RISE OF COMMERCIAL CULTURE 43 



Strawberry exhibitions, introduced by the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society about 1848, were held everywhere. 

 The inevitable reaction came about 1870. In the east- 

 ern cities, prices declined sharply to three or four cents a 

 quart, which was below the cost of production. Hundreds 

 of carloads were dumped into the Hudson River. Large 

 fields, heavily loaded with fruit, were plowed under. The 

 rapid extension of transportation facilities after the Civil 

 War, which made it possible to market fruit from distant 

 points, contributed largely to the decline in prices. Many 

 lost heavily, especially those who had gone into the busi- 

 ness merely as a speculation. In some places prices held 

 up fairly well ; but the years from 1870 to about 1885 are 

 recalled by veteran growers as the "slump" period of 

 North American strawberry-growing, during which the 

 relations between supply and demand were re-adjusted, 

 and methods of lowering the cost of production developed. 



Contrasting Methods of Culttjee, Yields and 

 Prices 



The center of intensive strawberry culture long had 

 been the vicinity of Boston. There strawberry growing 

 had developed largely as an adjunct to market gardening. 

 The plants were grown close together in narrow, raised 

 beds and were heavily manured, highly tilled, and kept in 

 hills. Varieties of high quality were grown, such as the 

 Hovey, Mulberry and other Pines. These made but a 

 moderate growth of runners and so w^ere easily confined 

 to hills. This system of culture had been introduced from 

 Europe ; it was the common method throughout the East 

 at the time of the introduction of the Wilson. 



Field culture at Cincinnati. — Field culture of the 



