THE ALABAMA OPPORTUNITY. 41 



had more cheaply than in Mobile County and where there is 

 not so much competition and more room for development. A 

 new line is now in the process of grading from Bay Minette 

 through Baldwin County along the east side of the bay. The 

 possibilities of vegetable raising had much to do in inducing 

 the promoters' and -builders of the road to undertake this de- 

 velopment. The soil in Baldwin county is similar to that of 

 Mobile County and it gives great promise to the trucking in- 

 dustry. 



In the meanwhile Mobile does not have to look to the future. 

 The industry has arrived, so far as she is concerned. Tlie 

 Louisville and Nashville, The Mobile and Ohio, the Southern 

 and the Mobile, Jackson and Kansas City railroads send out 

 each year increasing numbers of cars filled with vegetables for 

 northern and western markets. 



"The Mobile County vegetables," said J. S. Comstock of the 

 Comstock Produce Company, "bring the highest market pri- 

 ces wherever they are offered for sale." 



"You see our vegetables are among the very first to be put 

 upon the northern market. This gives the farmers around 

 here an additional advantage over their competitors, 



"The industry is' prospering and thriving in a way that 

 could hardly be credited. All the farmers who are in the 

 business are planting full crops. All a truck farmer has to do 

 here is to put in a fair amount of the labor in an intelligent 

 manner and the soil and the climate will do the rest." 



Most of the truck farms in Mobile County are within a ra- 

 dius of twenty miles of the city to the west, north and south 

 of the city. The vegetable field is constantly widening. Many 

 new farms have been opened within twenty-five or thirty miles 

 of the city. In this section two crops of turnips, two crops of 

 tomatoes and frequently two crops of cabbage and potatoes 

 can be raised. The land is well fertilized each season, but it 

 stands fertilizer well. It holds the fertilizer and gets the best 

 results from it. 



The growing of fruit is a more recent industry in this sec- 

 tion. B-ut like truck farming it is most promising. Strawber- 

 ries, however, have been raised for northern and western mar- 

 kets for several years. 



It is a fine strawberry country about here and the berries are 

 put on the market earlier than any others except those shipped 

 from central afid south Florida. 



