1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



353 



steamboating' on the St. John's or Bailing on the 

 Halifax and Indian Rivers near the coast: of the 

 fresh oysters and fish there; also millions of water- 

 fowl at times; of fliu' strawberries from January 

 to June, and of the many other fruits raised liere; 

 of fresh vegetables all winter, and many other 

 itenis. (I. W. Webstkh. 



Lake Helen, Florida. 



HOW BUSY FARMERS CAN RAISE 

 STRAWBERRIES. 



FKrEND TEKKY SHOWS THE POSSIBILITII' S UESUI/r- 

 tNG FROM HOMK KMPLOVMENT. 



fKIEND ROOT:— About this time of year 

 farmers are all advised by the hortioultural 

 and agricultural papers to set out a straw- 

 berry-bed. I probablx' heard '-'O.OdO of them 

 advised in this way at the institutes last 

 winter. I heard them told, sometimes, that it was 

 as easy to raise a bushel of berries as a bushel of 

 potatoes. This talk is all very well for the men 

 who sell the plants; but how do strawl>erries usual- 

 ly thrive under the manajrement of the ordinary 

 farmer? I think it satV' to say, that, nine times out 

 of ten, the berries picked do not much more than 

 pay for the plants. The farmer is so busy, and has 

 so many things to attend to, that the strawberries, 

 like the garden, will not be likely to get the care 

 that they need, ft is iiuite a science to raise large 

 crops of fine berries: one must read and study, and 

 then attend to them at just the right time all 

 through the season. This pays finely when one 

 makes a business of it; but I have long had my 

 doubts whether it would pay the ordinary farmer 

 to fuss with a few, if he could buy fresh ones of a 

 home grower. For some years we have bought about 

 five bushels a year, as I thought I could raise pota- 

 toes and wheat, which were right in the line of my 

 business, and for which T had all the tools and ex- 

 perience, and make the exchange for berries and 

 be the gainer. 1 have tried raising them, or, rath- 

 er, setting out the i)lants, with much care, and 

 Anally, in the rush of the season, neglecting them 

 so that we hardly got our money back in inferior 

 berries. I am ashamed to say it, but it is the truth : 

 and I know 1 am not alone in my experience. 

 Hence I do not believe it is much use to urge farm- 

 ers to set out strawberry-plants in the usual way. 

 But notwithstanding all this I have a fondness for 

 seeing the berries growing, and I have been think- 

 ing it over all winter to see if there were not some 

 way I could manage so the berries would be prop- 

 erly cared for. One day my girls were telling me 

 that they wanted to do some work away from 

 home, so as to get some money. 



" Why," said 1,"I will furnish you what you 

 want; you earn it in taking care of me." 



■' Yes, I know you will," says one; " but I want to 

 earn it myself, where it won't come out of your 

 pocket." 



It struck me this was a laudable ambition, and 

 still I could not think of their going away to teach 

 school, or any thing of that kind. All at once the 

 strawberrj--business occurred to me, and I asked 

 them how they would like it to take charge of the 

 whole matter and pocket the money. 



Well, the result was I gave them the nicest, rich- 

 est (mark that — not some poor corner) piece of 

 land on the farm, and have engaged from a reliable 



grower, the well-known Matthew Crawford, what 

 plants they will want, leaving the choice of varie- 

 ties to him. I have bought them books enough 

 to study, so they can learn all that is possible in 

 that way. We men will plow the ground when we 

 do the rest of the lot, and harrow and roll it; and 

 then when we are cultivating potatoes we will run 

 through the berries; but the girls are to take the 

 whole rt-sponsibility. I think it will do them good. 

 It will teach them business. Tt will be healthful 

 work. If berries could be raised in this way, on 

 three or four farms in every town, I think It would 

 be the tjest way for the farmers and for the indi- 

 viduals who own the patches. 1 do not hesitate to 

 advise any farmer or other person to go at it in 

 this way. 



1 asked Hon. H. C. Adams, of Madison. Wis., a 

 noted raiser of berries, how much land my two girls, 

 with their brother to help them, could take care 

 of. He said he could tell better if he could see the 

 girls. If they had lots of vim, an acre might not be 

 too much; but still, he guessed half an acre would 

 be safer. I thought best to cut down nearly a 

 half on that, not on account of lack of vim, but be- 

 cause I have learned that concentrated farming is 

 best, in the berry-patch as well as elsewhei-e. In a 

 year or two they can spread out a little, if desira- 

 ble. 



It would be better, perhaps, to wait and give the 

 result before advising other parents to go and do 

 likewise; but time is too short. I take it there are 

 hundreds of readers of Gleanings who could set 

 up their children in a little business in just this 

 way. It will cost only #5.011 or |!6.0l) for plants. 



About the market: Make one among the people 

 living right around you. There are ten bushels of 

 strawberries sold in Hudson, where I live, now, 

 where there was a <)uart when I first came on the 

 farm, and the end is not yet by any means. Plenty 

 of people would buy nice fresh berries, at a living 

 price, if they were put right before them, who hard- 

 ly know the taste of the fruit now. 



Now, I want to stir up the children as well as the 

 old folks a little by telling what has been done on a 

 single quarter of an acre. I have seen the ground, 

 and spent four days with the man who did it— the 

 venerable J. M. Smith, of Green Bay, Wis. It was 

 not convenient to measure all the land and keep 

 track of the crop, so our friend marked off one- 

 fourth of an acre and picked from it 3571 qts.— the 

 largest crop, it is said, on record. Just think if you 

 do not know of hundred-acre farms that do not do 

 much better. At 10 cts. a quart this would be *357. 

 This is enormous, but not greatly above Mr. Smith's 

 average. From .3H acres last year, although terri- 

 bly dry, he sold -$2215. 24 worth of berries, besides 

 taking plants to the value of *300 from the same 

 land in the spring. But this was not enough. Aft- 

 er the berries were picked he plowed the patch and 

 put in cabbage and celery— $700 morel Just 

 Sf3215.24 from .3'2 acres of land! I took the figures 

 right from his books, where each day's sales were 

 put down. There isn't a question about their ex- 

 act truth. 



Xow, friends, do not let the children go away 

 from home to work just yet. so as to be earning 

 something, when you haveplent.vof land that is not 

 bringing you five dollars an acre; certainly not, if. 

 from the fourth part of a single one, there is a 

 chance for them to earn one hundred dollars or 

 more. These figures I have given are from the 



