RISE OF COMMERCIAL CULTURE 67 



Virginia. — The earliest commercial strawberry growing 

 in the South was in the Chesapeake Bay region, about 1854, 

 and was coincident with the beginning of trucking. The 

 warm soils, equable climate and early season of that region, 

 due in part to the proximity of the Gulf Stream, made it 

 peculiarly adapted to the culture of early vegetables for 

 northern markets; while the broken coast line made it 

 easily accessible to water transportation, there being no 

 railroads in that region then. Before 1850 small quanti- 

 ties of truck, including a few strawberries, were sent to 

 Baltimore and Philadelphia in oyster boats. In 1854 the 

 steamer Roanoke carried the first shipment of truck from 

 Norfolk to New York. The boats then in use carried 

 400 to 600 packages, all on the deck and without refrig- 

 eration ; the trip took thirty-six hours. Now, the steam- 

 ers of the Old Dominion Line carry 25,000 packages; 

 refrigeration and forced ventilation permit loading be- 

 tween decks, and the trip is made in nineteen hours. The 

 strawberries in these early shipments often reached New 

 York and Boston in poor condition. At that time, Nor- 

 folk berries were first on the market, and frequently sold 

 for fifty cents to a dollar a quart. 



The growing of strawberries and truck for northern 

 markets, as an exclusive business and not as a side line, 

 began near Norfolk about 1858. By 1861 the strawberry 

 industry had begun to attain considerable prominence, 

 then the Civil War shut off all communication between 

 the trucker and his markets. At the close of the war 

 the industry immediately revived. The Horticulturist for 

 1866 notes, "Norfolk sent 100 crates of strawberries a 

 week, for three weeks, to New York, by boat." The 

 superior value of the Wilson for this purpose was quickly 

 established; it was an extra good shipping variety and 



