Strawberry Culture. 119 



STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 



BY J. H. HALE, OF CONXECTICUT. 



The subject is a broad one, and has been so often and ably discussed at 

 horticultural meetings and in the agricultural press, that I do not propose at 

 this time to enter into a general discussion in regard to the best methods of 

 culture, but rather spend a very few moments and just touch upon two or 

 three points that to me seem vital to success in the culture of this, the most 

 important of all the small fruits. 



I am not here to teach you anything new, but merely to tell you^ some 

 few of the little things that have come to my notice as a cultivator of straw- 

 berries for the past twenty years, and trust that we shall all learn more from 

 the discussions that follow than you would if I spent more time in simply 

 giving you the results of my experinc'es, all of which you must know have 

 been at the East, where our operations are so limited that it would be almost 

 impossible for an "Earl" to become "King" so far as the acreage under cul- 

 tivation was concerned, although he might attain the still higher position of 

 an American citizen ; that by the use of right methods of culture, could cause 

 one acre of land to yield 400 to 500 bushels of strawberries in a single season, 

 not an impossibility by any means ; for what has been done so many times 

 on a small scale, can be done again on a larger one, if only the same methods 

 are followed ; and while there is a vast difference between the East and the 

 West in many things, I doubt not that the same general rules that apply 

 there in regard to successful berry culture, will hold true here to such an 

 extent that it will be safe to follow them, at least until you prove their un- 

 soundness. When quite a small boy, I heard a successful farmer, in reply to 

 the query of how many acres of corn he had grown the past season, and 

 what it cost per acre, say, "I never grow my corn by the acre, I grow it by 

 the bushel." And although he is dead, his teaching still lives, as shown by 

 117 bushels of shelled corn to the acre not far from there a few years since ; 

 and it should be the aim of every one that wishes to be successful in straw- 

 berry culture, to j^roduce the greatest possible number of quarts from the 

 smallest possible area. Fifteen hundred to two thousand bushels produced 

 from ten acres, will cost less and sell for more money, than the same amount 

 from twenty-five to thirty acres, which is not far from the average yield 

 under ordinary methods (or no methods) of cultivation. 



A thorouffh preparation of the soil to start with, should be carefully at- 

 tended to if we expect to make a success of cultivating the strawberrj'. 

 Land well drained, either naturally or artifically, deep plowing, followed by 

 a subsoil plow and then made perfectly mellow before setting the plants, will, 

 to a certain extent, insure us against the effects of drought, as well as too much 

 water in a wet season. Next, a liberal matiuring of some sort we must have 

 at the East; in fact, it is the all important question with us, and if I mistake 

 not, the time has now come when you of the West, if you must not have it to 



