FRUITS 131 



grow strawberries worth six dollars a quart by intensive 

 culture in greenhouses. Mr. S. W. Fletcher, in Country 

 Life in America, says : " The forcing of strawberries is a 

 specialized industry of the highest type. Everybody can- 

 not make it pay everywhere. . . . Strawberries are forced 

 in pots or in benches. The pot method is preferred by those 

 who find a demand for the highest quality of fruit regard- 

 less of expense. ... If fruit is desired for Christmas, 

 the plants are not checked to any extent, but are kept in 

 continuous growth. The conditions of springtime are 

 simulated as far as possible. At Christmas time a quart 

 box of forced Marshall strawberries sells at from one-fifty 

 to eight dollars per quart, averaging about four dollars." 



Our most valuable allies against the insect armies are 

 toads, bats, wasps, dragon flies, and birds; they enjoy the 

 battle. 



There cannot be too many toads or bats. Toads will 

 eat all sorts of flies, potato bugs, squash bugs, rose bugs, 

 caterpillars, and almost anything that crawls. 



If the wasps become a nuisance, it is easy to poison them ; 

 but the birds are often a nuisance the robins eat the 

 strawberries and cherries the instant they are ripe. They 

 soon get used to scarecrows; and to cover the fruit with 

 nets gives the insects a free hand. Some growers raise 

 sweet cherries or other fruits specially to feed up the birds 

 so that they will let the rest alone. Early rising and a 

 plenty of cats is about the best remedy. A man, or even a 

 woman, working on the land is the best scarecrow. 



There are a few other fruits that grow wild in certain 

 sections and are gathered and sent to market. Among 

 these the cranberry is the most important. It grows in 

 nearly inaccessible bogs, principally in New Jersey, and the 



