238 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



what fruit he buys. If your grapes are packed honestly and are at 

 proper stage of maturity then you can, if associated with other grow- 

 ers of your community, ask a good price for your product and get 

 it. Nebraska growers have a growing market here at home if they 

 will cultivate it as it should be. Pack only the best and so label them. 

 Put your name on the package and set a standard that you can adhere 

 to year after year and that will bring your customer back again and 

 again. Nebraska grapes as well as Nebraska apples and other fruits 

 have as fine a flavor as can be found anywhere and it is the duty of 

 the grower to put those grapes up in such a manner that their pack 

 will be standard by which other growers will patUivn. — July Horti- 

 culture. 



GROWING STRAAVBERRIJ^:S COM.>IERCIALLY. 



G. S. Cliristy. 



A record of better than $700 per acre growing strawberries in.- 

 Nebraska. It seems strange that commercial strawberry growing is 

 not better developed than it is at present. The $700 per acre return 

 like land promoters stories occurs more often on paper than it does, 

 in fact, too often the man that believes the promoters big stories, or 

 that will expect a record breaking yield every year will be sorely dis- 

 appointed. Disappointments occur more often than record-breaking 

 crops. The drawbacks to commercial growing are many. First there 

 are too few growers in each locality, and the berries must be shipped 

 locally. The express company absorbs too much of the profit. Ta 

 suceed berries must be shipped in car loads, and all berries examined 

 by an expert before they are loaded. Second too much nitrogen la 

 our soil and the berries are hid beneath such a mass of foliage that 

 they ripen in the shade and are soft as soon as colored. Then or.r pick- 

 ers have always been trained to pick ripe berries. While beries from all 

 commercial centers are picked before entirely colored and alowed to 

 ripen on the road. In the southern berry districts where you have to 

 carry dirt in your hat to cover the roots of a plant after you have 

 wedged it in between rocks, the soil contains mineral elements neces- 

 sary to color the berries instead of nitrogen to force rapid plant 

 growth. 



One plant to the square foot is as thick as plants should be grown 

 to produce the best commercial berries. 



Dunlap, Warfield, Klondike, Stephens Late, Gandy, and many 

 other varieties will bring big returns on the investment if planted in, 

 sufficient acreage that they can be shipped in car loads. No overripe 

 beries should be allowed in the boxes. If plants are well mulched and 

 not too thick very few small berries will need be sorted out. Pick, 

 ripe berries for the local market, and three-fourths ripe for the distant, 

 market, and soft berries will not be a hindrance to Nebraska berry- 

 growing. 



