154 SUCCESS WITH SMALL FRUITS. 



are giving more southern ports a chance. Charleston, South 

 CaroUna, is second only in importance. In the spring of 

 '79, every week four steamers were loaded for New York, 

 and strawberries formed no insignificant proportion of the 

 freight. Indeed, the supply from Charleston was so large 

 that the price in April scarcely repaid the cost of some ship- 

 ments. The proprietor of a commission house, largely en- 

 gaged in the Southern fruit trade, told me he thought that 

 about one third as many strawberries came from Charleston 

 as from Norfolk. From careful inquiries made on the 

 ground, I am led to believe — if it has not already attained 

 this position — that Norfolk is rapidly becoming the largest 

 strawberry centre in the world, though Charleston is unques- 

 tionably destined to become its chief rival in the South. 

 The latter city, however, has not been able to monopolize 

 the far Southern trade, and never have I seen a finer field of 

 strawberries than was shown me in the suburbs of Savannah. 

 It consisted of a square of four acres, set with Neunan's 

 Prolific, the celebrated Charleston berry. 



And now Florida, with its unrivalled oranges, is beginning 

 to furnish tons of strawberries, that begin ripening in our 

 midwinter ; and, with its quick, sandy soil and sunny skies, 

 threatens to render the growing of this fruit under glass 

 unprofitable. I saw last winter, at Mandarin, quite an ex- 

 tensive strawberry farm, under the care of Messrs. Bowen 

 Brothers, and was shown their skilful appliances for shipping 

 the fruit. At Jacksonville, also. Captain William James is 

 succeeding finely in the culture of some of our Northern 

 varieties, the Seth Boyden taking the lead. 



I think I can better present the characteristics of straw- 

 berry culture in the South by aiming to give a graphic pic- 

 ture of the scenes and life on a single farm than is possible 

 by general statements of what I have witnessed here and 



