Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-29

cabbage plants has shipped an average
of 1900 every season: has booked 100
cars for this years delivery and will
probably ship 1.OOO.OO plants.
John 8. Horlbeck. largest pecan grower
in the world: main grove. 900 acres. Two
smaller groves with 10000 trees each. An
nual production. ten tons of nuts.
Another man sells 100000 worth of as
paragus every year. He began with a
small garden and has extended his acre
age until he now ships by the carload.
Another farmer ships 100000 worth of
cucumbers. and two others will average
$4,000 each. and there is a great deal of
money in them.
Busiest Express Office.
Meggetts. a truck station on the plan
tation of Norman H. Bitch. the cabbage
king. claims to be the largest express
office in America: that is to say, in a sea-
son of five months it handles more ex-
press packages than any other single
office in the world, although it does not. of
course. equal the business of all the diff
ferent offices in New York or London or
exclusively handling vegetables During
the season six switch engines are kept
busy all day making UP the trains
The cabbage plants are put in ground
during November and December; they
begin to mature about the middle of
March, and from that tire until the end
of May experienced cutters armed with
machetes go through the fields between
the rows striking right and left close to
the ground and amputating cabbage at
every stroke Their experienced eyes are
able to select the mature cabbages at a
glance. Men with carts follow them.
gather up the heads and haul them to
the shipping sheds. where they are trim
med and packed into crates by women,
varying from thirtyfive to a hundred
cabbages in a crate, according to their
size. Men go about the sheds with ham
mers and nails, and wherever they see a
full crate they nail on the top. Burly ne
groes pick them up and stow them away in
cars which are standing on side tracks. an
average of 300 crates to the car. And
about 300 cars leave Meggets daily dur
ing the season.
Mr. Bitch is native of Georgia, and
fifteen years ago was working as a farm
hand in this vicinity. He got a small
piece of land and began to raise cabbages,
which were SO profitable that he has
extended his acreage year after year. until
he is now the cabbage king of the world,
and his wealth is increasing at the rate
of 10000 or $4,000 year.
| Mr.. Geraty is an older man and has
been raising and selling cabbage plants
Youngs Island. in Charleston harbor.
where he has been gradually extending
his acreage until he now has nearly 5000
acres devoted almost exclusively to grow
every part of the Union by the carload in
he early spring. They go as far as
| Iowa and Minnesota in one direction and
| the New England states in the other, and
are sold through seed dealers and nurs-
erymen. Mr.. Geraty has several agents
on the road taking orders.
| The pecan groves OF Maj Horlbeck are
well worth seeing. They have been
growing for sixteen years. He has sew
| eral groves covering altogether about
4 v-hi oh
| five miles of underground pipes. which
carry the water into reservoir where
| it is retained for use In irrigation II
necessary The pecan requires careful
cultivation and a certain amount of mois-
ture which must be regular in its appli-
| cation, so that it is not safe to rely on
natural rainfall.
The crop is very valuable. and Maj.
Horlbeck has made a fortune.
Several Thousand Engaged.
There are altogether several thousand
people producing early vegetables in the
immediate vicinity of Charleston. most of
them upon garden plots of three or four
acres and small farms of twenty-five and
thirty acres. No other line of farming is
so profit able raising early vegetables
| for the northern market. particularly as
paragus. cucumbers. beans and straw
berries: but they require a great deal of
| labor and great deal or care. Mr.. wat
son estimates The average profits of the
truck farms at about $500 an acre
| The market is found all over the north:
the fashion of serving strawberries in
midwinter is an expensive one. but it is
becoming more and more general, and has
proved a source of great profit to the
TRUCK farmers of the south. So general
! has the industry become, and so extern
sive, that 1t is possible to serve fresh
vegetables every day in the year. The
railway companies are doing everything
possible to promote the industry. the
truck trains being given the right of way
land run the same schedules as pas
senger trains. Charleston is particularly
| fortunate IN her soil, in her climate and
| in being within twenty-four and thirty
| six hours of the largest markets in the
country.