The Canadian Horticulturist. 



221 



STRAWBERRIES.— THE THREE BEST FOR HOME USE 

 AND THE THREE BEST FOR MARKET. 



By John Littlk, Granton, Ont. 



IT is a very difficult matter to pre- 

 pare a paper of this kind for a 

 society that covers so large a terri- 

 tory as tlie Fruit Gowers' Association 

 of Ontario, having in consideration 

 so great a diversity of soil and 

 climate. I shall be understood as 

 referring only to the county of Mid- 

 dlesex. 



Man, with all his knowledge and 

 skill, can never make a strawberry, 

 nor invent a machine to make one. 

 He must have plants to do the work 

 and the soil to afford a place for the 

 plants, and furnish material from 

 which they ma}' draw their supply- 

 of plant food. 



The plants should have witliin 

 their reach, and in an available form, 

 as much plant food as they can use. 

 Large crops are never produced 

 without a large supply of manure or 

 its equivalent in unleached hardwood 

 ashes, not less than forty bushels to 

 the acre or more. 



A new strawberry possesses great 

 attraction. We all desire to know 

 how large and productive it will 

 prove to be. It will draw a larger 

 crowd of admiring friends around 

 the market-stand than any other 

 fruit ever raised. 



There are many farmers in the 

 berry business all over the countr\- 

 who ought to go out of it simply 

 because they will not do the business 

 rightly. They produce quantity at 

 the expense of quality. These men 

 are not making anv monev in the 



business and there are many of them 

 making much less from their farm 

 crop because of the neglect arising 

 from the cultivation of berries. 



I am of the opinion that these 

 large planters, by shipping so many 

 small soft berries in bad condition, 

 have glutted the market and almost 

 ruined the business. I have seen 

 this class of goods a drug in the mar- 

 ket at from three to four cents per 

 basket, called a quart ; but on the 

 same day good berries sold at from 

 eight to ten cents per quart ! 



The bulk of the surrounding crop 

 of small fruit is sold and consumed 

 within ten or fifteen miles of where 

 it is picked, yet, with these advant- 

 ages, none of us are getting rich out 

 of the business. Some are only 

 making a living ; while others are 

 losing money and becoming discour- 

 aged with the low prices which have 

 ruled the past few years. 



In reading the horticultural press, 

 I notice a great deal said about the 

 man that grows from 5,000 to 10,000 

 quarts of strawberries to the acre 

 and sells them at fifteen and twenty 

 cents per quart, while nothing is 

 said about the man that gets from 

 1,000 to 2,000 quarts per acre and 

 sells them at four to five cents per 

 quart. Less acres and more and 

 better cultivation might remedy 

 some of the evils. 



Just here I might give you the 

 testimony of several who are well 

 known antl experienced in fruit 



