Successful Mcthods'^with Strawberries and Tomatoes 



A DOZEN years ago a school teacher 

 in southern Ontario began to study 

 the complex problem of living and 

 coming out in the end with enough hard 

 cash to tide over the winter of old age. 

 School teaching, while one of the most 

 important branches of national upbuild- 

 ing, was not what could be called a 

 money-making occupation. 



Viewing things from this attitude the 

 school teacher began to search for some 

 employment which would yield larger 

 monetary returns. After careful study, 

 he decided on farming. In the back 

 yard of his simple home he had some 

 money from a small piece of land, and by 

 using the ordinary act of multiplication 

 he had determined the amount he should 

 make from a ten acre lot. 



In due time this school teacher, who, 

 we might state, is Mr. William Walker, 

 of Port Burwell, Elgin, Ont. , moved to a 

 twelve acre lot on the edge of Port Bur- 

 well, which, after taking out the ground 

 occupied by the buildings and waste land 

 contained about ten acres. To his friends 

 theideaof making a living from ten acres 

 was as new as it was absurd. Although 

 Mr. Walker did not know a great deal 

 about his new vocation, he did know that 

 the sandy hilltop soil on the edge of the 

 town was adapted for the production of 

 small fruits and tomatoes, which were 

 just then coming into publicity. He had 

 also observed that the hilltop was the 

 last piece of land to get hit with the frost 

 in the early autumn. 



A part of the ten acre farm was 

 what is commonly known as "a low 

 spot." It had never produced much un- 

 der the old management, but it had been 

 left as nature designed it. In wet years 

 it was practically useless. Mr. Walker 

 felt sure that the low spot should be 

 drained and made productive. He had 

 an idea, too, that it would improve the 

 whole farm if it were properly tiled. So 

 he put in what is known as a deep drain 

 twenty rods apart, over the whole ten 

 acres. While it cost considerable, he 

 has not kicked since about "wet spots," 

 or a cold unnaturaJ soil. 



One of Mr. Walker's next steps was 

 to contract with the two town livery 

 men for all the manure produced in their 

 stables, it comprised a lot of fertilizer, 

 but he thought that he knew what he 

 was doing, so he spread it all on the lit- 

 tle ten acres just as fast as it came. This 

 was done in spite of repeated warnings 

 from kind friends who feared that he 

 would sour the soil. The first year he 

 did not do much but fit the land up al- 

 though he did plant some of the ordinary 

 farm crops, from which he secured some 

 wonderful returns. 



J. C. Intnan, Eden, Ont. 



The preliminary work was money and 

 time well spent. When a small patch of 

 tomatoes was planted the next year they 

 produced a crop that gave Mr. Walker 

 some new ideas regarding making a liv- 

 ing off ten acres. The strawberries also 

 did well, and as there was a good mar- 

 ket for them he planted out more the 

 next year and began to feel the genuine 

 pride of the man who grows things and 

 gets well paid for his labor. 



The story so far is much the same as 



Mr. Walker'* Tomato Starting Bed 



It is not very artistic but has proved decidedly 

 efficient aa a money-malier. 



any other story of its kind, so we may 

 as well skip ten years and come up to 

 1913. Last season the crop was as fol- 

 lows: Strawberries, two and a half acres, 

 tomatoes four acres, and three and a half 

 acres in raspberries, cauliflowers, cab- 

 bages and potatoes. The returns from 

 this three and a half acres were not kept 

 track of except in a general way, but 

 they paid for the general expense of 

 running the farm, such as hired help, 

 repairs, interest on investment, and liv- 

 ing expenses. It may hardly seem pos- 

 sible to make three acres do all this, but 

 that it did will not be doubted when the 

 exact proportions of the other six and a 

 half acres is given. 



Taking the strawberries first : the two 

 and a half acres produced seven hundred 

 and sixty four crates or three hundred 

 and five and three-fifths crates per acre, 

 which sold at an average of two dollars 

 and sixty cents a crate at the farm. 

 After deducting fifty cents per crate for 

 crates, picking, and so forth, we get six- 

 teen hundred and four dollars as the in- 

 come from two and a half acres. 



The tomatoes returned two thousand 

 one hundred and fifty-two bushels. At 

 thirty-five cents that equals seven hun- 



154 



red and fifty-three dollars, besides seven- 

 ty-four dollars for early tomatoes, ihis 

 brings the total up to eight hundred and 

 twenty-seven dollars and twenty cents, 

 and a grand total of twenty-four hun- 

 dred and thirty-one dollars for the six 

 and a half acres. 



The method of strawberry culture fol- 

 lowed is perhaps not a great deal dif- 

 ferent from the average but it is at least 

 worth outlining. The first requiremen; 

 is to have the land well fertilized with 

 manure and an occasional application of 

 the commercial product. The plants 

 come next, and although he may be old 

 fashioned Mr. Walker sticks by the old 

 stand-by (Williams) because he believes 

 he can get no better. He selects the 

 largest and healthiest plants and places 

 them in rows four feet apart, and two 

 feet apart in the row. He has also ex- 

 perimented with the block system but as 

 yet prefers the rows as they require less 

 work in proportion to the returns. The 

 rows are allowed to become two feet wide 

 and are kept from fruiting the first sea- 

 son. An application of manure is given 

 in the fall, and the plants covered with a 

 good straw mulch, in which condition 

 they are left through the winter. When 

 the first real warm days of spring arrive 

 the straw is raked between the rows and 

 acts as a weed preventative and as a 

 knee rest in picking. The plants are 

 kept from spreading as much as possi- 

 ble in order to force the growth into the 

 berries to get them as large and uni- 

 form as possible. This is very important 

 as it is the well formed, good colored 

 and uniform fruit which commands the 

 top price regardless of market conditions. 



Only one crop is taken off as it has 

 been found rather risky to depend on a 

 crop the second year, as if the season is 

 dry, the berries will dry up and the crop 

 will be practically a loss. The following 

 spring the plants are dug up and sold to 

 future strawberry growers at a good pro- 

 fit and the area put into tomatoes. 



Tomato growing is different from 

 strawberry growing but the two crops 

 have grown together admirably. The 

 waste strawberry plants and wheat straw- 

 berry form a good mixer for the soil, and 

 put every foot of it in truck garden con- 

 dition. 



The plants which are raised in a hot 

 house until eight or ten inches in height, 

 are planted about the middle of May, or 

 after all danger of frost is over. The 

 method followed may be a little new and 

 startling to most people. The plant is 

 set in a hole, partially filled with good 

 manure. The plant is laid fiat on the 

 ground, as it has been found that the 



