The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1908-06-25
PINEAPPLE FARM
A.. INyEST.dENT ON WHICH A
WOMAN is GROWING RICH.
A New Hampshire School Teacher
Ordered South for Her EeaIth Not
Only Receivers 1t, But Has Built
Up Fine Business.

Three thousand dollars year Is
the amount which Miss Christobelle
\ lcy has cleared on her pineapple
m in the south of Florida for the
; five years. The farm comprises
lr acres, and less than three is
nted in pineapples.
Ten years ago I was teaching
1ool in New Hampshire, when the
physicians told me that the one
chance for prolonging my life lay
in going South below the frcst line,
and living out DOORS" said Miss
Macy, when describing her success
as pineapple farmer IL had been
teaching 10 years and had saved
$1,000.
After the first shock was over l
made up my mind &c fight for my
health, just as / had had to fight for
my education and as the family OF
a New England farmer have to fight
for everything they get. / packed
my few clothes and set out for Mi
ami, Fla, because 1t seemed bit
nearer home than Mexico.
The second day after my arrival
/ began TO look around to see what
sort of outdoor work I could find
that would pay me enough to live on.
/ soon found that all the out Of
doors work was done by negroes.
Il talked the matter over with the
woman in whose house l was board
Ing, and she explained to me that II
] wanted to work out of doors she
would advise me to rent garden.
II followed her advice but later
l decided to try pineapple farming.
When l found some land to suit
the owner was quite willing to sell
me fouI acres for $40 an acre. with
the promise of as much more as l
wanted at the same price, provided
nobody came along and offered to
pay more for It in the meantime.
1T cost me 5000 merely to have
that land cleared and to build a four
roomed log house with little log
kitchen at the back. or course the
logs use6 in building the house
were all cut from the land.
AS soon as work was we'll under
way on the place l wrote for my
younger sister and a cousin, young
boy who had always been delicate, to
come Oh. and as soon as the house
as finished, we moved in. That
IT from the first Of July to the
). of November, the three of Us
out 10000 pineapple suckers
at cost me $6 a thousand. Eigh-
en- months later l harvested 500
crates of pineapples averaging about
80 to the crate.
This crop sold for an average OF
$3.50 a crate, making the gross re-
ceipts for the years's crop $500. De-
ducting the cost of the four acres Of
!and, the clearing and the building
of the house, besides the railroad
and other expenses Of getting my
sister and cousin to Florida and our
living expenses, we calculated that
We had cleared about $3.50. Not so
bad for the first eighteen months OF
a farm worked by two women and
a boy, at least, 1t didn't seem so to
us, who had been accustomed to
farming in New Hampshire.
That same year We set out suck
ers from my own plants and also
suckers of the Abakka pineapple.
Besides the fruit Of that first crop I
sold several thousand suckers, but
a the money went to buy the suck
ers of the Abakkes we never counted
that in the amount saved.
Nov that pineapple growing has
become such popular industry,
there is always a ready sale for both
suckers and slips from healthy
plants. Mine are always spoken for
months ahead. Suckers I sell for
$40 a thousand and slips for half
that amount. can now clear 49,
900 rear and my health Is excel
lent"