No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 619 



Iv criticised and denounced; but that little blushing sinner of a 

 strawberry just keeps on coA'ering itself with blushes, so as to better 

 its chances to imitate the smart country girls and boys that are 

 swallowed up in the large cities. 



"Between the bays" the strawberry (to put it accurately) is ex- 

 ploited rather lavishly. From one, to one hundred acres of straw- 

 berry plantation, under the management of one man ; and inconsis- 

 tent as it may appear on its face, the larger the acreage, the more 

 thorough and business like, from start to finish, is every detail and 

 essential, which as a rule, at the final wind up of the season, writes 

 the broad strawberry smile on the Christian-like countenance of the 

 man behind the check book. 



The large growers b}^ force of circumstances, affecting soils more 

 particularly, but market peculiarities to some extent also, may dift'er 

 in the minor lines of procedure, but in the great essentials of the 

 work their operations are in exact accord. In explanation one 

 grower may possess a liberal acreage, that nature has fitted in im- 

 porlant particulars, for the successful groAving of some varieties, — 

 fastidious in soil requirements; and such kinds, — to the exclusion 

 of varieties more generally adaptive to different soils, are most suc- 

 cessfully and profitably utilized. Again, the grower may not have 

 on his farm, the kind of soil upon which such varieties can be de- 

 pended upon, for a good and profitable yield. Ask this grower to 

 explain the absence in his plantation of such kinds and he will truth- 

 fully tell you that they don't pay him. In the county where I live 

 there is one of the largest growers on- the peninsula — a man noted 

 for his enterprise, and clear-cut business thoroughness; this man 

 grows and picks from trventy to thirty acres annually-of the Gandy, 

 a late variety that will never disclose its full capabilities unless on a 

 moist rich soil. The gentleman I have in mind bought such land 

 adjoining him at a nominal figure, because it was wet and swampy 

 and overgroAvn with bushes. Cleared up, and a good system of 

 underdrains installed, make it ideal land for growing the Gandy 

 strawberry to perfection. There are other late ripening kinds that 

 doubtless are more satisfactory on land affording less moisture, but 

 on somewhat low, dark, loamy soil, with clay subsoil, the Gandy 

 holds the Blue Kibbon. 



None of the large growers so far as I am aware use the plant- 

 ing machine for setting their plants. While for certain kinds of 

 vegetable plants this machine is used to some extent, strawberry 

 growers i)refer the disk marker to open the rows ; setting the plants 

 by hand to the bar side of furrows thus prepared. That plan of 

 cross marking the land and setting the plants at the angles of the 

 squares, sufficiently distant from each other to permit the passage 

 between them of a narrow cultivator, and cross cultivating, while it 

 lessens the expense of hand hoeing considerably^ is making no great 

 gains in popular favor. What is everywhere knoA\Ti as the matted 

 row plan is given the preference. Witli the strawberry, as with 

 all other fruits; results are dependent u])on the efforts bestowed in 

 their production. In the matter of cups and crates, wonderful pro- 

 gress has been made. Did tlie strawberry growers of to-day have to 

 pay as much for cups and crates as was the case fifty years back, 

 their business would promptly collapse. Think of it — 130 per 1,000 



