132 THE ALAl'.AMA Ori'ORTUNIT Y. 



"No doubt, no doubt," said the strawberry man. "And when 

 the acre produces a bale, you get $50 from the acre. Now, let 

 me tell you, I got more than $250 in cash from every acre in 

 this field last year, and if I should get less than $250 this year 

 1 would be mightily disappointed." 



"Sure 'nough," was the admiring comment of the pine land 

 native, to whom, as to thousands and thousands of Alabamians, 

 the yield of a bale to the acre, or a gross income from the acre 

 of $50, was the climax, the summit of agricultural ambition. 



The land hereabouts is held cheaply, as agricultural lands go. 

 It is: a light sandy soil, with a heavy clay subsoil, the sort of 

 land that is capable of a high degree of fertilization. It is a 

 fine site for truck farming and, as in the growing and produc- 

 tion of big. luscious strawberries, it is without a superior in 

 all the country. 

 Outside of the land, much of the excellence of the country 

 is in its magnificent climate. The Gulf of Mexico is only 

 sixty miles' away from this old sawmill town of Boiling. It is 

 within easy reach of the daily breezes from the Gulf, which 

 means that the heat of the summer days are not intense, and 

 that the nights are breezy and comfortable. They have longer 

 summers here than the Northern States have, but the summers 

 are not so sudden and the mercury does' not run so high up 

 in the tube, or often up and down it. 



The agreeable and climatic conditions have had an important 

 bearing upon the unprecedented growth of the strawberry 

 industry. The pioneers in the business were the men who 

 formed the North Castleberry Strawberry Company four years 

 ago. These men were in the main men who had some sort of 

 connection with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. The 

 venture was a go and a success from its incipiency. Its success 

 was an eloquent persuader to others to go in for a share of 

 the manifest profits. 



CONDITIONS AT BOLLING. 



The conditions' here at Boiling are especially agreeable to 

 the growth and development of these and kindred branches of 

 farming. It is the heart of the old sawmill country. 

 Here at Boiling for a full forty years was operated 

 one of the big lumber mills of the Flowers familv. 



