376 ANNUAL REPORT 



a Society that covers so large a territory as the State of Min- 

 nesota, with its great diversity of soil and climate. I shall be 

 understood as referring only to the locality in which I live. 



STRAWBERRIES. 



The fruit and vegetable grower like the producer of nearly all 

 other farm crops has done but a part of the needed labor to pre- 

 pare the products of his industry for the use of mankind. 

 Though a larger proportion of fruit can be converted directly to 

 the use of man without preparation than that of any other pro- 

 duct of his labor, they are also the most perishable. The grower 

 has to be constantly on the alert to get them to market as soon 

 as ripe and in the best possible shape. Taking it for granted 

 that all present are tillers of the soil and depending upon the 

 production of your gardens or farms for your support, the ques- 

 tion arises how shall we make our farms yield a profit on our 

 investments and a reward for our labor ? That which affords the 

 greatest profit affords the greatest pleasure; farming or gardening- 

 if not profitable is not pleasant. At least that is the view taken 

 by most young people, who do not like to meet with failures^ 

 or disappointments such as sometimes happen to gardeners and 

 farmers through drought, insect depredations and prices below 

 the cost of production. Market gardening and growing small 

 fruits for the Minneapolis and St. Paul markets is the only 

 branch of the business that I am somewhat posted on. I will 

 say here that I know more about marketing than I do about 

 growing the fruit. It has been my business for the last five 

 years to market all our produce. 



The strawberry is the first fruit to ripen in this locality. I 

 shall confine myself in this paper to my practical experience in 

 cultivating and handling the strawberry. It is said that any 

 land that will raise good corn or potatoes will do ; so it will, but 

 it is better to help it a little. 



Select a piece of land sloping to the south or east, manure ifc 

 evenly with good stable manure; plow deep and plant to pota- 

 toes; give good cultivation, letting no weeds go to seed. When 

 the potatoes are harvested plow deep as you can, and if followed 

 by a subsoil plow it would be all the better. As soon as the land 

 will work in the spring spread on ashes or well rotted manure; 

 plow about six inches deep; pulverize well, set the plants in rows 

 from three and one half to four feet apart and from fifteen to 

 twenty inches in the rows. When everything is ready we dig a 



