INDIANA HOKTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 441 



May, and all through May, and the latter part of May our own berries 

 come on, and last for perhaps two or three weeks. Thirty thousand cases 

 is not so exceptionally high, yet, it is a great many berries. Our berries 

 go into the hands of the commission men, and they are then distributed to 

 all parts of our great city here. I call this a great city. It is one of the 

 great cities of the world. I think lots of Indianapolis; I like the place. It 

 has made wonderful growth in the last ten years. It has gained the 

 largest per cent, of population of any city in the United States, except 

 Toledo. It is a wonderful city, and a wonderful place to consume straw- 

 berries. We have eight hundred groceries here. They buy from one to 

 ten cases every day. Look what a number that is. They go into the 

 hotels, restaurauts, boarding houses, etc. Indianapolis eats lots of straw- 

 berries. Wholesale prices for berries at the commission houses for 1903 

 ranged from $1.20 to .$3.00 a case. I^et's figure from this. One thousand 

 cases means three thousand dollars, or three dollars a case, and see what 

 this would mean. All of you berry growers here know that there is money 

 in it Avhcn you get .$1.25 a case, and when you sell for $3.00, there is a big 

 lot of money clear. When fruit growers know this why do they persist 

 in gi'owing those poor, measly berries that you have to sell at five cents 

 a quart when you can grow good ones that will sell for so much more? 

 There is a class of people that want five cent strawberries and wont pay 

 any more, and there is another class that want the best and are willing to 

 pay for them, and are glad to get them at most any price. We have men 

 that handle this kind of berries. There are grocery stores on Pennsylva- 

 nia, Meridian and Illinois streets that handle this kind of berries, and 

 their customers are willing to pay for them. Of course you must have 

 good berries if j'ou charge a good price for them. In one yeai", I don't 

 just remember the year, Mr. List c" this county raised on three and one- 

 half acres about seventeen himdred cases of strawberries, and they were 

 fine berries, too. He couldn't have made nearly so much on corn, or 

 wheat or oats. We all know Mr. List and know that he was like George 

 Washington. In 1882 I had a big strawberry crop. I sold nearly $1,200 

 of berries off of three acres of land. • 



The people in the city are different from the people in the country. 

 There is a class in the country that don't like strawberries. You never 

 see one on their farm. I know lots of people living out in the country who 

 haven't a plum on their farm. Let me tell you about these people. 

 This class of people are mostly Germans. One of them came to 

 my house a few years ago and I said, "Fred, why don't you get some 

 strawberrj' plants and have some fruit of your own?" He told me that he 

 didn't care for them. He said, "Mr. Wilson, we don't care for straw- 

 berries." I told him that if he did not like these berries himself I Avas 

 sure his wife and children liked them, and he should have some for them. 

 He then said he did not have room for the plants. In a few rnonths he 

 came over and my strawberries wei"e ripe. I said, "Fred, eat some straw- 



