MAGNITUDE OF THE TRAFFIC 233 



speciality is made of some particular product, as, for in- 

 stance, strawberries at Independence, La.; radishes at 

 Roseland, La.; tomatoes at Crystal Springs, Miss.; and 

 cucumbers at Canton, Miss. In many of the districts 

 served by these Southern lines there are associations 

 operating on the same principle as those in Illinois already 

 mentioned. 



As a further indication of the extent of this traffic 

 from the South to the North I give, also, the number of 

 extra cars, loaded with fruit and vegetables, from stations 

 on the Southern lines, and from points in Illinois, handled 

 for the American Express Company, and necessitating the 

 running of special trains almost daily during the season, 

 these cars being in addition to the tonnage hauled on the 

 freight trains as shown above : — ■ 



YKAH. NO. OF (.'AltS. 



185)7 . . . 187 



1898 .... 291 



1899 . . . . 325 



1900 . . . . 380 



1901 . . . 454 



1902 . . . 465 



1903 .... 565 



The significance of all these figures will be better under- 

 stood when it is remembered that there has been a vast 

 change in the products of the South during the past 

 twenty or twenty-five years. Prior to that time cotton 

 was the staple product, and no attempt was made to 

 cultivate other crops to any extent. But the last two 

 decades have seen a great resort not only to the produc- 

 tion of fruit and vegetables, but to the growing of crops 



of all kinds, including grain and hay, SO that cultivators 



are now no longer dependent mainly on a single article. 

 More attention is, also, being given to stock grazing, and 

 dairying has been taken up in New Orleans, the adapt- 



