Miscellaneous. 411 



one cent a box for what they pick. The work of picking begins as early 

 in the morning as it is possible to see the berries and is continued through- 

 out the day until the patch has been covered. In the height of the season 

 this often keeps the hmited number of pickers busy all day long. The 

 berries are sold on the local market and always find a ready sale, most 

 of them being engaged for several days before they are picked. 



Mr. Kirklin grows four varieties of berries : the Clyde, Jessie, War- 

 field and Dwarf Champion ; and by far the largest percentage of the ber- 

 ries during the past season were picked from Clyde. This berry he finds 

 to do especially well in a wet season. Jessie, Mr. Kirklin has found to 

 be an uncertain bearer, but producing good sized fruits when it does 

 bear, Warfield is with him a good producer, but the fruits are not very 

 large. Dwarf Champion has not been grown by Mr. Kirklin long enough 

 to show what it can do. This year it produced a small crop of good ber- 

 ries. 



Now the question may be asked, if Mr. Kirklin can get i66 crates oft 

 of his three-fourths of an acre why can't we get berries in the same pro- 

 portion ofif of a hundred acres? As a rule, such a thing is seldom done. 

 The reason is due to the difference between intensive and extensive culti- 

 vation. In intensive cultivation of strawberries, as practiced by Mr. 

 Kirklin, the plants are growing close together and each individual plant 

 gets such care as to make it produce to the utmost of its ability. The 

 small area of the plantation makes it possible for each plant to get more 

 attention and have its needs better looked after than if the same number 

 of plants covered twice the ground they do. Within the small limits of 

 the estate of most market gardeners it is necessary for every square inch 

 of the ground to produce the largest amount of money in the form of 

 plants or plant products as is possible. Just such a condition of affairs 

 as this has made it possible for Mr. Kirklin to reap such a bountful harvest 

 from his plantation. 



The possibilities of the intensive cultivation of strawberries are only 

 in their infancy, and as soon as we reach a point where it is necessary 

 to make a given area produce to the utmost, then this manner of farming 

 will be more extensively practiced. 



Like all other plants, the strawberry has its pecularities, and for best 

 development demands certain requirements, yet any one who is a close 

 observer of plant growth will soon learn what these requirements ar? 

 after a ver}^ few trials at cultivation. The strawberry responds so quickly 

 to good care that a small area can be made to give large returns for 

 the labor expended on it and near all small towns a patch conducted on 

 the plan carried out by Mr. Kirklin will turn into the coft'ers of the owner, 

 at the period of its prime a good substantial profit. — E. H. Favor. Colum- 

 bia, Mo., in Western Fruit Grower. 



