RISE OF COMMERCIAL CULTURE 69 



which could be secured in large quantity at certain times 

 of the year. 



The increase in the supply of available labor imme- 

 diately affected the size of the berry fields. In 1871 it 

 was stated : ^ " Strawberries are grown around Norfolk 

 on an extensive scale. A Mr. Anderson has fifty acres in 

 strawberries and is planting much more. He expects to 

 employ from 600 to 800 pickers. He is the largest culti- 

 vator, but there are about a hundred others whose opera- 

 tions are nearly as extensive." In 1879 J. R. Young, Jr., 

 of Norfolk, was said to be the largest strawberry grower 

 in the world. A current magazine stated : " He now has 

 225 acres planted and expects to have 440 acres. He em- 

 ploys in the neighborhood of a thousand hands." ^ 

 These very large plantings were not generally as profitable 

 as smaller areas cultivated more intensively. 



South Carolina. — Charleston was a center of amateur 

 interest in strawberry culture long before they were grown 

 at Norfolk; the Charleston Horticultural Society had 

 able discussions on the subject in 1836. There was no 

 commercial interest at that point until about 1868 save 

 for the very limited quantity grown for the home market. 

 Beginning about 1856, truck crops were shipped from 

 Charleston to northern cities. There is no record of 

 strawberry shipments until 1871, when The Horticulturist 

 observed, ^ "On April 10th, 560 packages of strawberries 

 were received in New York by the Charleston steamer," 

 which indicates that the industry then must have been 

 of several years' standing. The Gardeners^ Monthly for 

 1875 says strawberries were a "drug on the market at 



1 Amer. Journ. Hort., IX (1871), p. 148. 



2 Proe. Columbus Hort. Soc, 1886. 

 ' The Horticulturist, 1871, p. 258. 



