334 EigJit Dollars an Acre. . 



nothing. Hence ihe absence of a market discouraged all extensive effort 

 at fruit-growing. 



But the opening of the great railroad between the two cities quickened 

 the whole fruit-region of New Jersey into a golden life. It traversed that 

 peculiar belt of land in this county which has since become famous for 

 its fruit-crop, and created a market for whatever it could produce. It sup- 

 plied the sole want of our location, by letting out our products, and letting 

 in a stream of wealth from distant cities. Heretofore we had glutted every 

 little village community with strawberries at sixpence a quart ; but now we 

 were left free to grapple with great city appetites, whose consuming voracity 

 we had no means of estimating. Our warm and genial soil, moreover, 

 ripened all the fruits a week to ten days earlier than New York and Boston 

 had been accustomed to ; and prices went up encouragingly under the new 

 demand upon us. Sixpence ceased to be the standard for strawberries. 

 Even the heretofore-surfeited villages were compelled to advance with the 

 improved tariff. Demand stimulated production ; production was found 

 to be exceedingly profitable ; it brought in an enormous aggregate of money 

 with which manures were purchased : land was enriched, better houses and 

 fences were built, and splendid gravel turnpikes superseded the old sandy 

 thoroughfares. The foundation of this remarkable transformation lay in 

 the unlimited market which the railroad brought to our doors. Without it, 

 we had been a hissing and an astonishment to the world ; but with it, if the 

 hissing has ceased, the astonishment continues. 



I admit, that, up to the advent of the railroad, the Vermont example of 

 eight dollars an acre may have been thankfully accepted by hundreds of 

 cultivators in this viqinity. They, like the Vermonter, could do no better, 

 and were contented ; for they also counted even that a success. But that 

 generation has left the stage of active life, and been succeeded by another, 

 which, like our horses, has been educated to the railroad. Within twenty 

 years, rye has given place to asparagus, which we plant in great fields of 

 ten to twenty acres. Well planted, it will cost a hundred dollars to set an 

 acre : but it will continue productive for twenty years ; and, if properly 

 cared for, will clear two hundred dollars annually. It comes gratefully into 

 market directly after the ground is clear of frost, and is eagerly sought 

 after in every market. There are men all round me who have made small 



