Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1914-06-10
FOR GARDENERS.
Weather Conditions Unfavora-
ble--Why Plant Growing
Is Net as Profitable as
Formerly.
JBY R. G. suANNoSHoUsE.]

dening fraternity as one of mishaps,
on account of weather conditions.
Early in the spring when seed were
sown for plant raising it was too
Geld, and when it was warm it was
too dry; and after the plants did
sprout and come, to the high and
dry winds promptly ruined them.
S Further south the Florida potato
plant growers reported millions of
plants lost by TOO much rain; then
too much Drought. Plant orders
Ito be, delivered April Is have not
been shipped yet and always the an
swer3to inquirers is like the Mexi-
can nanana. next week"
For our part we are not grieving
oYermatters, for what little garden
we have has been kept going by
constant sprinkling and that means
paying n ore than the stuff sells for
inthe market, all things considered.
If We; had planted a large area and
set ont several thousand plants iu-
stead of several dozen it would
have sse .med like a real calamity.
So5D, however, we will have
rain, and then what the seedsmen
call Second early" garden seed and
plantsswill be Iowed aud set out all
over again and except for continued
drought following, the summer and
fall gardening will be as good as
usual.
Speaking of plant growing; ex-
cept siigsyery rare instances there is
no longer the opportunity for max
ing fls5slous sums out of it as in
.llhe. &. stsaYs. for there are too many
engage1 ID it, and here ls TOO little
organization about it for any uni
formity, or standard of prices, on a
paying basis.
For instance, one year cabbage
plants started off at 81 thousand,
which after all, is reasonable price
but in a little while some over-anx-
ious fellow with too big crop Of
fered them at IS cents. Then 9th
ers came down to 80 cents, and ac-
lually thousands were shipped at
cost with the idea of reducing the
loss by SO much.
Outsiders in the meantime got
he idea there must be something
in it if they could be sold at 6 cents
a hundred when they bad been &C
customed to paying 90. And 30 they
went to it, and many of them are
tinding out now just how much
there is in it.
So with tomato plants. When the
city man buys them from a florist
1t 25 cents dozen. or in pots for
50 cents, aud then reads an ad.
from a Florida grower offering
them at $l.75 a thousand, he natural
ly concludes that there is fine OPEN
ing for a middleman. Buying at
. cents dozen and selling al IS
would soon produce wealth indeed.
Or better still, he thinks, perhaps,
he can grow them himself at l cent
:. dozen and sell at 25 cents. Let
him try it. He will fad that when
he counts in his cost of greenhouses,
or hot beds and cold frames, seed,
packing and labor, that the cost
will greatly exceed cent dozen.
And the buying public, especially
the local trade, will expect to buy
the plants at just about the price
of the seed. Or if he orders the
plants from Florida they will come
long, spindling and tender, drawn"
plants from beds, which will
wilt as soon as the air strikes
them, and will just about bring
charges.
So with sweet potatoes. Unless
they are shipped very carefully
they will actually be turned up by
the time tkey reach the buyer, or
they will be so damaged that there
is very little chance of reselling.
Pepper and egg plants are very
much in demand generally in April
and May, especially the large sweet
pepper, but anybody who has ever
grown them knows that they are
The hardest of all plants 10 raise for
the early trade. The peppers re,
quire considerably higher than to-
mstoes, and it must also be moist
temperature. This spring, on ac'
count oe the unusually long contln
ued cool weather, it was very dith
cult to germinate them in an ordl
nary hot bed, and as for seed sowr
- +bo ppo IN hunn rec