208 Strawherry-Growing 



The price paid at the cannery ranges from two to six 

 cents a quart, crates and baskets returned. "As from 

 9000 to 15,000 plants are grown per acre," says E. Hofer, 

 of Oregon, " and a yield of one quart to the plant is easily 

 maintained, it is possible to figure out from $150 to $300 

 an acre for strawberries at the cannery." In order to 

 maintain a fair price for fresh berries the members of the 

 cooperative association at Tropico, California, are re- 

 quired to put their berries into the cannery w^hen the 

 price falls below three cents a pint basket. The more 

 hulls pulled off in picking the better, since they have to 

 be removed anyhow ; hence picking does not cost over 

 one cent a quart. It costs one to two cents a quart 

 to hull them at the factory. 



Preserves, sirups and other by-products. 



A few years ago the chief product of jam factories was 

 "compound jam," the art in making which was to use 

 as little fruit as possible. Much of the "pure strawberry 

 jam" made by thrifty manufacturers contained no straw- 

 berries at all, but was made out of apple jelly, glucose, 

 aniline dyes and clover seed. The " strawberry flavoring " 

 of that period, used at soda fountains, contained little or 

 no fruit ; it was a chemical preparation. Recent national 

 and state pure food laws have greatly increased the use 

 of real strawberries for these purposes. Aside from the 

 canned article, the largest demand is for crushed or 

 preserved fruit and sirup, to be used at soda foun- 

 tains. Most manufacturers prefer to put up fruit for 

 this purpose at the point of production, rather than at 

 the factory. They buy toward the close of the shipping 

 season, when prices are low, beginning in Florida and 

 working northward with the season. The method of 



