Summer Meeting. m 



When I receive an order for berries to can I fill it with the largest 

 and finest berries I have. Parker Earle and Ridgeway are the two best 

 varieties I have ever grown for this purpose. In picking for table use 

 I pick only those well-ripened and perfect in shape and not under one- 

 half inch in diameter. 



I pick off the berries, leaving the stem about one-half inch long and 

 taper off box with the stems down. I put one layer of berries above top 

 of box and then round up berries in center. I usually deliver with 12 

 boxes in a crate. When I have to fill a case, I fill lower tier of boxes as 

 above when delivered. 



I grow my berries strictly in hills, plants about 18 inches in row and 

 rows three feet apart. By this method, with good culture, the right use of 

 fertilizers and cross fertilizing and varieties suited to our locality, we 

 have but very little fruit that is not suitable for market, and consequently 

 have no trouble disposing of it at good prices. 



CARING FOR OLD STRAWBERRIES. 



(H. Orecelius Jr., Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, Mo.) 



The berry picking being over, my field is then mowed with the mow- 

 ing machine, and all mulch and the vines are then removed by raking the 

 field, which makes the work of caring for the field very much easier, 

 and were the season to be dry, it would do positive harm to the field, for 

 the ground would lie too loose, mixed with so much straw, and would lose 

 the moisture too rapidly, causing many plants to die. 



The field being cleaned, I then plow away from both sides of the 

 row, leaving a strip about 6 to 8 inches broad of the old row, which is 

 to furnish my new plants for the following season. If at the time of 

 plowing off the rows the ground be dry, I usually drag the field to break 

 the large lumps and to prevent the ground from drying out too much. 

 Later the field is cultivated and the dead vines and weeds are removed by 

 the hoe, and when the vines are of sufficient length to be handled well they 

 are laid in a way to space them properly and to prevent bunching of 

 them, as is so often seen. Fill in well with ground about the old plant and 

 hold the new vines in their proper places. In this way I have grown plants 

 for a second season's bearing which give me results almost as good as a 

 new field. 



