RISE OF COMMERCIAL CULTURE 71 



railroad, and sold at 25 cents a quart. They were two 

 weeks later this year than last." ^ 



There long had been a limited demand in New York and 

 other northern cities for winter berries. Heretofore the 

 demand had been met with forced fruit, which retailed at 

 $3.50 to $5.00 a quart. The first Florida berries, mostly 

 Wilsons, were shipped in open crates by express and sold 

 for fifty cents to $1.00 a quart. The express charges 

 to New York then were fifteen cents a quart. The disas- 

 trous freeze of 1886, which practically destroyed orange 

 groves in northern Florida, stimulated interest in straw- 

 berry-growing in that part of the state. In 1888 Stephen 

 Powers estimated the output from Florida at 20,000 

 bushels, of which Bradford county supplied 5000 bushels. 

 Gainesville, Stark and Lawtry were the principal shipping 

 points. Florida sent the first refrigerator car of straw- 

 berries to the North in 1889. About the same time re- 

 frigerator cases came into common use for the small ex- 

 press shipments early in the season. The introduction of 

 refrigeration greatly stimulated the Florida industry, as 

 there had been frequent losses hitherto from berries that 

 spoiled on the way to market. 



Some remarkable profits were made in those days. 

 "Net profits of $400 an acre were considered only average," 

 Helen Harcourt stated in 1886. " From $1000 to $2000 an 

 acre are not infrequently made, and sometimes more." ^ 

 She puts on record what is probably the largest profit ever 

 made from an equal quantity of field-grown berries. "A 

 shipment of 1050 quarts of strawberries from Jacksonville 

 to New York in a refrigerator car gave a return of $2630, 

 being sold at $2.50 per quart. The expense of picking 



1 Gardeners' Monthly, 1881, p. 151. 



2 " Florida Fruits" (1886), pp. 187-98. 



