It is said that there are upwards of 2,000 acres devoted to vegetable culture around Mobile, and this does not embrace any melon grounds. This space is equal to 4,000 acres North, as two or three crops can easily be grown on the same grounds near Mobile within a year. They begin with cabbage, next Irish potatoes, following with cabbage, sweet potatoes, etc.

Such a cropping, however, would require an enormous outlay for manure. As a general rule the want of manure has been one of the chief difficulties in extensive vegetable gardening in this region. Where the climate is so mild that the cattle run at large all winter, manure will of necessity be scarcer than when fed in the stable yard for half the year.