The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-06-19
BERRIES. FRUITS
in old VIRGINIA
Another Oh a pit er or
Demonstration
Work.
CHEsTERFIELDAND
| CAROLINE COUNTIES
A Few Samples Just to Show
What Can Be Done-Watkins
Brothers, Tompkins & Son
and What They Have Ac-
conplisned Others Can
Do as Well.
ny FRANK S. wooDsoN,
Industrial Editor.

Last Sunday 1 had in the In
dustrial Section an article in fact
two articles. in which I undertook
to show the vast benefits that havs
accrued from the farmers cooperative
demonstration work in Virginia, and
how Thomas o. Sandy. of Nottoway
county, has carried on this work, or
his own farm and on the farms OF
such others as were willing to re-
ceive instruction from him, to state
of perfection
1 think I said that the subject was
too big for one weeks comments and
that / would likely follow in future
issues of the Industrial Section with
more information on the subject OF
this demonstration work and the good
that 1t has brought to bear in old
Virginia.
And There Are Others.
All honor to Sandy and his CO.
laborers. but the fact remains that
they are not the only demonstrators.
out in Chesterfield county the Watkins
| brothers have shown what can be done
| with old WORKOUT lands. DR.. j. B.
| Fisher. of the same county and In
the same neighborhood. has been guilty
| of considerable demonstration work.
| and he has demonstrated not a little
| between his office hours, office hours
made necessary by his large country
practice as an up-to-date physician.
Up in Caroline county C. w. Temp.
kins and his vigorous sons have done
considerable demonstrating on their
own hook. NJ. A. Num-. who lives
close by the Tompkins folks and their
ormsby Berry and Dairy farm. ha.
also been much of a demonstration.
and all of these folks. along with
many others, have Demonstrated
that what We're regarded as old worn
out and old piayed-out Virginia lands
! can be made to produce abundantly
| and to blossom and flourish like a
/ green hay tree.
| Indeed. there are many others who
| have demonstrated in various parts
| of the State, and demonstrated in va
| rious ways. but some of those I have
| mentioned above have demonstrated
| in peculiar way, and have Incl
dentally shown that the lands around
about Richmond are the finest in the
world for berry culture and for truck.
and that is the thing in the main I
want to talk about for this issue of
the Industrial Section.
Berries and Fruits.
have visited in the past the farm
of j. b. Watkins and brother, up in
Chesterfield county, about fifteen miles
from Richmond, and have seen
what John B. and B. G. Watkins are
they hold there. That is to say, saw
in general way 1t was only last
week that / caught on to some figures
that We're to me- very interesting,
What these Watkins brothers do not
raise from their Chesterfield farm is
not worth raising, for they surely
raise everything, but in this article
will contine myself to their berry and
fruit business. In the first place. they
took ND these old wOrn-Ollt lanrS
about twenty or twenty-five years ago
and by methods closely allied to those
l described in last Sundays paper as
the Sandy methods" they have made
them valuable as berry and fruit pro-
ducers.
Berries and Fruit All Profit.
Primarily. the Watkins brothers are
nurserymen. their real business being
to produce fruit trees. strawberry
plants, raspberry plants. blackberry
and dewberry plants and sell the same
to farmers. but incidentally they have
become big berry producers. In adj
/ dition, they do a lot of trucking. and
have on the place cannery in which
| they have put up butterbeans. snap
beans. tomatoes and all other canable
| goods. and they have been making
| money along all OF these lines for
many years back. as we'll as in the
dairy business
However, I am going to use only
the few berry agures l have obtained
for this year, Twenty acres on tho
place are devoted to strawberries, the
object being to supply plants,
This Year they have sold from that
twenty acres 10000 strawberry plants.
don't know how much money they
got for the plants. but 1T was Soodly
amount In the meantime they mar
keted in Richmond about 1,S00 crates
of strawberries. A crate holds thirty
two quarts, or one bushel. They sold
in Danville and South Boston about
200 bushels. These strawberries sold
for from Sl.50 to IS per create. ths
average being about $3.50 per crate.
Mr.. Watkins says to me: The yield
this year was not as good as usual.
the season being very cool and dry:
the berries did not average as large
as in seasonable years, and the prices
We're not as high as they have been
in former seasons, but in the main
they were satisfactory"
The Nursery business.
From this same twenty acres they
dug and sold more than 10000 plants
that We're sold for good figures last
fall ana spring, Or course, this ma
terially cut down the berry product,
as every one OF these 10000 plants
would have been berry producers had
they been allowed to stand In
note to me Mr. Watkins says. I'VE
are now marketing raspberries, Gull
tivated dewborries and blackberries.
and the crops of these promise to he
Very good" Mr.. Watkins is a modest
kind of man. and would not tell ms
much about these berries, but from his
commission merchant on Cary Street I
learned that these raspberries \ ara
pannins out 81 par crate OF sixty-fnur
pint boxes. that is to say, 81 par
bushel The dewberrses and black
berries are paying from $3.50 10 So
per crate. And tho sales from tho
Watkins farm of yaspberries Will ba