108 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Pickers are not allowed to carry on any unnecessary conversa- 

 tions ; tenders are not allowed to converse with pickers — the foreman 

 does all talking. 



As soon as the berries are crated they are hauled to the packing 

 shed, where, after another party has inspected them, they are cov- 

 ered and taken to the shipping point, either to express or refrigera- 

 tor cars, as the case may be. A grower who knows his business 

 will get his fruit on the way to its destination as soon as possible 

 after being picked. 



In brief I have given you the methods I am acquainted with in 

 growing strawberries on a large scale. The methods are the same 

 as those used on small acreages. 



Mr. Oliver Gibbs : For many years Wisconsin has had the rec- 

 ord for the largest growth of strawberries to the acre, the largest 

 crop having been produced by the late J. M. Smith, at Green Bay, 

 Wis., on a quarter of an acre, yielding at the rate of 600 bushels to 

 the acre. Parker Earle, of Illinois, was crowned the strawberry 

 king of the United States, I think of the world, he having grown 

 them for market to the extent of eighty acres. Parker Earle, I 

 think, had to lay aside that crown and has retired, and now as our 

 president has given our Wisconsin friend the record of being one of 

 the largest strawberry growers in the United States I would like to 

 ask him how many acres he is growing. 



Mr. Herbst : Twenty-eight acres is the most I ever had. I ex- 

 plained when I came on the stand that I was not the largest grower. 



Mr. Cashman : I would like to ask Mr. Herbst whether he 

 finds spring plowing the proper way to prepare the ground for 

 planting strawberries, or whether it would be better to plow early 

 in the fall to pack the ground and hold the moisture ? 



Mr. Herbst: I plow in the fall and then again in the spring. 

 I have the land plowed in the fall and then in the spring use the 

 spading harrow and the drag. We have used both methods but 

 found that beds will pack, and the land should be replowed in the 

 spring. 



Mr. Wedge : Your soil is pretty sandy, is it not ? 



Mr. Herbst: I have both light and heavy soil and some loam. 



Mr. McColly : What do you consider an average crop ? 



Mr. Herbst :' One hundred and twenty-five bushels. I have got 

 more than that, but they will average that amount — 250 cases. 



Mr. McColly: What has been your largest yield? 



Mr. Herbst: I think 250 bushels. This same gentleman, Mr. 

 Smith, raised on a quarter of an acre an amount that would figure 

 up 600 bushels to the acre. You can get more berries from a 

 quarter of an acre than you can from ten acres in proportion. 



Mr. McColly: I understood the writer of the paper to say that 

 there are not so many strawberries raised in his vicinity as there 

 were formerly. 



Mr. Herbst: There are several enterprises going in there, and 

 as many strawberry growers are quite a distance from a shipping 



