EVERBEARING STRAWBERRY FIELD. 63 



fields of everbearing strawberries, which goes to prove that you 

 cannot decide by one year's test as to the profit of any particular 

 crop. Beds of strawberries that were on rather poor ground 

 and not mulched or cultivated proved a failure in our locality. 

 The spring was very favorable, having plenty of moisture, and it 

 looked very much as if there would be a large crop, with a 

 probable price of about 10c per quart, but on account of the 

 drouth the crop sold readily at $3 per crate of 24 pints. 



There is no question in my mind as to the everbearing 

 strawberry taking the place to a great extent of the June bearing 

 berries for home use or commercially. They require a different 

 culture from the June berries to carry a crop during the entire 

 season. I will give you my mode of handling them, which has 

 been very successful this summer. I was quite certain that if 

 we had a dry summer the berries would be few and small, and I 

 prepared for it by mulching heavily with slough hay quite early 

 in the fall. I then gave them a coat of stable manure from the 

 horse barn, on top of the hay, at the rate of fifty loads to the 

 acre. I am well aware that some of you will say there will be 

 danger of smothering the plants, but in my lifelong experience 

 I have never seen any plants smothered out. I have heard people 

 claim they had their plants smother, but in all cases that came 

 under my observation the plants were injured either by winter 

 or by some cause other than smothering. It is true that if 

 the covering is left on late until the plants have started to 

 grow that they would be injured, but with the everbearing 

 strawberry the covering should be removed early, and by re- 

 moving early they blossom early, and if the blossoms should be 

 killed by a late frost it would be an advantage, for by the second 

 time they come into bloom the plants would be better established 

 to mature a crop of berries. 



With the heavy mulching of hay and the additional covering 

 with manure I conserved the moisture and had a continuous crop 

 of berries from July 1 until October 14, on which last named 

 date I picked 31/2 crates of berries. My total receipts were 221 

 crates from three-quarters of an acre, which brought me $3 per 

 crate, or $663. 



There are several varieties of the everbearing strawberries 

 on the market, but I consider the following the leading varieties : 

 the Progressive, the Superb and the Americus ; My first experi- 

 ence with the No. 1017, which was originated at our experimental 

 State Fruit-Breeding Farm, was not very satisfactory, but know- 



