FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
217 
that can be done on this land remains yet 
to be proven, for the work that has been 
done is only a beginning, for it would be 
impossible for any one or two men to de¬ 
velop it in so short a time. Mr. Hastings 
has started the ball rolling and others can 
join in pushing it along.” 
* * * * * 
“In conclusion we would state that Mr. 
Hastings informs us that he is making 
arrangements with a German to make 
into sauerkraut all the cabbage that is not 
shipped another season, also may start 
a tomato canning factory if the outlook 
warrants.” 
THE TRANSPORTATION QUESTION. 
The transportation question has always 
been a worrying one among the Florida 
horticulturists. In the seventies it was 
mainly a worry of getting the fruit to the 
market. In those days it meant getting 
them to Savannah or New York. There 
were no trunk lines of railroads and 
every plug line was doing all in its power 
apparently to kill off the other roads 
whether a competing one or a connecting 
one. I say apparently, because the policy 
adopted and carried out could not have 
been more discouraging to the shipper 
of perishable fruits. The steamship and 
boat lines were somewhat better, but 
served only a few of the growers. 
Transportation has not reached a per¬ 
fect stage yet, still we will get a large 
grain of comfort by listening to an ex¬ 
tract or two of almost forgotten litera¬ 
ture. They make one feel as he does after 
awakening from an attack of night mare. 
The following is taken from a paper read 
by Mr. E. G. Hill, of Lawtey, at the De- 
Land meeting in 1890: 
I have some statistics from California 
showing what freight the Californians 
pay on their shipments to New York, and 
I find that we pay more from Florida 
than they do.* They have an organiza¬ 
tion in California known as the Shippers’ 
Union, and they ship in train lots. Seven 
cais constitute a train, and this train takes 
preference over any other train on the 
roads. They are loaded by the shippers 
and placed ahead of the express trains, 
which are not allowed to pass them. For 
.that service they pay $44 per car-load, and 
the time is 7 days. We pay $815 for the 
same service. They will carry any kind 
of peiishable fruits, plums, peaches and 
an\ thing that can be shippel in carload 
lots to New York in refrigerator cars 
with the same service that we have for 
strawberries for $475 per car. For that 
same service we pay $1,040.” 
The following extract is taken from 
the presidential address of Dudley W. 
Adams, delivered in 1891, at Ormond, 
who was one of the most forceful and 
vitrolic of horticultural writers we have 
had. 
The Florida Fruit Exchange reports 
its gross sales this season at about $1.75 
per box, and net the grower about $i.f 
This analyzes thus: Grower, 54c; box, 
etc., 45c; fruit exchange, 14c; transporta¬ 
tion, 62c; total, $1.75. The grower gets 
a trifle under one-third what his oranges 
sold for, and someone g'et two-thirds.” 
*Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. V: 126 (189^) 
tProc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. V: 19, 20 (1892). 
