FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 85 
bers, etc., grow to the greatest perfection and bring big 
prices. 
I saw only a few days ago account sales for thirty crates 
beans shipped from Bartow to a Chicago commission mer¬ 
chant that sold for $128, or an average of $4.2t per crate; it is 
true the railroads or express company charged $30 for 
freights. The commission man charged $12 for selling them, 
$10 perhaps covered all the other expenses. You will see the 
shipper netted, with all this enormous expense, $2.50 per 
crate. Of course this is an extra price, indeed it is, but it 
shows that there are people that will eat beans it matter not 
what they cost, and if that shipper had had 1,000 crates to 
ship the day he shipped those, there still would have been 
nearly 2,000,000 people in Chicago that had no beans for din¬ 
ner that day. I mention this to show you that there is no' 
possible chance of ever overstocking the hungry snow-bound 
cities of the north with fresh vegetables during the winter 
months. 
Almost every kind of vegetable is grown in our matchless 
climate, but for shipment to northern markets, cabbage, pota¬ 
toes, Bermuda onions, tomatoes, beans, peas, egg plants, 
squashes, and cucumbers form the bulk of the shipments in 
some localities. Cauliflower and celery are very successfully 
grown, and will in a few years be leading articles; and nearly 
always bring good prices. The best time to plant the different 
kinds of vegetables must be determined by the locality and 
surrounding circumstances. It would be lolly for the grower 
of West Florida to plant his tomatoes, egg plants and beans 
in December or January; if it be done during a cessation of 
extreme cold, the return of winter weather or an unreasonable 
frost may in a single night destroy the labor of many weeks 
(as it has done in the past few weeks). In West Florida we 
generally plant our cabbige, peas, beets, turnips, onions, let¬ 
tuce and all hardy vegetables from August 15 to December 1. 
Potatoes in January and February. Right here I want to- 
dispel the idea of not saving our own seed potatoes;, thou¬ 
sands of dollars are sent out of our state everv vear for seed 
V 1/ 
when we allow the best seed we can possibly get to rot in our 
fields. If we let our potatoes get thoroughly ripe, dig them in a 
dry time, remove them immediately and out in a cool, dry place* 
(under the house is a good place) they will keep perfectly 
sound. About the 15th of August bed them like you would 
sweet potatoes (I mean the small one about the size of a wal¬ 
nut). Keep the bed moist and partly shaded for ten or twelve 
days when they will be nicely sprouted, have your land ready 
and plant the whole potato. If the seasons are good by the 
1st of November you will have a good crop ot potatoes. These 
