electric cars was provided to reach
the suburbs and the outlying territory
and TO furnish means to get about the
streets. Up TO that time Charleston had
been satisfied with quaint old-fashioned
little cars, hauled by mules AT the rate of
two or three miles an hour. and at inter-
walls of several minutes. The drivers were
so accommodating that they would stop IN
front of a store to allow passenger TO
make a purchase. or wait in front of
residence until fond father had kissed
his wife and children goodbye. Ihat an
tiquated method of transportation has
vanished and now you can go from one
end of Charleston to another. all around
the place and some distance out into the
country on a rapid trolley car. This has
caused the city to spread out in all direc-
lions and 1t has given it chance to grow.
Charleston Neck Reclaimed.
An even more important Improvement
has been the reclamation of a tract of
land known as Charleston neck, where
swamp twelve miles square or there
abouts has been thoroughly drained under
the direction of a county commission and
is now being rapidly filled up with truck
farmers who are getting rich by sending
early vegetables TO the northern mar
kets
For some reason or other this area has
been uninha bitable because of poisonous
rniasma. Nobody knew what caused il,
although there are many theories. but the
atmosphere was deadly. Now. however.
II has been entirely reclaimed. and Is
quite as healthy as any other part of the
South Carolina coast. The owners of the
property were assessed one-half the cost
and the county paid the rest. That tract
will soon be covered with truck farms |
which have been found very profitable In !
this section Charleston is probably the |
greatest center of truck farming In the
United States. Formerly rice was the |
chief product of the coast plantations
source Of the wealth of the province. Sew
enteen thousand barrels were exported to
England as long ago as 1720. Indigo was
tried later and the best cotton in the
the coast. But down to the time of the
war rice was the largest crop and paid the
most prolific revenue, while the rice
planters were socially. politically and
commercially the rulers of Charleston.
They formed a caste or their own. They
lived in luxury and even splendor for
those days. and spent their money like
princes.
The truck farmers have no social aspira-
tinns. but early cabbages. potatoes. peas.
are more profitable than even rice. and
from twenty-five to twenty-seven thou |
sand acres Immediately surrounding |
Charleston have produced an average |
crop worth more than four million dollars |
for the last six or seven years with a
net profit of nearly two millions.
Mr.. E. J. Watson. commissioner of i'm |
migration and agriculture of the state. |
which contains lots of interesting and
valuable information and practically |
every fact that is necessary for stranger |
to know about South Carolina. He has
chapters on history. politics. finance. com
merce, trade, manufacturing, agriculture, |
charities and education interspersed with |
plenty Of statistics; and it is all carefully
indexed that the inquisitive man can
refer directly to any subject he is curious
about. II is a book of 500 pages. bound
in cloth, and a copy of it ought to be in
every public library in the country, par
ticularly as 1t may be had free of charge
by application TO Mr.. +. j. Watson. state
commissioner of agriculture, Columbia.
s. G.
The Trucking Industry.
Among other interesting subjects Mr..
Watson treats of the truck farming in
dustry at length. and gives some aston
fishing figures about the amount of vege-
tables grown in the Charleston district
He is responsible for the following table
showing the number of acres planted to
each vegetable and the value of the crops
for the year 1905:
Acres. Value Of crop.
Irish potatoes. ............ 64OU SSt;4 600
Cabhages -......-........ $500 1,i16.OoO
Asparagus ..-............ S'.p 100000
Cucunbers ............... 3OU $50 900
Beans Observation-Disclosures. gao 2T5.OOO
Peas .-................... Goa 600
Strawberries ............ $50 $4,000