INDIANA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 203 



when crating them up. Fill the boxes full as you can so as not to mash 

 them when putting on the lids when nailing up the crates. 



Old Patches.— Soon as through picking, moAv off with a mowing ma- 

 chine, and as soon as dry, rake off the straw and harrow the rows down 

 with the cultivator to about eight inches; thin out the plants where too 

 thick and cultivate same as a new patch, and if you have favorable 

 weather, you should have phnity of new plants to give you a good crop 

 the next season, and then plow up. 



In conclusion let me say that there is no crop that will pay larger re- 

 turns for the labor and money invested than straAvberries, and no crop 

 will respond to extra cultivation more readily than they. The writer 

 marketed .$2,000 worth of berries this season off of ten acres of ground, 

 and one-lialf of this was an old patch. 



President Stevens: Mr. Davis will continue the subject. 



POSSIBILITIES OF GROWING STRAWBERRIES ON A 

 COMMERCIAL SCALE. 



BY EVAN B. DAVIS, CARTERSBURG. 



Indiana, with her population of over 2,500,000 people, must be fur- 

 nished with good, fresh strawberries. We have the soil, climate and 

 backbone necessary to grow this supply. Calculating that each inhabitant 

 used one gallon during the entire berry season, and double the amount 

 should be used, it wonld require over 3,000 acres to supply the demand. 

 And if a good gi-ade of fruit were furnished, tlie amount consumed would 

 be double. For example: The little village of Plainfield, with about 1,500 

 inhabitants, consumed 500 to 800 gallons of berries four or five years 

 ago, but since better varieties have been introduced and fruit marketed 

 in neater packages, the demand exceeds the supply, and this season no 

 less than 2,500 gallons were marketed, and at very satisfactory prices. 

 The same is true of Danville, Clayton and other villages of our county, 

 and no doubt these conditions are the same all over the State. Educate 

 the people to eat great quantities of this luscious fruit by growing and 

 offering for sale only extra tine berries, and then a market is already 

 made for several growers in each county. And, by the way, a home mar- 

 ket is the best market. 



Besides satisfying the demands of our own people, we should come 

 in for a share In supplying the neighboring cities, as Chicago,, Cincin- 

 nati and others, with a population equal to our own. Should we produce 

 a surplus over the home demand, we have unsurpassed facilities for ship- 

 ping cheaply and quickly to other markets. The expense, and often serl- 

 our loss, is now avoided by shipping in refrigerator cars. Our soil is 



