SUGGESTIVE EXPERIENCES. 323 



August 10, and the plants set fourteen inches from each 

 other, in beds with alleys between, twenty-eight inches wide. 

 They were worked with a cultivator, mulched with pine straw 

 in January, and stimulated from time to time with liquid 

 manure. The fact that they secured a good home market 

 accounts, in part, for the large profit. 



Through the courtesy of Captain Sigwald, himself a suc- 

 cessful horticulturist, I was able to visit many strawberry 

 plantations in the vicinity of Charleston, S. C, and will give 

 a few statistics from one of the most flourishing. The plants 

 were vigorous, and the long rows clean and free from run- 

 ners. The best plants had been set out in the preceding 

 September. The force employed to set five and a half acres 

 was : five hands taking up the plants with a large patent 

 transplanter, that brought away a ball of earth with the roots ; 

 five more laborers ''toting," or carrying on handbarrows, 

 the plants from the propagating bed to the fruiting field, 

 and four planting. The expense of planting was ^15 per 

 acre. From the five and a half acres, there were shipped 

 to New York 15,200 quarts, on which the freight, at fifteen 

 cents per quart, amounted to ^2,280. Commission on sales 

 was 1^4 1 3, — leaving a balance of only ^1,670, and out of 

 this all other expenses had to come. Thus it may be seen 

 that the expense of marketing the crop was greater than the 

 expense of growing it and the net profit combined, — a con- 

 dition of things that should not last. The freight has been 

 reduced to ten cents per quart this year, I understand. 



The Monarch seems peculiarly adapted to East Tennes- 

 see, and Mr. Ed. S. Sheppard, who first introduced them, 

 found a sensation resulting that in its proportions resembled 

 the mammoth berry. 



The Crystal City and Captain Jack are favorite varieties 

 in Missouri, 



