The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-07-07
NORTHERN HOTHOUSE
CUCUMBERS SHUTTING
OUT SOUTHERN LEA-

southern shippers of outdoor Cucum
bers, are very much dissatisfied with
market conditions during the season
now drawing to a close. All of the
large markets have been much ove-
stocked and great quantities of GU
cumLers have been sold for a trifc
more than the freight charges and
sometimes less. Reports from all
eastern cities are about the same.
w. B. Davis, of Aurora, one of the
largest cucumber growers ia tho
country and probably the most
prominent in the cucumber deal for
many years in summing up the sit
ment:
The trouble with the cucumber
situation is, as | stated year ago,
that southern shippers do not un-
derstand why conditions are not the
same in the northern markets as
was the case five or ten years ago.
The fact is that few of them know
anything about the magnitude of
the dollhouse vegetable industry in
the North.
THE quality of the dollhouse OFT.
put is very fine and they can be
shipped such a distance that there
is no such demand for the outdcCr
cucumbers as was the case few
years ago when there were a very
few small establishments growing
dollhouse cucumbers in the winter
and spring.
THE standard of quality is so
well known that it requires no COM
ment but the southern shippers do
not realize this as do the northern
consumer.
Last year and year before the
conditions were just about a. bad
after the southern stuff commenced
to come in quantities as they are
this year and ! made the statement
then that the time was not far dis
tant when there would be very lit
tie market for southern outdoor
cucumbers in the north as the great
increase in the area of glass houses
devoted to growing cucumbers has
increased the production to such an
tent th2t the markets are often
actually flooded with the finest
grades of cucumbers before the
southern supply is ready.
"A few years ago when dollhouse
cucumbers were real luxury, the
masses of the people did not use GU
cumbers until the southern SHY
ments were on the market and were
glad to get them, but now there is
such competition and greater IN
creased production of dollhouse Gu
cumbers that all the dealers arc
handling them and they are not
luxury but staple article; when
the southern supply comes on the
market, it is my observation that
consumers and dealers do not well
come them as they used to.
1T would seem to me that this
matter should be brought to the at
tention of the southern growers.
; just as matter of information that
they will never again be able to
market carloads of cucumbers in the
North to any such extent as hereto
fore. The growers seems to be pa
tiently sticking at it and think it is
only an off season and that it will
be better another year. By point
ing out the actual facts in the case
the growers and the dealers might
be benefited.
The dollhouse stuff will very
nearly always sell ahead of the
southern cucumbers and if there
doesn't happen to be enough to sup
ply all the demand at the prevailing
market prices part of the stuff can
always be used but there is so much
of it that it has to be dumped or
sold to the peddlers for the freight
charges or only trife more.
There are a dozen or more hot
house cucumber growers near north
ern markets who ship annually over
10000 dozen cucumbers, and there
! are also hundreds of growers with
! smaller dollhouse establishments.
This eives some idea of the magni-
tude OF the dollhouse cucumber in
dustry and explains the reason for
the glut on the market as hereto
fore mentioned"